Leanne Harvey is leaving the Australian Research Council to join her old boss there, Margaret Sheil who is now vice chancellor of QUT. Ms Harvey will move north in December, becoming VP administration and registrar. She will replace Shard Lorenzo who is retiring. The appointment is part of Professor Sheil’s shuffle of senior executive portfolios, (CMM August 13).

Ms Harvey joined the ARC in 2008 and is executive general manager. She was crucial to the immensely complex design and introduction of the Excellence for Research in Australia programme. “The backbone of the ARC for a decade,” Innovative Research Universities Conor King calls her.

This is a big loss at a challenging time for the ARC, with the panels assessing the new impact and engagement measures (unless new minister Dan Tehan has other ideas) now working.

A learned reader suggests that Brisbane is now a research policy-powerhouse. The last three ARC chairs are there, Aidan Byrne, (provost at UoQ) Peter Hoj, (VC at UoQ), and Professor Sheil. And now they are joined by a very senior ARC senior manager.