Research Strengths

CQUniversity seeks to become one of Australia’s most Engaged Universities with an emphasis on globally relevant activity that benefits the Central Queensland region. The invigoration of research as one of the key pillars in CQUniversity’s growth has focused on identifying key areas of research specialisation that will benefit the Central Queensland stakeholders. The Vice Chancellor’s vision is for CQUniversity to become one of the top twenty institutions in Australia, recognised for its applied research that engages with key stakeholders.

Our focus has been to emphasise research with relevance to the region, involving aspects of regional development, growth in resource industries, environmental management, issues associated with quality health care in rural and regional communities, and education delivery specifically through use of modern technology.

Our areas of research strength in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics disciplines include;

·         Mechanical and Electrical Engineering

·         Nursing and Allied Health

·         Population Health

·         Human Factors research

·         Applied Mathematics

·         Animal and Plant Production Systems with specific emphasis on Land Management

·         Environmental Management

·         Restoration Ecology and Rehabilitation of marine, freshwater and terrestrial systems

·         Marine Biosecurity

We also have a strong research focus in Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences including;

·         Education Research

·         Psychology

·         Applied Economics

·         History

·         Creative and Performing Arts

In the 2010 Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) exercise, CQUniversity Australia reported on 12 two-digit and 16 four-digit Fields of Research resulting in an ERA rating of World Class for Engineering (09) and Medical and Health Sciences (11), specifically in Nursing (1110). Changes to ERA in the 2012 exercise, coupled with the changes to CQUniversity staffing profile, resulted in a much stronger performance than in 2010.  CQUniversity reported on 15 two-digit and 21 four-digit Fields of Research with improvements in 40% of two-digit and 33% in four-digit Fields of Research. Our outcomes demonstrated equal to or much greater than World Class excellence in Mathematical Science (01), Agricultural and Veterinary Science (07), and Medical and Health Sciences (11) at the two-digit level, and Applied Mathematics (0102), Agriculture, Land and Farm Management (0701), Nursing (1110) and Other Medical and Health Sciences (1199).

These outcomes highlight the substantive investments in research made during the period of growth. Using the Scopus database (SciVal), we have demonstrable publication strengths in Mental Health Nursing, rated top in the world for our research outputs. Similarly, our Electrical Engineering, Applied Mathematics, Environmental Science and Applied Economics disciplines are recognised as in the top ten groupings based on Scopus publications.  Our focal areas of research growth will highlight these areas, but also emphasise the Humanities including Business and Tourism, History and Creative and Performing Arts.