A petition to parliament calls for legislation to stop ministers’ overriding Australian Research Council grant funding recommendations and to require the council to announce grants within three weeks of decisions. There’s another big issue

Veto and delays have attracted ire in the research community since Christmas

But there’s another point on the petition that recognises a risk to the authority of the research community. The petition asks for an amendment to the ARC act, “to require senior  research expertise of all members admitted to the ARC College of Experts.”

This is a response to Acting Education Minister Stuart Robert’s December 6 request that the ARC  provide options to, “include experts from backgrounds beyond universities, in particular those from industry and other end-user groups.” Mr Robert also asked for a new ARC advisory committee “with substantial research end-user and governance representation”.

150 College of Experts members have already opposed industry reps (CMM January 20).

Another issue for senators to ask ARC officers about at Estimates today.