Summary
The FLEET Advisory Committee (AC) is impressed with the performance and achievements of FLEET to date. While the focus of the meeting was on management advice, the scientific themes and approaches within FLEET are well structured and the Centre is showing signs of strong scientific results with some high impact publications at, or soon after, the time of the FLEET workshop and Advisory Committee meeting.
The main advice from AC is to strengthen its industry engagement activities. FLEET offers enormous potential but there is a danger that FLEET researchers may perceive themselves as being removed from industry interactions. The experience of successful translators of cutting-edge research is that it is never too early.
AC members felt that FLEET has provided a rational and detailed strategic plan and has done a good job of quantifying measurables associated with initiatives in the plan. AC felt that the level of detail around the plans and KPIs is, in general, appropriate for a research organisation. In some cases, typically where KPIs are not being met, AC advises that the FLEET executive formulates and documents plans to meet the targets.
Overall the AC was impressed with a sound management structure that is designed to encourage scientific productivity in an inclusive way from a diversity of members. In particular, AC notes that FLEET is providing excellent support for families and junior researchers.
Background
The FLEET annual workshop was held from 2 – 5 December at the Pullman Magenta Shores in NSW. FAC members were invited to attend the workshop, which finished immediately before the AC meeting in the afternoon of 5 December.
AC members were provided with copies of FLEET’s strategic plan, the FLEET annual report and a report on progress against KPIs prior to the meeting and at the meeting received a presentation from FLEET Director, Prof. Michael Fuhrer. This was an appropriate level of detail for an advisory meeting of this nature.
The meeting discussion generally followed the 6 broad goals of the strategic plan and is summarised below accordingly.
Scientific Discovery
AC noted the high degree of overlap between researchers in the three research themes and the total overlap of the two enabling technologies. This is a good way to reduce siloing and also to reduce the risk of researchers in enabling groups being perceived as secondary to the main goals of the Centre.
AC was invited to input on strategies for FLEET to modify its direction at the time of the centre review. AC recognises that changes to funding arrangements can be difficult due to underlying institutional agreements. Within these constraints AC advises that strategies for change based on success or strong performance, rather than managing underperformance, may have more chance of success. An objective way to support an assessment of strong performance might include additional funding brought into the Centre. In addition, AC notes that establishing expectation about timeframes for delivery is a useful tool. This has been done for the high-level goals and AC advises that the executive spend some more time reinforcing these with the individual Centre members responsible for delivery.
Develop science leaders
FLEET has a range of training and mentoring programs as well as partnership and internship programs. Education and training KPIs are tracking well although KPIs in partnership and mentoring are generally not being met. AC advises that FLEET executive review the targets and/or formulates plans to meet the relevant targets. AC also advises that FLEET considers whether the objectives are being met by means other than simply ticking KPI boxes. For instance, feedback from Centre members that they feel they are receiving adequate support in this space would be a useful counterpoint.
Another mechanism for developing science leaders is supporting researchers in access and resources for funding. Tracking success, particularly in junior to mid-career researchers, in obtaining external funding may be another indicator of good performance in this area.
Partnerships with industry, academia and government
FLEET appears to have good recognition both domestically and internationally so partnerships with academia and government should follow. AC questions whether visits to partners includes other academic institutions, including within FLEET partners?
AC notes that the Centre has undertaken a good number of presentations to industry. AC notes that relationship building with industry can be a long-term matter and advises continued efforts in this area. In particular, offering more channels for engagement should be investigated. For instance rather than simply undertaking presentations more interactive forms of engagement such as mutual workshops and asking for industry input on possible development pathways.
Specific interaction with FAC members such as An Chen and Luigi Colombo to develop key contacts and to understand engagement models used elsewhere is advised. Targeting the Asia-pacific region, asking for industry involvement in mentoring programs and considering seed funding for internal start-ups (perhaps using the NSF I-Corps model) are also suggested.
AC notes that, while “patents applied for” is present as a KPI, a measure that better shows early translation effort might be internal invention disclosure. AC suggests the executive consider adopting a measure such as this.
AC notes that most centre members are condensed matter physicists and less than 25% are engineers. An issue with industry engagement is where academia and industry do not speak the same language or share common values or perceptions. AC suggest that some Centre members become familiar with some standard business practices, for instance use of Gantt charts for monitoring progress to help grow a common language base. AC also suggests FLEET executives make use of their host institutions resources in industry engagement to seek ways to improve communication with industry.
Equity and Diversity
AC was particularly impressed with FLEET’s efforts to foster equity and diversity. FLEET has made good progress in improving gender balance through enhancing systemic support for women and early career researchers. The FLEET workshop itself was highly commended by FAC for its family friendly atmosphere and the encouragement this gives to researchers trying to maintain a balance between family activity and work activity.
Promote public science literacy
AC congratulates FLEET on its outreach activities and notes that the approach of requiring Centre members to spend 20 hours per year each on outreach also has benefits in the training and development of Centre researchers.
Communications
Internal and external communications, along with outreach, are important Centre activities. AC notes a well-coordinated effort in this space along with some tangible metrics, such as media mentions. AC recognises and congratulates FLEET for strong performance in communications.
General Comments
AC recommends a single point of access for relevant FLEET documentation and reports rather than emailing individual documents. This allows for a “one-stop” shop for access and also for some more real-time updating of relevant data on Centre performance.
FLEET Advisory Committee
29 January 2019
FLEET Advisory Committee
FLEET’s Advisory Committee helps the Executive Committee develop FLEET’s strategic plan, which sets out how the Centre will meet its goals, in particular in creating linkages with industry, academia, and government.
