Women in research? Investigating research opportunities for female academics in Australia

Women continue to be surprisingly under-represented in academia, given the increasing numbers of female postgraduate students and the flexible working conditions offered by most Australian Universities. To date, research has emphasised multiple causes for the 'gender gap' in academia, including the structural characteristics of the university system, cultural and societal barriers to the advancement of women, the influence of marital status on the productivity of women academics and the interaction of cultural, social and personality factors on women's professional careers. However, the implications of a 'gender gap' in academic rank reach beyond arguments of equality between sexes, to questions regarding consequences of a male-dominated professoriate to the nature and subjects of academic research in Australia. The aim of this paper is to investigate the factors that determine the rank of Australian academics and in part, to investigate whether there is a gender gap of rank or authority, through an analysis of data collected on all Australian academics by the Federal Department of Education, Science and Training. The implications of these findings on opportunities for female academic researchers and for research outcomes will be discussed.

The rise and fall of management: undergraduate engineering management education in Australia

The modern disciplines of engineering and management are inextricably linked. Frederick Taylor, Henry Gantt and Henri Fayol are engineers whose names are also part of the history of the theory and practice of management. As far back as 1968 it was identified that, “In all phases of practice in the profession the technical work is coupled, to a greater or lesser extent, with engineering management.” For more than 20 years the call had been increasing for an improvement in the preparation of engineering graduates in the area of management skills. In 1989 the IEAust created the task force on management engineering with the goal of formulating a policy for management education in engineering undergraduate courses. In 1990, the Council of the IEAust approved the Policy on Management Studies in Engineering Undergraduate Courses that said, “From January 1991 the Institution will require at least 5% management content in all professional engineering undergraduate courses and that the total of all management and management related components rises to the vicinity of 10% by 1995.” A 1999 analysis of engineering programs showed that the Policy had been applied with enthusiasm by about one-third of the engineering schools, fairly well in another third, remaining responses were ineffectual. Around the same time, revisions to the IEAust accreditation requirements de-emphasised the importance of management studies, mentioning it only as a subset of ‘professional practice’. By 2004 the IEAust stage 1 competency standards for professional engineers mentioned ‘management’ in only three of 79 indicators of competency. In 2002, the IEAust established the Centre for Engineering Leadership and Management. In December 2005 CELM established a working group, “…for improving the business and management content of undergraduate courses. It appears that it’s back (about 20 years) to the future for Australian undergraduate engineering management education.

Studying and working : a national study of student finances and student engagement

A key determinant of the new relationship between students and universities in Australia is the changing nature of higher education funding arrangements and the shift towards “user-pays”. In 2007, the Centre for the Study of Higher Education (CSHE) completed a commissioned national study, Australian University Student Finances 2006: Final Report of a National Survey of Students in Public Universities. Drawing on the project report, this article discusses selected findings relating to student expectations and engagement to present a worrying picture of financial duress and involvement in paid work and examines the possible effects on the quality of higher education.

Mothering in the freelance film industry: case studies in the postproduction film industry in Melbourne, Australia

This paper examines the dynamic relationship between work and life through the experiences of three mothers seeking to realise careers in the freelance film industry in Melbourne, Australia. The women were part of a larger sample of postproduction workers who were surveyed on their responses to technological change in the postproduction freeelance film industry but were out of the industry having children during the first wave of technological change. The paper examines qualitative data from these women and later longitudinal data in order to understand the limits of equal opportunity in an uneven playing field.

Integrating cost-effectiveness evidence into clincal practice guidelines in Australia for acute myocardial infarction

 A teaching hospital is working with the Victorian State Government and universities, integrating cost-effectiveness evidence into clinical practice guidelines (CPGs), protocols and pathways for respiratory and cardiology interventions. Acute myocardial infarction (AMI) findings are reported. Results will stimulate cost-effective practice and inform medical associations, federal and state governments and international organisations developing CPGs. Published CPGs by the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Foundation for AMI in 1999 are reviewed by a large interdis- ciplinary hospital-based committee given cost-effectiveness evidence. Levels of evi- dence criteria rating on methodological rigor for effectiveness and costs are applied. National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) grades of recommendation criteria for combinations of relative effectiveness versus relative costs and cut-off points are used. Extrapolating results between countries was addressed by applying the OECD's health purchasing power parity series. Recommendations for revisions to United States guidelines and for local application are formulated. United States Guide- lines require updating: Regarding angioplasty, percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) is cost-effective for men aged 60 years relative to recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (tPA),with additional cost per life year saved of 274 ecu. PTCA with discharge after 3 days is cost-effective in low-risk AMI. Regarding GP llb/Illa drugs, Abciximab during intervention incurred equal mean hospital costs for placebabciximab bolus, and abciximab bolus+ infusion with incremental 6-month cost for the latter treatment costing US$ 293 per patient. Agent recouped almost all initial therapy costs with significant benefits. Incre- mental cost of abciximab per event prevent- ed is US$ 3,258.Tirofiban was compared to placebo after high-risk angioplasty for AMI or unstable angina.Tirofiban decreased the rate of hospital deaths, myocardial infarc- tion, revascularisation at 2 days by 36% relative to placebo (8% vs. 12%) without increased cost. Clinical benefits were similar at 30 days.Tirofiban+heparin+aspirin was compared to heparin+aspirin.Tirofiban arm resulted in net savings of 33,418 ecu per 100 patients for the first 7 days of treatment. Regarding thrombolytics,tPA is more cost- effective than streptokinase. Incremental costs for each life saved when streptokinase is substituted by recombinant tissue plasmi- nogen are 31%,45%, 97% higher in Germa- ny, Italy and the United States than in the United Kingdom. Regarding anticoagulants, enoxaparin is a promising alternative to unfractionated heparin for hospitalised patients with non-Q-wave myocardiai infarc- tion or unstable angina, saving C$ 1,485 per patient over 12 months with 10% reduction in 1 year risk of death, myocardial infarction or recurrent angina. Regarding anti- arrhymics, the cost-effectiveness of no amiodarone, amiodarone for patients with depressed heart rate variability (DHRV),and amiodarone for patients with DHRV plus positive programmed ventricular stimula- tion (PPVS) for high-risk post-AMI was investigated. Amiodarone for DHRV+PPVS patients was dominated by a blend of the two alternatives. Compared to no amioda- rone, the incremental cost-effectiveness of amiodarone for DHRV patients was US$ 39,422 per quality adjusted life year gained. Amiodarone for DHRV is the most appropriate. Other CPG updates concern serum markers, for example, cardiac troponin I assay (c-Tnl), cost advantages of ad hoc angioplasty and secondary prevention through antioxidants and pravastatin. Australian costs are reported later in the paper.

Team-based strategy at Varian Australia : a case study

This article discusses the use of work teams at Varian Australia, a manufacturing organisation based in Melbourne, Australia. The company manufactures high-technology instruments that are largely exported to the USA and Europe. The paper describes the experiences of the company with continuous improvement process teams (CIP) and corrective action team (CATs) over a decade, from 1990 to 2000. The article discusses the reasons for the slow down of the process improvement program and the appropriate changes that were made to relaunch the continuous improvement strategy at Varian Australia. Based on the qualitative analysis in this article, a number of interesting lessons can be learned. The main lesson is that voluntary, cross-functional teams are more effective than compulsory membership, as team members are motivated to work towards their goals and better understand the processes. Team members found that by working together the result of their combined effort was much greater than the combined results of their individual efforts. This approach reduced the product development cycle on Varian projects by up to 50%.

Health impact assessment in Australia

A recently published paper which describes the status of health impact assessment (HIA) in Australia in 2003 provides a vantage point from which to see how rapidly HIA is developing across the country. When the report Health impact assessment: a tool for policy development in Australia was released in 2002 there was little use of HIA beyond environmental management applications. By late 2005, most states and territories are undertaking a variety of HIA activities either routinely or experimentally. Traditional divisions between environmental project-level applications that focus on health protection and public health policy-level applications that focus on health promotion, are largely disappearing. These are being replaced by a growing understanding of the need for complementarity in approach and cross-sectoral working. This is not to say that there are high levels of activity, but both awareness and action are increasing.

Risky doctorates : managing doctoral studies in Australia as managing risk

This paper draws on work by the author as part of a team undertaking an ARC Discovery project entitled: The Impact of Risk Management on Doctoral Research Policy and Pedagogy in Australian Universities. The team is Erica McWilliam, Peter Taylor, Terry Evans and Alan Lawson, with Eluned Lloyd and Karen Tregenza. Some of the ideas in this paper reflect our discussions, reading and other work as part of this project.

Arguably, part of any manager’s work involves the identification and assessment of risks and then working to minimise or manage them. However, never has this been more important than is the case today for the manager of doctoral studies in Australia. Partly this is related to the rising risk consciousness and risk aversion in contemporary societies, but more particularly it is related to the dangers and harms that have been infused by the Australian government into its policies on ‘research training’ (that is, principally doctoral education) and quality assurance. This article explores the consequences of these two trends, one general and one specific, on the management and nature of doctoral research in Australia.

Standardising differences? Theorising 'identities' and pedagogical approaches to working with diversity

‘Race’, socio-economic status, gender and ethnicity are theorised as fluid, dynamic and interconnected categories of identity within post-structural theories. Understanding identities as socio-culturally constructed offers opportunities to think differently about how teachers and teacher education students position themselves and are positioned within these discourses. In Australia, where the teaching profession is overwhelmingly Anglo-Australian (Rizvi 1992; Santoro et al, 2001), mono-lingual and of middle-class background, Australian students are becoming far more linguistically and culturally diverse. Since engagement with teachers who ‘know’ their students, (Delpit, 1995) and the communities from which they come is a major predictor of successful educational outcomes, the growing disparity between teachers’ and students’ cultural and classed experiences is of concern. While teacher education programs focus on developing the attributes in new graduates to work productively with difference, the actualities of doing so are problematic.

This paper reviews some current Australian, North American and United Kingdom approaches to working with student teachers’ constructs of self in terms of ethnicity, ‘race’ and class in order to problematise taken-for-granted ideas of ‘normal’. It considers debates that surface around ‘individuality’ versus ‘collective’ differences; additionally, some of the resistances and dilemmas that emerge when ‘white’, middle class students are asked to rethink their own positionality are examined. Questions regarding what constitutes productive ways to teach inclusive and transformative pedagogies are raised in light of current theory and practice.

Underpricing of energy IPOs in Australia

The underpricing of initial public offerings (IPOs) has been discussed in the literature for over thirty years. Underpricing is the term used when the issue price of the shares of a company raising public equity capital and seeking to list on a stock exchange is below the closing price of the shares on the first day of listing. As such, underpricing theoretically allows subscribing investors the opportunity of making a return on the day of listing. The international evidence as examined in [4] and updated in [5] has documented that subscribing investors made handsome double-digit' (for example US IPOs - 15.7%, UK IPOs 12%, Turkish IPOs - 13.1 %, Greek IPOs -49.0%) or even triple-digit (for example Chinese IPOs 256.9%) statistically significant positive first day returns, on average. These studies are generally however of industrial company IPOs.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the underpricing returns of Australian energy IPOs from January 1994 to June 2007. Two previous studies into natural resource IPOs in Australia only made fleeting mention of energy IPOs because of the small sample sizes. [3] identified 2 solid fuel IPOs and 13 oil and gas IPOs (amongst 130 other natural resource IPOs) during 1979 to 1990 and advised average underpricing returns of 106.5% and 47.3% respectively for investors subscribing to these IPOs. [2] investigated 19 energy IPOs (amongst 96 other natural resource IPOs) from 1994 to 1999 and reported an average underpricing return of 8.3%.

The sample set of 134 used in this study is significantly greater than previous Australian studies. These 134 energy IPOs raised over $1.945 billion of public equity capital from January 1994 to June 2007. [3] reports on the importance of the natural resources sectors to Australia's economy and the fact that companies working in these sectors constitute around one third of the entities listed on the Australian Stock Exchange.

This study also follows a highly influential paper in the IPO literature by [I]. They argue that the lower the uncertainty about the value of an IPO, the lower the underpricing needed to attract subscribers. Given the linkage between uncertainty and underpricing, this study seeks to identify the factors that might influence uncertainty and hence underpricing.

The study found that the mean underpricing return for these energy lPOs is 22.8% and statistically significant. The model used to investigate variables that might help explain the level of underpricing in this industry sector is also particularly useful. An important finding in the study for new issuers, underwriters and subscribing investors is that those energy IPO firms that used underwriters had substantially lower underpricing. The other finding that larger issues are likely to have lower underpricing is consistent with prior industrial company IPO studies.

The early postnatal period : exploring women's views, expectations and experiences of care using focus groups in Victoria, Australia

Background: There is growing evidence from Australia and overseas that the care provided in hospital in the early postnatal period is less than ideal for both women and care providers. Many health services face increasing pressure on hospital beds and have limited physical space available to care for mothers and their babies. We aimed to gain a more in-depth understanding of women's views, expectations and experiences of early postnatal care.

Methods: We conducted focus groups in rural and metropolitan Victoria, Australia in 2006. Fifty-two people participated in eight focus groups and four interviews. Participants included eight pregnant women, of whom seven were pregnant with their first baby; 42 women who were in the postpartum period (some up to twelve months after the birth of their baby); and two partners. All participants were fluent in English. Focus group guides were developed specifically for the study and explored participants' experiences and/or expectations of early postnatal care in hospital and at home, with an emphasis on length of hospital stay, professional and social support, continuity of care, and rest. Discussions were audio-taped and transcribed verbatim. A thematic network was constructed to describe and connect categories with emerging basic, organizing, and global themes.

Results: Global themes that emerged were: anxiety and/or fear; and the transition to motherhood and parenting. The needs of first time mothers were considered to be different to the needs of women who had already experienced motherhood. The women in this study were generally concerned about the safety of their new baby, and lacked confidence in themselves as new mothers regarding their ability to care for their baby. There was a consistent view that the physical presence and availability of professional support helped alleviate these concerns, and this was especially the case for women having a first baby.

Conclusion: Women have anxieties and fears around early parenting and their changing role, and may consider that the physical availability of professional care providers will help during this time. Care providers should be cognisant of these potential issues. It is crucial that women's concerns and needs be considered when service delivery changes are planned. If anxiety around new parenting is a predominant view then care providers need to recognise this and ensure care is individualised to address each woman's/families particular concerns.

Are perceptions of the physical and social environment associated with mothers' walking for leisure and for transport? A longitudinal study

Objective
The role local neighbourhood environments play in influencing purpose-specific walking behaviors has not been well-explored in prospective studies. This study aimed to cross-sectionally and prospectively examine whether local physical and social environments were associated with mothers' walking for leisure and for transport.

Methods
In 2004, 357 mothers from Melbourne, Australia, provided information on their local physical and social neighbourhood environments, and in 2004 and 2006 reported weekly time spent walking for leisure and for transport. Environmental predictors of high levels of walking and increases in walking were examined using log binomial regression.

Results
Public transport accessibility and trusting many people in the neighbourhood were predictive of increases in walking for leisure, while connectivity, pedestrian crossings, a local traffic speed were predictive of increases in transport-related walking. Satisfaction with local facilities was associated with increasing both types of walking, and the social environment was important for maintaining high levels of both leisure- and transport-related walking.

Conclusion
The findings provide evidence of a longitudinal relationship between physical and social environments and walking behaviors amongst mothers. Enhancing satisfaction with local facilities and giving consideration to ‘walkability’, safety and public transport accessibility during environment planning processes may help mothers to increase walking.