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ARNAM 2005 Annual Report

Executive Summary

The ARC Australian Research Network for Advanced Materials (ARNAM) has gained considerable momentum over the past year, with a huge increase in membership and a number of exciting initiatives and activities. There are now over 300 members from every institution actively involved with materials research across the country. There are four active nodes, involving materials applications areas of IT/communications, structural and functional materials, advanced manufacturing and sustainability, that collectively cover a very broad spectrum of materials research activities supported by the ARC.

ARNAM has established three working groups under the executive committee to develop initiatives and programs for ARNAM events, for early career researcher (ECR) and student programs and to oversee network communications. As well as holding an annual event for all members, the events committee receives applications for funding of specialist interdisciplinary workshops from members. Five such workshops have been held to date and participation has been extremely high from ECRs and research students.

This year the main event, ARNAM2006, will be held in Brisbane and is focused on interdisciplinary presentations from ECRs and students, with key overviews being given by more experienced researchers. Already 114 abstracts have been received across broad topic areas not normally presented at the one single meeting. The ECR/students committee has developed an initiative for funding collaborative research visits of ECRs/students to another institution, whereby travel and accommodation costs are covered by ARNAM for collaborative research up to a few months duration. Eleven such visits have been funded to date and it is pleasing to note that such network activities have been directly responsible for some important new interdisciplinary collaborations.

The ECR/student committee has also recommended support for several expert lecture tours, targeted at ECRs/students. The main initiative of the communications committee has been ARNAM’s website, which has many features that add to the network. These include: listing of materials events, nationally and internationally; easy to access application forms for membership and network-funded programs; links to other networks and research organisations; a detailed membership list with profiles, including key publications of every member; and an extensive list of capabilities and facilities available within member institutions. The research profiles and facilities databases and searchable and interactive and provide the most extensive materials capability resource yet available in Australia.

Finally, the network has co-opted a science writer to work up topical materials articles for the network and the popular press, as well as sponsoring an advanced materials ‘NOVA’ website through the Australian Academy of Science. Finally, member publication lists for 2005 indicate over 1000 research publications, with an estimated 40% involving cross-institutional collaboration. Although it is too early to tell, we suspect that some of this collaboration derives from ARNAM interactions.

Professor Jim Williams
Convenor

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	ARNAM 2005 Annual Report Executive Summary The ARC Australian Research Network for Advanced Materials (ARNAM) has gained considerable momentum over the past year, with a huge increase in membership and a number of exciting initiatives and activities. There are now over 300 members from every institution actively involved with materials research across the country. There are four active nodes, involving materials applications areas of IT/communications, structural and functional materials, advanced manufacturing and sustainability, that collectively cover a very broad spectrum of materials research activities supported by the ARC. ARNAM has established three working groups under the executive committee to develop initiatives and programs for ARNAM events, for early career researcher (ECR) and student programs and to oversee network communications. As well as holding an annual event for all members, the events committee receives applications for funding of specialist interdisciplinary workshops from members. Five such workshops have been held to date and participation has been extremely high from ECRs and research students. This year the main event, ARNAM2006, will be held in Brisbane and is focused on interdisciplinary presentations from ECRs and students, with key overviews being given by more experienced researchers. Already 114 abstracts have been received across broad topic areas not normally presented at the one single meeting. The ECR/students committee has developed an initiative for funding collaborative research visits of ECRs/students to another institution, whereby travel and accommodation costs are covered by ARNAM for collaborative research up to a few months duration. Eleven such visits have been funded to date and it is pleasing to note that such network activities have been directly responsible for some important new interdisciplinary collaborations. The ECR/student committee has also recommended support for several expert lecture tours, targeted at ECRs/students. The main initiative of the communications committee has been ARNAM’s website, which has many features that add to the network. These include: listing of materials events, nationally and internationally; easy to access application forms for membership and network-funded programs; links to other networks and research organisations; a detailed membership list with profiles, including key publications of every member; and an extensive list of capabilities and facilities available within member institutions. The research profiles and facilities databases and searchable and interactive and provide the most extensive materials capability resource yet available in Australia. Finally, the network has co-opted a science writer to work up topical materials articles for the network and the popular press, as well as sponsoring an advanced materials ‘NOVA’ website through the Australian Academy of Science. Finally, member publication lists for 2005 indicate over 1000 research publications, with an estimated 40% involving cross-institutional collaboration. Although it is too early to tell, we suspect that some of this collaboration derives from ARNAM interactions. Professor Jim Williams Convenor Back to Annual Report Introduction