The Supporting Research Community is an online forum for all staff at ACU member universities who are involved in supporting the research process, including research management and administration, research impact and uptake, and library services. Researchers at all levels are also welcome to join.
The Community enables staff at ACU member universities from across the Commonwealth to connect directly, share knowledge and good practice, discover opportunities for collaboration and partnership and keep up-to-date with news and trends. From September 2025, the Community will be hosted on the ACU’s online networking platform, ACU Connect.
Universities are under pressure to attract funding and demonstrate research impact, and research offices and researchers are key to achieving this. The purpose of this Community is to support and build the capacity of research offices and staff in member universities, drawing on the ACU’s track record within the field of research management and uptake. It explores the following themes:
Themes:
- Research impact and uptake
- Research administration
- Research funding
- Open access
- Decolonising research
- Research ethics and integrity
- Professional development of researchers, including early career
- How libraries support the research process in universities
Open to staff at ACU Member universities, the Supporting Research Community Training Grants fund recipients to organise and deliver training for their early career and/or mid career researchers, including doctoral candidates. These grants are delivered as part of one of the key aims of the Supporting Research Community, which is to help the development of early and mid career researchers across the Commonwealth.
You can find out more about the grants, including application opening dates and stories about previous grant awardees, through the link below.
Benefits
This community provides a dedicated online space where insights, knowledge and resources can be shared directly between university staff to support personal and professional development and inform institutional practice. Members have the opportunity to:
- Expand your international network and build new relationships
- Access and share resources
- Share knowledge and good practice
- Create and post in discussions with other Community members
- Discover the latest opportunities from the ACU and our partners including speaking and funding opportunities
- Promote the work of your university
- Engage in research support-related initiatives facilitated by the ACU
- Raise the profile of research support-related issues and contribute to the ACU’s policy and advocacy work
By joining the ACU Supporting Research Community, the University of Johannesburg (UJ) Library was given a platform where we could share information and resources, find new opportunities, and became connected to the pulse of what is happening. The UJ Library successfully hosted our first virtual international conference with speakers from the Community from Mauritius to Trinidad and Tobago to Hong Kong. The highlight of this collaboration will be a published peer reviewed book where speakers will contribute a chapter.
Join the community
There are two main ways to be part of the community:
The community is open to all staff members and students at ACU member universities - with over 400 member universities in 40 countries, that’s a potential group of 10 million students and more than 1 million academic and professional staff.
Whether you are a professional, academic, vice-chancellor or student at an ACU member university, by joining you will instantly become part of a global collaboration with a diverse set of potential partners. You can join as many ACU networks and communities as you like, at any time.
Steering Committee
The Steering Committee sets the vision, strategic direction and delivery plans for the community. Some committee members also lead a thematic group that focuses on a mission-oriented or subject based theme for the community.
- Dr Therina Theron, Senior Director: Research and Innovation at Stellenbosch University, South Africa (Chair)
- Melaine D'Cruze, Director of the Research Office at Aga Khan University, Pakistan
- Professor Maria Frahm-Arp, Executive Director of the Library and Information Centre at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa
- Peter Gostomski, Professor of Chemical & Process Engineering and acting Deputy Vice-Chancellor Research at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand
- Professor Nelago Indongo, Director of the Centre for Research Services at the University of Namibia
- Dr Simon Kerridge, INORMS RAAAP Taskforce, UK
- Professor Kavi Kumar Khedo, Deputy Director General at the University of Technology, Mauritius
- Dr Mousumi Mukherjee, Associate Professor & Deputy Director of the International Institute for Higher Education Research and Capacity Building, Member Secretary of the Research Ethics and Review Board and founding Executive Director of the Centre for Comparative and Global Education at O.P. Jindal Global University, India
- Dr Pamela Raburu, Associate Professor in Educational Psychology and Director Quality Enhancement and Assurance at Jaramogi Oginga Odinga University of Science and Technology (JOOUST), Kenya
- Dr Meghna Ramaswamy, Director of the International Office at the University of Saskatchewan, Canada
- Michael Vandenburg, Dean of Libraries at Dalhousie University, Canada
We have a selection process for recruiting Steering Committee members when vacancies arise. We will announce when there are opportunities to join.
Being on the steering committee is a privilege, helping to shape the direction of development opportunities for research managers and administrators around the world – and have some fun along the way. I also benefit from networking and have had the opportunity to co-present with fellow steering committee member David Phipps, and contribute (virtually) to a conference in Johannesburg. If you are thinking of putting yourself forward for the steering committee, don’t hesitate, join us and help professionalise research support.