Faculty Supported Collaborations FAQs

NB, this only relates to assessment of full applications in each competitive round.

Collaborations will be evaluated on the following four criteria:

1. Alignment with Advancing Research 2030 priorities and strategic value for the Faculty.
   For example: multidisciplinary research, research involving external collaboration, Indigenous led or research involving reciprocal learning with Indigenous peoples and communities, strengthening an emerging area, working with or within community, or communicating research impact.
2. Degree of methodological novelty and strategic value and for the research group, including capability development.
   For example: training ECRs/staff, gathering pilot data for grant submissions, or producing open source software/tools.
3. Alignment with MDAP capability and expertise.
4. Feasibility of proposed outputs and outcomes from this research undertaken in collaboration with MDAP, especially in regards to the University's Research Impact Framework.

Preference will be given to researchers who have not previously engaged with us through a Research Collaboration on a similar topic.

MDAP researchers are not designated to individual Faculties. However, MDAP comprises academics from multiple domains who will address discipline-specific queries. Any questions can be sent to us at mdap-info@unimelb.edu.au

The Faculty level coordination may occur at the discretion of each individual Faculty. Each Faculty (and a small number of relevant platforms and services) will be provided with a list of relevant EOIs to facilitate this. We recommend that in the first instance you contact your Faculty Research Manager to discuss your intended EOI submission.

MDAP researchers work collaboratively on a research project and expect to be acknowledged in any publications or other research outputs developed, and where appropriate, share authorship.​

Working with us may include, but is not limited to:​

• Collaborative research design process​
• Expertise in computing, data management and processing, computational analysis, visualisation, interpretation and more​
• Tools familiarisation and upskilling​
• MDAP researchers available to co-present in seminars, conferences etc​
• Contribution to grant or funding applications where appropriate​
• Advice on avenues for publishing or sharing research outcomes​

Our contribution will depend on your research and its requirements, and we invite you to contact us at mdap-info@unimelb.edu.au for further information. We can also redirect you to other platforms and groups at UoM who might be better suited to advance your research.

No.

We are a team of academic specialists, co-funded by Chancellery, Faculties and partial cost recovery. There is no cost to work with our team as part of a Collaboration. MDAP researchers who work collaboratively on a research project and expect to be acknowledged in any publications or other research outputs developed, and where appropriate, share authorship.

Researchers can also engage us directly as a researcher-funded engagement, or for advice and consultations.

Any researcher recognised as a faculty member by their relevant Associate Dean Research. This typically includes academic staff working at least 0.2 FTE within the University of Melbourne.

Staff holding honorary appointments should confirm eligibility with their Associate Dean Research prior to submitting an EOI.

Graduate Researchers

For graduate researchers, this may mean you need to apply with your supervisor as the Chief Investigator. Or, if you hold an academic staff position of at least 0.2 FTE, such as a research assistant, you can apply directly. Graduate researcher collaborations with MDAP could include work on a research topic separate to their thesis topic (including work that may be added as an appendix to their thesis) or when they are employed as a research assistant or similar on a separate project.

As our collaboration model is based on MDAP team members providing a substantial intellectual and scholarly contribution to a project, University policies mean that we cannot undertake a formal collaboration on a project where the work would be part of the body of a thesis and subject to assessment or examination. All graduate researchers are encouraged to discuss any potential applications with their supervisor(s).

If you fall outside these categories, but would value a collaboration with MDAP, we encourage you to contact us at mdap-info@unimelb.edu.au so that we can discuss your needs further.

There are no fixed criteria to define the scope of collaboration to which MDAP can contribute. Generally MDAP engagements last 3 months, and up to 9 months in some cases, and that significant impact/outcomes will be attainable within this time period. For example, contribution to peer-reviewed journal articles, public code releases, conference proceedings, etc.

The number of MDAP team members involved in any collaboration can vary during its life cycle, depending on the required skills and expertise at any one time. MDAP seeks to engage equally with researchers from all Faculties across the University.

MDAP are a group of academic Research Data Specialists who can provide advice and collaborate with researchers on any activity related to analysis, collection, storage, and presentation of data in support of research at the University. Further, we advise researchers on issues related to software, computing resources, and relevant infrastructure.

Disciplines vary in terms of data collection, analysis, and interpretation but there are recurring questions regarding management, computation, and infrastructure. Our team can help you to determine what is most suitable for your research questions and data, and how either MDAP or other academic and/or service provision groups across the University can best assist you.

In most cases, it will be. If you’re unsure, send us an email at mdap-info@unimelb.edu.au

Researchers and academics across all disciplines deal with diverse, significant and vast data sets. These can often benefit from bespoke consultations and collaborations with academic specialists about management, curation, computation, analysis, infrastructure, and preservation.

Given increased demands around research design, data management and open scholarship, it is important to recognise key points of the research cycle, and to ensure that these are adequately supported now and into the future.

NB, this only relates to the full application form (not the EOI)

Your response should include the following:

• Specify whether MDAP contributions are consistently required over the period of the collaboration, or whether there will be peak times where MDAP contributions are needed.
  • Example: The team will require higher contributions from MDAP collaborators at the commencement of the project when establishing XXXX.
  • Example: The team will require a consistent level of input from MDAP collaborators throughout the project to establish XXXX, analyse XXXX (etc.).
• Provide an estimate and justification of FTEs required and over what duration. This FTE may be split amongst several MDAP team members working on your project. NB, it is unlikely that the RAC will approve more than 1.0FTE to a single project.
  • Example: X MDAP collaborators are sought. MDAP contribution is expected to be X.X FTE, over X months. This will allow the team to XXXX (e.g., meet regularly, develop algorithms, develop research outputs such as journal articles, develop grant applications)
• Indicate the kinds of skills required to complete the research.
  • Example: The skills sought from MDAP collaborators for this research include XXXX

Yes, unless there are extenuating circumstances. The benefit of submitting an EOI (which is relatively short) is that the project can be appropriately triaged prior to the full application.