This is an extract from the 2022 FLEET annual report [read the full report online] See next section (Message from the Director)
Disruptions to research due to the pandemic subsided in 2022, and international travel slowly returned, enabling increased activities with partners. This allowed FLEET to make maximum use of the capacity and network it has built in the last five years to make excellent progress towards its research goals (see highlights in Director’s message).
BUILDING FLEET’S LEGACY
As a mature Centre, FLEET has turned its focus from capacity- and network-building to ensuring a lasting legacy beyond the life of the Centre. This process began in 2021 after FLEET’s mid-term review, and has blossomed in 2022.
The most visible legacy initiative is the FLEET Translation Program (FTP), inaugurated in 2022.
FTP has worked actively to identify FLEET members interested in translating their research, and projects that are promising for translation. The results have been extraordinary: six projects are already funded and another 18 or more prospective projects are in the pipeline. The huge number of translation-ready projects arising from FLEET research, and the eagerness of FLEET researchers to pursue translation of their research, is a pleasant surprise, and we now have the new challenge of finding investors and partners to help fund these promising projects (see more in Research Translation).
Another significant legacy of FLEET will be the increase in participation of women in STEM research, and the increased level of best practice in ensuring equity. FLEET pioneered a Centre-wide search strategy, the Women in FLEET Fellowships, open to women across all areas of FLEET research rather than targeting specific areas. This strategy brought in 68 applicants compared with only 28 female applicants in 15 previous targeted searches combined. In 2022 FLEET broadened this strategy to other groups that are also under-represented in STEM, and appointed four Diversity in FLEET Fellows representing women, LGBTIQA+ and disadvantaged backgrounds.
Through this and other initiatives, FLEET achieved a strong upward trajectory in the proportion of women in the Centre from 2017 to 2020. However, the proportion stalled at around 25% from 2020 to 2022, short of our KPI target of 30%. It is clear that the pandemic significantly hampered FLEET’s ability to ensure diversity in hiring, due to a combination of hiring freezes, inability of people to relocate, and the necessity of extending contracts or making direct appointments to support current FLEET staff.
FLEET is now working to quantify the reasons for this and to understand how unforeseen shocks can fall inequitably on under-represented groups and set back diversity initiatives, and how we can make equity more ‘robust’ against such shocks.
FLEET’s legacy includes shaping public policy in science and technology in order to pass on the lessons learned by the Centre and to build the environment in which future research centres can thrive and contribute maximally to Australia’s wellbeing. In 2022 FLEET gave input to the National Quantum Strategy and the list of Critical Technologies in the National Interest, and FLEET will continue to play a leadership role in shaping Australia’s future in quantum materials and electronics technologies research.
QUANTIFYING FLEET’S LEGACY
Going forward FLEET will be working to quantify its legacy. This includes tracking the outcomes of FLEET’s training on the careers of our trainees, the uptake and translation of FLEET research, and the effect of FLEET’s outreach programs on attitudes towards STEM subjects and public awareness of energy in computation.
We welcome input from all our current and former members and stakeholders, and we would be delighted to hear how FLEET has made a difference to you.
ACHIEVEMENTS
FLEET researchers published 121 peer-reviewed articles in 2022, exceeding our KPI by 20%. More importantly FLEET has maintained its extraordinary trend of publishing high-quality, impactful work; over half (55%) of FLEET’s papers in 2022 were in high-impact outlets (impact factor greater than 7).
Communication of FLEET’s research to the public continues to excel. We have increased our KPI for media mentions of FLEET research twice, from 40 per year to the high current level of 300 (nearly one per day), which we very nearly accomplished in 2022 with 288 total media mentions.
Much of this has been driven by our young researchers, who we have encouraged and trained to write their own press releases, ensuring they can continue to publicise their own work after FLEET communication support ends.
FLEET trained 47 postdoctoral researchers, 62 PhD students and 2 Master’s students in 2022. FLEET provided a wide variety of training opportunities for students and ECRs, such as sponsoring students to attend Science meets Parliament and co-organising the Idea Factory research-translation boot camp. Centre members accrued a total of 1274 training workshop attendances in 2022, and 393 non-Centre members attended FLEET training, representing 255% and 131% of our KPIs respectively.
FLEET engages with primary and secondary students and the public at large to foster interest in STEM subjects, especially among under-represented groups, and to educate the public about the societal challenge of energy use in computation. FLEET involves all members in outreach activities, with the strong expectation that every FLEET member (from students through to the Director) will contribute 20 hours each year to outreach. This both powers the Centre outreach program and provides valuable training to students and ECRs.
FLEET’s outreach program was significantly impeded by the pandemic but returned to nearly full strength in 2022, with 863 hours of outreach by members (72% of KPI), reaching 2738 primary and secondary students (137% of KPI) and 4306 members of the public (86% of KPI).
Highlights: FLEET in 2022
2022 timeline