Excellence in Research for Australia: Macquarie’s science results
(Note – this article is about the 2009 ERA ratings. In 2012 ERA, the Macquarie Astronomy and Space Sciences was ranked 5 – well above world standard)
Macquarie University has received a maximum five rating for its research in Physical Sciences and in Earth Sciences, following the Australian Research Council’s first Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) trial. This places the University in the top group of Australian universities in these key science disciplines.
The three rating received for Chemical Sciences is also above both the Australian average and benchmarked world performance.
Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) at Macquarie, Professor Jim Piper, said the results were a well-deserved recognition of the excellent research being undertaken each year within Macquarie’s Faculty of Science.
“I would like to congratulate our exceptional scientists for all their hard work, and also thank the professional staff who contribute enormously to our research effort. Our ERA team in the Faculties and the DVC Research Offices have also done a great job in preparing the ERA trial submissions.”
The three discipline areas and their sub-discipline areas were each rated on a 1-5 scale:
- Research outputs generally below world performance
- Research outputs commensurate with world performance
- High quality research outputs exceeding world performance
- Very high quality research outputs consistently exceeding world performance-the research outputs have made several major international contributions
- Exceptional quality research outputs substantially exceeding world performance- the research outputs demonstrate the highest standards of quality and scholarly impact
The University received information both on Macquarie’s ratings and the average ratings for Australian institutions (these are the averages independent of size). The ratings were:
Physical Sciences: Macquarie rating 5, Australian average rating 3.2
Astronomical and Space Sciences: Macquarie rating 2, Australian average 4.1
Atomic, Molecular, Nuclear, Particle and Plasma Physics: Macquarie rating 5, Australian average 3.3
Condensed Matter Physics: Macquarie rating 5, Australian average 2.75
Optical Physics: Macquarie rating 5, Australian average 3.9
Quantum Physics: Macquarie rating 5, Australian average 3.4
Chemical Sciences: Macquarie rating 3, Australian average 2.8
Physical Chemistry (incl. Structural Chemistry): Macquarie rating 2, Australian average 2.7
Earth Sciences: Macquarie rating 5, Australian average 2.9
Atmospheric Sciences: Macquarie rating 2, Australian average 2.4
Geochemistry: Macquarie rating 5, Australian average 3.4
Geology: Macquarie rating 5, Australian average 4.6
The second ERA trial was in the Humanities and Creative Arts, with assessment results expected in the next few weeks. The ERA assessment will be conducted in all 41 Higher Education Institutions in Australia in all research disciplines in 2010.
Any enquiries from the media should be directed to:
Greg Welsh
Phone: (02) 9850 7456
Email address: greg.welsh@mq.edu.au