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Volume 7, Edition 2 – March 2011 |
ATN in PROFILE
The ATN has announced a new Doctoral Training Centre
designed to help address Australia’s need for researchers who are both
engaged with industry and who possess the associated skills to be effective
and productive beyond conducting research itself. It is calling for its
brightest maths PhD candidates to signal their interest in being involved in
the centre, intended to allow PhDs to undertake research programs and engage
with industry from the very beginning of their degree.
The ATN Industry Doctoral Training Centre (Mathematics) (IDTC-M) will be a
national first and will provide longer postgraduate courses and a form of
higher education that currently does not exist in Australia. Cohorts of
doctoral students will be created with capabilities that are generally not
currently acquired during Australian PhD candidature.
Launching the pilot centre in mathematics at the 2011 ATN Symposium,
Innovation Minister Senator Kim Carr congratulated the ATN on its efforts to
bridge the gap between the academy and the factory floor.
“This centre recognises that collaboration between universities, businesses
and students is vital,” Senator Carr said. “It is the only way we can meet
the growing demand for skills while opening secure career paths for
researchers”.
“The discipline of mathematics is an area of critical industry and research
need, and I applaud the ATN for its efforts to build Australia’s
capabilities in this area.”
All PhD projects undertaken within the Centre will have an industry context.
Discussions have commenced with industry partners who see great potential
for more industry engaged PhDs in mathematics, with benefits to both
industry and candidates.
The IDTC-M will act as a pilot for similar centres in other discipline
areas. Mathematics was chosen both due to the rise in demand for doctorates
in the field, projected to rise 37% between 2011 and 2020, and its
application in a wide range of fields, including; cryptography, network
analysis, optimisation, finance, operations research, physics and astronomy,
computer science and various areas of the biological sciences.
Commenting on the new Centre, the ATN Chair said, “The need for graduates to
possess advanced skills and the ability to innovate has been an ongoing
theme for business and industry for years, with the prevailing opinion being
that these skills are not only vitally important, but that they are an area
of concern when recruiting researchers.”
The Centre will formally embed these skills during a 4-year PhD program and
will see candidates undertaking study in disciplines which complement their
primary focus, producing more well-rounded graduates. An additional
important aspect of the Centres will be encouraging the PhD students to
engage with one another, with plans to bring together five candidates in
each ATN university and allowing them to network across the country.
“Our universities need to be innovative and creative in their doctoral
training, in order to produce the kind of 21st Century graduates that will
drive Australia’s productivity. This new initiative is an innovative
response to the challenges we face building Australia’s research workforce
and we believe it is an idea whose time has come.”
Senator Carr’s speech may be accessed from the ATN web site: www.atn.edu.au.