The Australian National University was established in 1946 by the Commonwealth Government as Australia's only completely research-oriented university, without undergraduate facilities, to undertake "postgraduate research and study, both generally and in relation to subjects of national importance to Australia". From the beginning the University was seen as an institution which would strengthen Australia's research effort by pursuing research at the highest levels and setting new standards for research in Australia.
This unique character was modified in 1960 when teaching faculties were added through amalgamation with the Canberra University College. The result was a university with two distinct parts: the Institute of Advanced Studies, comprising the research schools with research and graduate training responsibilities; and the School of General Studies (now known as The Faculties) comprising faculties with undergraduate and graduate teaching and research responsibilities. More recently, the Institute of the Arts has become a part of the ANU, adding yet another dimension to its structure.
The Institute of Advanced Studies (IAS) is highly regarded internationally for its achievements in basic and applied research and attracts gifted researchers to work in its schools and centres as staff and visiting fellows. Several features contribute to the Institute's distinctive place in the Australian research system. It is block-funded to undertake full time research and research training; it attracts a wide range of researchers from Australia and overseas; and it provides in one location a range of outstanding research facilities. The combination of these features offers special opportunities for research and research training. The Institute intends to continue to offer such opportunities and to extend those opportunities to the wider research community in Australia.
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There are eight research schools and two research centres in the IAS:
The research schools and centres
Research School of Biological Sciences
The Centre for Information Science Research, the Humanities Research Centre and the National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health are University centres with strong links to the Institute. The School of Mathematical Sciences, with an Institute component and a Faculties component, links the Institute and The Faculties.
The Institute has been very successful in attracting Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) funding. The University is now involved in nine CRCs in the fields of robust and adaptive systems, plant sciences, optics, the control of vertebrate pest populations, advanced computational systems, research data networks, tropical savannahs, water quality and regolith studies.
A unique feature of the ANU is the special relationship between Links between the Institute and The Faculties
The Graduate School
The Graduate School is the pre-eminent University structure for linking the Institute of Advanced Studies and The Faculties in 37 University-wide programs. Each program covers the whole of the University's graduate education in the subject concerned and draws on the expertise of all the staff in that field. Students enrol in a primary program and may be affiliated with up to two other programs. In this way students have access to far greater resources than would be the case if they were enrolled in a single department, faculty or school.
Other links between the Institute and The Faculties
The University's diverse range of activities give it the capacity to rapidly mobilise researchers in synergistic endeavours in response to new opportunities, new technologies or national imperatives. Some of the over-arching programs have been recognised as 'centres without walls' and facilitate sharing of expertise and resources across disciplines in thematic joint endeavours. These programs include:
Asian Studies, which brings together the expertise and resources of the Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, the Faculty of Asian Studies and the Faculty of Arts to provide an important international centre for the study of Southeast Asia and East Asia;
The Astrophysical Theory Centre, a joint venture between the Mount Stromlo and Siding Spring Observatories and the School of Mathematical Sciences, providing opportunities unique in Australia for honours students;
The Centre for Information Science Research, which spans both the Institute of Advanced Studies and The Faculties, and interacts with the CSIRO Division of Information Technology, to fund, sponsor and promote multi-disciplinary research in the information sciences;
The Centre for Molecular Structure and Function, which involves the Research Schools of Chemistry and Biological Sciences, The John Curtin School of Medical Research, and the Faculty of Science, and aims to increase understanding of the relationship between the structure of biological macromolecules and their function;
The Centre for the Science and Engineering of Materials, which aims to facilitate interaction between ANU researchers in the Institute and The Faculties active in materials research, and to provide a focus through the Graduate School for training in the science and engineering of materials;
The Centre for Visual Sciences, which involves staff of the Research Schools of Physical Sciences and Engineering, Biological Sciences, The John Curtin School of Medical Research, the Centre for Information Science Research and the Faculty of Science in the study of visual processing mechanisms in humans, mammals, insects and computer systems;
The Global Change Confederation, which is giving a higher profile to the established strengths at the ANU in study of climatic change and human impacts;
The Health Sciences Program, which will involve interaction between the Faculty of Science, the John Curtin School of Medical Research, the National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, the University of Canberra and the University of Sydney's Canberra Clinical School, to promote research and training in health sciences; and
The Quaternary and Regolith Studies Program, which is built on established strengths in the Research School of Earth Sciences, the Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, the Research School of Physical Sciences and Engineering and the Faculty of Science and has a particular focus on the integration of geologic and biotic features of the terrestrial and marine record.
The Institute has in place a number of programs to foster interaction between
the Institute and other researchers. These include:
The University has a vigorous program for visiting fellows from other
institutions in Australia and overseas financial support is provided for some
of these visitors at various levels in each of the schools or centres and in
The Faculties. This is one of the most valuable and stimulating forms of
collaboration between University staff and academic staff from other
institutions. Also, Institute staff undertake field work, visiting fellowships
and study programs overseas.
Links with other institutions
In addition to these programs, there are several other ways in which the
Institute interacts with researchers from other institutions. For example, the
University is prepared to meet half of the costs associated with Institute
staff giving lectures and seminars at other universities. There are a number
of excellent facilities at the ANU, some of which have been funded as national
facilities, such as the telescopes, the 14UD accelerator and the supercomputer
facilities. Time is set aside on these facilities for use by non-ANU staff
free of charge or on a cost recovery basis.
Academic Staff
The funding of all academic staff in the Institute to undertake full
time research and research training is unique in the Australian higher
education system, and the Institute has been most successful in attracting
staff of high calibre for continuing and fixed-term positions. More than 60
per cent of the research staff of the Institute are on fixed term appointments.
With this mixture of academic staff, the Institute is able to sustain
innovative, long term, fundamental research programs essential to its core work
on high level research training. At the same time it retains the flexibility
and capacity to take advantage of opportunities in applied research. The
affiliations of academic staff are given in Staff in the Institute of Advanced Studies
Research Support Staff
A highly trained workforce of research support staff is critical to efficient use of resources expended on research. As of March 1994, the Institute had 593 technical staff (including research officers, research assistants, technical officers, technical assistants, engineers) and 399 administrative staff (including programmers, illustrators, publications staff, archivists and administrators) supporting its research effort. The science-based research schools maintain workshops involved in engineering specialised equipment which has in some instances led to commercialisation of the technology. Other research schools have a strong commitment to in-house publication of internationally renowned journals and monograph series.
Governance and external advisory bodies
The Institute of Advanced Studies Consultative Council, comprising distinguished researchers from Australia and overseas, assists the University in achieving the objectives of the Institute and advises the Council of the University on the strategies and research activities undertaken in the Institute in the light of national and international priorities.
Each school and centre has a Research Advisory Board with external membership, with members drawn as appropriate from the higher education system, public and private sectors and other research institutions, including CSIRO. Research Advisory Boards assist the heads of schools and centres in achieving the objectives of the research schools and are well-informed on matters of national and international importance.
The Institute of Advanced Studies Advisory Committee, comprising three Pro-Vice-Chancellors (Research) from other Australian universities, three heads of research school, the Director, Institute of Advanced Studies and the Vice-Chancellor, advises Commonwealth Parliament, through the Australian Research Council, on the Institute's collaborative activities with other Australian universities, including expenditure data.
Combined with other research facilities located in Canberra in such
places as the CSIRO, the Research Facilities
Library resources. The University has an excellent library. The total holdings exceed 1.6 million volumes, and approximately 17,000 continuing titles are received. The Library is especially noted in Australia for its extensive collection of material on Asia. The Library provides access to many other libraries and information services worldwide via use of the AARNet (Australian Academic and Research Network) computer network.
Research equipment. The range of research equipment in the Institute is both first rate and extensive. It includes, for example, a 2.3m Advanced Technology Telescope, three supercomputers, a SHRIMP ion microprobe, a 14UD nuclear particle accelerator and the H1-Heliac Stellarator.
Computing facilities. The University has established one of the most powerful computer installations in a university environment outside the USA. It has three supercomputers a VP2200 and an AP1000 from Fujitsu, along with a CM5 from Thinking Machines Corporation. All are available to research workers in the University and to researchers in other institutions, via AARNet.