National Research Network

&rquo; LEF Aotearoa

Email from Mark Jackson, June 2009:

Dear colleagues, The National  Network for creative research practices had its second national meeting coinciding with the ANZAAE conference in Dunedin in April this year. Thank you Professor Leoni Schmidt for inviting the Network and organising the session. Discussion focussed on three arenas: (i) progress of the working group on developing a national peer review or quality assurance mechanism for a range of creative practice research outcomes.

The working group, Chaired by Marcus Williams (UNITEC) comprises Clive Humpheries (Otago Polytechnic), David Cook (Wintec), Matt Mollgaard (AUT) and Tina Hong (formerly UNITEC, now QUT). The working group has developed a comprehensive list of potential discipline-specific peer reviewers. The group is currently refining a mechanism or structure that will facilitate a quality assurance process for a range of creative works outcomes. This mechanism will be further discussed at our planned third national meeting, to coincide with the annual SPARK event at WINTEC. (ii) discussion with Professor Ken Friedman, who was a Keynote at the ANZAAE conference. Ken has been instrumental in establishing late last year an Australiasian Design Research network that includes a number of institutions in Australia and New Zealand. We discussed the establishment of our network with Ken and the possible synergies and collaborations that can take place with his group. '''(iii) Discussion on the formalising or informality of the Network, that is, whether we go down a more formal path with respect to membership, affiliation, events and so on. '''

Or whether the Network remains a loose association that facilitates exchanges and co-operations. There was some suggestion that the Network maintains a grafting relation to existing events and organisations, such as its presence at the ANZAAE conference, or proposed meeting at SPARK. In developing the peer-review mechanism, this has become an issue in terms of developing a more formal membership structure for access to peer review. It also becomes a matter of concern with respect to the possible effectiveness of the Network as a lobby group with respect to research funding opportunities or the PBRF research evaluation process. This discussion will be ongoing. As already mentioned, there is a planned third meeting scheduled for August 6 in the early afternoon at the annual SPARK event. SPARK is a week-long (3-7 August) series of events, presentations and workshops that focus around contemporary media, art and design ( http://www.spark.net.nz/ ). When the programme is finalised we will circulate it via the network. One of the keynotes for that event, Professor Paul Seawright from the University of Ulster in Belfast, will be attending our Network session to discuss his experience in the UK with assessment for the RAE and perspectives on creative works research. We will also be opening discussion on a peer review mechanism to develop critique and quality assurance for creative works research across our national TEO sectors. There is another event coming up on June 27 at UNITEC. It is a one-day research symposium on design research. It is also an occasion for a call-for-papers for a new journal on design research, "Antipodes." Please see the attached pdf for details. Please keep in contact with events that may be of interest to creative research practitioners, or other issues that may assist in maintaining and developing the network. kind regards, Mark Jackson Dr MARK JACKSON Associate Professor of Design Associate Dean Research & Postgraduate Studies FACULTY OF DESIGN & CREATIVE TECHNOLOGIES AUT UNIVERSITY Private Bag 92006 Auckland 1142 New Zealand Phone 64 9 921 9999 ext 8648 Fax    64 9 921 0412 Cell    021 920 114 e-mail mark.jackson@aut.ac.nz