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Summary of ACUR Activities

  1. We hold an annual Australasian Conference of Undergraduate Research. This multidisciplinary event is held in the Southern Spring hosted by a higher education institution in Australasia. Each year the conference is organised by a team of staff and students in a different university or college.

  2. We provide networking opportunities for staff through other events including meetings and colloquia for supervisors, academics and university managers to exchange good practice, share ideas and resources; and extend knowledge of how to strengthen undergraduate research and research-based learning.

  3. We raise the national and international profile of undergraduate research through high profile events. For example, Posters in Parliament Exhibition and Celebration of Undergraduate Research in Parliament House, Canberra. Such events provide opportunities for undergraduate researchers to exhibit and talk about their research in an important public forum.

  4. We provide consultancy services and searchable resources (e.g. publications, guides, artifacts) to enhance practice and assist undergraduate research implementation;

  5. We enhance students’ professional readiness through work-related mentoring;

  6. We award annual Medals to celebrate and reward undergraduate research implementation – students and staff;

  7. We further support undergraduate research provision across Australia and New Zealand by sharing information and resources, through:

    1. ACUR’s bi-annual newsletter Undergraduate Research News Australasia (URNA)

    2. The ACUR website: http://www.acur.org.au;

    3. Liaising with other undergraduate research networks worldwide

    4. ACUR’s social media presence. The ACUR Student Committee communicates via social media and is an important way of ensuring that the undergraduate research student voice is heard.

    5. The ACUR Discord Forum

  8. We organise occasional competitions for undergraduate student researchers to demonstrate research and inquiry skills

  9. We carry out research on undergraduate research implementation and evaluation

  10. We celebrate institutional commitment to undergraduate research through public recognition on our website.

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Strategy and Influence

All matters of policy and practice are the responsibility of the ACUR Executive Committee whose members are principally senior academics who work on a voluntary basis supported by their university.  The Student Committee is a sub-committee of the Executive, and students designated as the present and previous heads of the Student Committee serve on the Executive. An administrator is employed for a few hours per week to assist with day-to-day management.

Members of the Executive work within 7 Directorates each with a designated director:

  • Strategy and Influence,

  • Conferences,

  • Memberships,

  • Sponsorships and Partnerships,

  • Events and Publicity,

  • Students, and

  • Research.

The Executive Committee acts on the advice of a Steering Committee whose members are representatives of Australasian member institutions, individual experts in undergraduate research, and representatives of other universities and organisations for undergraduate research worldwide as invited by the Executive.

Want to know more? Search the website for further information about the Executive and Steering Committee and Profiles of individuals.

ACUR Achievements

  • 11 Undergraduate research conferences held in Universities in Australasia

  • 1200 Conference presentations by undergraduate researchers

  • Total of 23 Australasian university Institutional members over 12 years of operation

  • Steering Committee includes 83 world experts and institutional representatives from 37 Universities in Australia and New Zealand, and 13 experts from around the world.

  • 25 Issues of the ACUR Newsletter Undergraduate Research News Australasia (URNA) Published)

  • Major contribution to The Cambridge Handbook of Undergraduate Research (Meig, H., Ambos, E., Brew, A., Galli, D. M & Lehmann, J. (Eds.). (2022). Cambridge University Press. DOI: 10.1017/9781108869508)