Engagement Strategy and Activities
ACEMS Engagement Strategy
ACEMS engagement is strategic and aligned to realise research relevance, engagement with key stakeholders, knowledge translation and impact. It is coordinated by a full-time Stakeholder Engagement Coordinator and involves members across ACEMS professional, research and student members.
Internal and External Engagement
ACEMS engagement with internal stakeholders aims to:
- Connect ACEMS members’ capabilities and interests to external opportunities for research promotion, research collaboration, engagement and impact;
- Develop ACEMS members’ research engagement and industry skills for developing collaborations with external stakeholders and realising research engagement and impact goals; and
- Support networking internally and externally.
ACEMS engagement with external stakeholders aims to:
- Support networking, relationship building, and mutual learning with external stakeholders;
- Understand external stakeholder needs and goals and match ACEMS members (from research students to senior academics) as research collaborators to realise mutual benefits;
- Encourage and support engagement with research collaborators along and beyond stages of the research project pathway (from planning, to research, reporting, and impact);
- Provide funding schemes including co-funding to support opportunities for external collaborations, by possibly bringing together ACEMS cross-node teams, students, and ECRs;
- Support our researcher-collaborator teams to apply for internal and external funding for proposed research and other collaborations;
- Maximise the value and new value creation from our research, and other products and services, for collaborators, relevant end users and other potential beneficiaries; and
- Grow and nurture enduring relationships and see and shape opportunities for mutual benefit.
View a selection of our external collaborative research projects here.
Engagement Schemes and Goals
The schemes illustrated in Figure 1 are a key part of enabling ACEMS engagement strategy and goals. These include:
- The Industry Affiliate Program (IAP) for Industry Affiliate Members (IAM)
- The Industry Collaboration Support Scheme (ICSS)
- Engagement events, services and activities
- Workshops (including for research planning)
- Networking
- And others as detailed under Engagement Activities below
Figure 1: ACEMS Key Engagement Schemes and Goals
ACEMS Engagement Activities
ACEMS enabled a breadth of engagement-related events, services and activities in 2020 both for and with external stakeholders. Some of these are highlighted in Figure 2.
Key Activities
Key activities and events with research collaborators in 2020 included:
- The ACEMS Annual Retreat
- Presentations to collaborators and other external organisations including research briefings to end users
- Co-design workshops organised by the Australian Research Data Commons in relation to bushfire challenges
- ACEMS sponsorship of other organisations’ events and initiatives of benefit to the mathematical sciences
- Public lectures with esteemed guests from industry, research and government
- ACEMS guest speaker roles at industry organised events, including conferences, seminars, datathons, and in-house talks
- ACEMS (co-)hosted and (co-)organised public events, including workshops, seminars and hackathons
- Applications for joint funding
- Student placements, and negotiations for new placements, including via the Vacation Research scheme and the APR Internship Scheme, and
- Continued engagement with citizen science, schools, educators, teacher’s associations, to realise research outcomes.
A few of these are detailed below.
Figure 2: Some of the engagement-related activities and services enabled by ACEMS during 2020.
The ACEMS Retreat affords an important opportunity to bring together researchers, students, and external stakeholders, from across Australia and internationally, to grow connections, opportunities, and share knowledge. In 2020, the retreat was run in a hybrid format and run via Zoom.
A total of 184 ACEMS members and industry guests registered to attended the annual retreat. It was great to see the high level of engagement of industry guests, who actively participated in both the main and ECR/student programs.
Industry Engagement Aspects of Annual Retreat
There is a strong focus on industry engagement at the Annual Retreat, within both the main retreat and the student/early career researcher programs.
The Main Retreat Program, for all members, featured:
- ACEMS stakeholder engagement presentation(s)
- Industry and stakeholder invitations (including POs, IAMs, and other current and potential collaborators)
- Industry guest speakers affording an opportunity for our industry stakeholders to either showcase an existing or proposed collaborative project with ACEMS
- Industry Collaboration Support Scheme (ICSS) presentations from ACEMS members who have received funding for an ICSS project.
The Student and Early Career Researcher (ECR) Retreat Program, featured:
- An Industry Panel session and Q&A
- Contributions from industry guests during other sessions as appropriate.
Given the hybrid nature of the retreat and the fact that sessions were held via Zoom, usual activities such as networking drinks, lunches and dinners with industry guests were not possible.
Industry Presentations at ACEMS Annual Retreats
A total of eleven industry guest speakers delivered presentations or spoke on industry panels, as part of both programs. These speakers came from nine different organisations, including: POs, IAMs, and others.
| Industry Guest Speakers at the 2020 ACEMS Main and Student/ECR Retreats | |
|---|---|
| Speaker | Organisation |
| Claire Clarke | Australian Bureau of Statistics |
| Sybille McKeown | Australian Bureau of Statistics |
| Juan Ortiz | Australian Institute of Marine Science |
| Sharon O’Donnell | Australia Post |
| Aude Vignelles | Australian Space Agency |
| Simon Grainger | Bureau of Meteorology |
| Cheng Soon Song | CSIRO |
| Ruth Luscombe | Fireball International |
| Chandan Kumar | Queensland Government Department of Agriculture and Fisheries |
| Cindy Peng | Sax Institute |
| Kerrin Bleicher | Sax Institute |
A range of events were organised jointly with ACEMS members and industry, government, and/or end-users in 2020. The table below provides details about a selection of these.
| Event Title | Location |
|---|---|
| ACEMS-ABS-National Statistical Offices (NSO) Workshop: A workshop focusing on new and emerging research in population size estimation in national statistics, bringing together representatives from ACEMS, the ABS, and the National Statistical Offices of other countries | Sydney |
| ACEMS ARDC Australian Data Partnerships Workshop for members and partners in relation to national data asset to support researchers and other stakeholders, including research between CSIRO and ACEMS on the spread of infectious disease | Online |
| ACEMS COVID-19 Workshop: ACEMS hosted a workshop to highlight the research that was already underway around the Centre and look for ways on how members could work together on some of these problems. Attendees included ACEMS members, industry partners and affiliates and attendees from the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet and members of its COVID-19 Taskforce. | Online |
| ACEMS Human Performance Research & Ideas Symposium: brought together a diverse mix of researchers (including the mathematical, biological, health and social sciences), students & special guests from DST's Human Performance Research Network (HPRnet) (of researchers across Australian universities and defence), and Defence (including DST, Army, Navy, and Airforce) to explore research, ideas, and opportunities to improve human cognitive and physical performance in and across performance domains, including at the individual and team level, with technology, and in challenging scenarios and changing conditions. | Online |
| A workshop on “Combining computer vision and data science to improve river monitoring and prediction” including participants from ACEMS and Healthy Land and Water and the University of Queensland | Brisbane |
| Data Science Workshop for Researchers and Industry: ACEMS, the Australian Data Science Network (ADSN), QUT Centre for Data Science, and Integrity Systems Company (ISC), a subsidiary of Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA), joined forces to co-host this workshop to explore Data Science Research, & Industry Challenges & Opportunities, in Data Integration, Quality & Management. There were seventeen (17) speakers featured at the event, from academia and industry, the latter additionally including the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the Australian Space Agency, Queensland Health, OSCEN Research, AgriWebb and DataFarm. | Online |
ACEMS members delivered 14 presentations to external organisations across industry, government, non-profit, and research, as detailed in the table below.
Of these, at least 12 comprised a ‘briefing’, being for the primary purpose of knowledge transfer or research translation to a targeted audience including research collaborators or end users.
| ACEMS Member Briefings and Presentations to External Organisations in 2020 | ||
|---|---|---|
| External Organisation | Summary of Briefing or Presentation | Key Participants from ACEMS and Organisation |
| Office of The Great Barrier Reef (OGBR) | Briefing: Meeting with scientists from the OGBR AIMS PI Juan Ortiz and ACEMS RA David Warne attended a briefing meeting with scientists from the Office of The Great Barrier Reef (OGBR) to discuss their project “Characterisation of initial periods of recovery within the Great Barrier Reef” and potential implications for reporting. |
ACEMS: David Warne and Juan Ortiz (and AIMS) OGBR: Nyssa Henry, Paulina Kaniewska and Rachael Smith |
| Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) | Briefing 1: Research Briefings to AIMS ACEMS RA David Warne with AIMS PI Juan Ortiz presented on the preliminary findings of the research project "Characterisation of initial periods of recovery within the Great Barrier Reef" and the plan moving forward, with AIMS attendees |
ACEMS: David Warne and Juan Ortiz (and AIMS) AIMS: Mike Emslie, Kate Osborne |
| Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) | Briefing 2: Research Briefings to AIMS ACEMS RA David Warne with AIMS PI Juan Ortiz presented on the preliminary findings of the research project "Characterisation of initial periods of recovery within the Great Barrier Reef" and the plan moving forward, with AIMS attendees |
ACEMS: David Warne and Juan Ortiz (and AIMS) AIMS: Katharina Fabricius |
| Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) | Briefing 3: Research Briefings to AIMS ACEMS RA David Warne with AIMS PI Juan Ortiz presented on the preliminary findings of the research project "Characterisation of initial periods of recovery within the Great Barrier Reef" and the plan moving forward, with AIMS attendees |
ACEMS: David Warne and Juan Ortiz (and AIMS) AIMS: Manuel Gonzalez-Rivero, Angus Thompson |
| Queensland Academy of Sport (QAS) and Swimming Australia Limited (SAL) | Briefing 1: Presentation to QAS and SAL Discussed progress on projects in joint post-doc and associated ICSS projects:
|
ACEMS: Toktam Babaei, Lawrence Garufi, Kerrie Mengersen, Paul Wu, Alan Yu QAS: Allan Hahn SAL: Paul Azzopardi, Mark Osborne University of Canberra: David Pyne |
| Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) | Briefing 4 - Presenting progress to AIMS collaborators Update on the identification of delays in hard coral growth rates. Research showed, across the Great Barrier Reef, a large proportion of reefs that have experienced large disturbances (i.e., reducing coral cover to < 5%) have a delay period in which the intrinsic growth rate is slower than expected. The expected delay duration was quantified, and they discussed various model extensions that may better capture coral recovery after severe disturbances for use of reef condition reporting and management. |
ACEMS: David Warne AIMS: Kerryn Crossman, Mike Emslie, Katharina Fabricius, Manuel, Juan Ortiz, Kate Osborne Gonzalez-Rivero, Angus Thompson |
| Defence Science and Technology (DST) – Human Performance Research Network | Meeting with HPRnet to discuss ACEMS capabilities ACEMS Stakeholder Engagement Coordinator Angela Dahlke and CI Scott Sisson met with Defence HPRnet to discuss ACEMS capabilities, research, and interests which may be of benefit to HPRnet. The meeting was beneficial and led to further engagements, including a more detailed research briefing as part of a Human Performance Research & Ideas Symposium hosted by ACEMS, featuring presentations by, and representation from, Defence, ACEMS members (regarding research and outcomes relevant to Human Performance), and other researchers who are potential new ACEMS collaborators. Discussions are ongoing and other opportunities have been presented including for a co-supervised PhD project, and referral to other units of interest. |
ACEMS: Angela Dahlke, Scott Sisson DST HPRnet: Lisa Headley, Mark Patterson |
| Queensland Academy of Sport (QAS) and Swimming Australia Limited (SAL) | Briefing 2: Presentation to QAS and SAL QUT student Ella Wilson and previous ACEMS vacation student, presented her decision support dashboard for winning times based on Lawrence Garufi's work to SAL. Obtained feedback on improvements to the dashboard. |
ACEMS: Paul Wu QAS: Lachlan Mitchell SAL: Paul Azzopardi, Mark Wilson |
| Queensland Academy of Sport (QAS) and Triathlon Australia (TA) | Briefing: Presentation to Triathlon Australia and QAS Jacinta presented her work at halfway point of her honour's thesis on triathlon energy systems, replicating the W prime model. This was received very enthusiastically and they were subsequently invited to meet the coaches and athletes |
ACEMS: Jacinta Roberts, Paul Wu QAS: Shaun D’Auria TA: Wade Hobbs |
| Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) | Briefing: Presentation to the AIS Presented on progress on the subsequent injury commercial research project, reviewing approaches for modelling subsequent events from both biomedical, criminology, manufacturing and other fields. Work was well received and researchers are working on a paper to put towards Sports Medicine. |
ACEMS: Paul Wu, Alan Yu AIS: Mick Drew, Liam Toohey |
| Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) | Briefing 5: Briefing to AIMS ACEMS RA David Warne presented an update on the progress of a collaborative project to an invited audience of AIMS collaborators/representatives and introduced new ACEMS Research Assistant Grace Heron. |
ACEMS: Grace Heron, David Warne AIMS: Juan Ortiz, Angus Thompson |
| Queensland Academy of Sport (QAS) | Briefing 3: Presentation to QAS Presented early findings from the analysis of modern pentathlon project being undertaken by Lawrence Garufi |
ACEMS: Lawrence Garufi, Paul Wu QAS: Luke Macdonald, Clare Minahan Griffith University: Dane Jessen |
| Australian Research Data Commons (ARDC) | ARDC’s ‘Bushfire Data Challenges’ Program Workshops ACEMS SEC and a number of ACEMS members, whose research and capabilities are relevant to the bushfire data challenges, attended the ARDC workshops with registered stakeholders (from research, industry, government, and some ACEMS PO including BOM and CSIRO) to discuss their bushfire related work and capabilities, outstanding challenges and priorities, ahead of potentially preparing collaborative research proposals. The workshops were held over a number of days and included presentations from ACEMS members and discussions afterwards. Discussions focused on identifying the various data challenges and technological barriers that exist within these research priorities, such as access to relevant data, interoperability, data aggregation across jurisdictions, data integration across domains, data scale, data analytics and data governance frameworks. |
ACEMS: Dianne Cook, Angela Dahlke, Sevvandi Kandanaarachchi, Kerrie Mengersen, Rachael Quill, Lele (Joyce) Zhang ARDC: Sheida Hadavi, Many other organisations also in attendance including ACEMS Partners BOM and CSIRO |
| Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) | Briefing 6: Presentation to AIMS A Progress Briefing was held at which ACEMS members presented an update on the progress of a collaborative project to AIMS PI Juan Ortiz |
ACEMS: Kerrie Mengersen, Matthew Simpson, David Warne AIMS: Juan Ortiz |
ACEMS encourages and celebrates a culture of research engagement and impact. The table below lists awards received by ACEMS members in 2020 for success in these domains; the full list of members’ awards is here. The ACEMS awards were announced at the Annual Retreat to celebrate a culture valuing engagement with external stakeholders and research impact.
| Engagement and Impact Awards Received by ACEMS Members | ||
|---|---|---|
| Award | Awarding Body | ACEMS Recipient(s) |
| Superstar of STEM | Science and Technology Australia | Dr Nicole White |
| Winner of Victorian state competition of FameLab | FameLab | Sarah Belet |
| Asia-Pacific Spatial Excellence Awards – award for ‘Spatial Enablement’ category | Survey and Spatial Sciences Institute | Australian Cancer Atlas team |
| Asia-Pacific Spatial Excellence Awards – award for ‘People & Community’ | Survey and Spatial Sciences Institute | Virtual Reef Diver team |
| ACEMS Impact and Engagement Award (Group) | ACEMS | ACEMS Members of the Water Quality Anomaly Detection team |
| ACEMS Impact and Engagement Award | ACEMS | Dr Paul Wu |
| Learn more about the winners celebrated in these awards by clicking on the links above. | ||