Setting the research agenda: strategic, research, and impact value of large-scale funded projects in Australasia

Abstract

The articles in this Special Issue Strategic research directions: Large-scale funded projects in Australasia collectively showcase a range of large-scale research projects sponsored by funding bodies in Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore-all key members of the MERGA community. Unusually for a research journal we have chosen to showcase these projects in the early stages as a way of communicating to the field what leading researchers and funders currently regard as significant and strategic research. Prompted by the unprecedented success rate of Australian mathematics education researchers in the 2016 Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Projects funding round we invited the six successful teams, along with researchers from the New Zealand and Singapore, to write about their projects.Of course, we know that important research is conducted without funding-most notably the cutting edge contributions of doctoral studies and theoretical expositionsand acknowledge that many smaller funded project make significant contributions to the field. However, the projects featured in this issue represent a window into what research teams, policy makers, and government agencies collectively consider worthwhile in terms of national significance, innovation, and capacity building for field of mathematics education. For this reason, it is argued that the projects featured in this Special Issue represent in part the strategic directions for mathematics education research in Australasia. While authors of each article provide an overview of the aims, the theoretical and methodological frameworks, and expected contribution or their particular study, in this editorial I look at the collective contribution in terms of strategic value, research value, and impact value.

برنامج مقترح قائم علی بُعد التنمیة المستدامة للبرنامج الرئاسی لتأهیل التنفیذیین للقیادة (EPLP) لطلاب إدارة الأعمال الدولیة لتنمیة كفاءات اللغة الإنجلیزیة للأعمال A Proposed Program Based on Sustainable Development Dimension of EPLP for Students of International Business Management to Develop Business English Competencies

“…While higher education should promote the knowledge, perspectives, and practices that support societies to accomplish development. (Anthony, 2017)…”

Motives of the Egyptian Education Future for Sustainable Development: A Comparative Analysis Between 2020 and 2030

“…From this perspective, sustainability is about solving problems we face through technological development (E.g., better use of resources, alternative energy sources, better waste disposal, and recycling techniques), more dynamic economic growth, and more equitable distribution of the proceeds of that growth. However, when viewed from a healthy sustainability perspective, a weak sustainability model preserves development rather than nature or the environment (Anthony, 2017). The strong argument for sustainability is that we need to take a more centralized view of the environment for which nature values.…”

“…Therefore, Education for Sustainability aspires to educate students with the ability, ambition, and knowledge to make decisions that balance the need to maintain healthy ecosystems with the need to maintain vibrant economies and equitable social systems in this and all future generations. (Anthony, 2017) It is important to note how this concept is described in the context of the ESE curriculum as follows: Education for Sustainability develops global knowledge, skills, values, and perspectives that are necessary and appropriate for more sustainable lifestyles. It enables individuals and communities to think about ways of interpreting and participating in the world.…”

“…The environment is influenced by how people interact with the world, and the understanding of the four pillars of sustainability (environmental, economic, political, and social) reflects this understanding. (Anthony, 2017) These changes in focus have been accompanied by a difference in the discourse towards the concepts of sustainable development and hence, the environment and sustainable development. Since 1987, the Brundtland Report (United Nations, 1987) has linked sustainable development to education.…”