Australia

Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA)
Engagement and Impact (EI) Assessment

Purpose

Australia’s former national research assessment exercise, Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA), was a primarily summative assessment model conducted from 2010 to 2018 and administered by the Australian Research Council (ARC). The first ERA assessment took place in 2010, following a trial in 2009. The ARC published the results in early 2011, with subsequent assessments held in 2012, 2015 and 2018. In ERA 2012 and ERA 2015, the results affected both funding and institutional reputation, however it ceased being connected to funding in the 2018 exercise and ceased operating at all in 2023.

ERA aimed to:

Promote excellence: Rigorously assess research quality to promote pursuit of excellence across all fields and all types of research
Inform decisions: Provide a rich and robust source of information on university research excellence and activity to inform and support the needs of university, industry, government, and community stakeholders
Demonstrate quality: Provide government and the public with evidence of the quality of research produced by Australia’s universities
Enable comparisons: Allow for comparisons between Australian universities and against world standard for all discipline areas.

Year of Introduction
2010

Census period
3 years

Governance agency(s)
Australian Research Council

Most recent occurrence
2018

Purpose
Funding allocation and reputation

Unit of Assessment
Disciplines across organizations

Focus of Assessment
Scholarly outputs

Governance

The ERA exercise was managed by the Australian Research Council (ARC), an intermediary organisation responsible for overseeing research funding on behalf of the Australian Government.

The national academic community was actively involved in shaping ERA’s design and periodic adjustments. Participation in the ERA was incentivised, but not mandatory.

Operation of the exercise

The ERA focused on the assessment of scholarly outputs.

The ERA assessed research performance at the discipline level within universities, covering a wide range of fields, from quantum physics to literature. It identified Australia’s strengths in key areas and showcased the research performance of individual universities, allowing for comparisons across disciplines.

ERA assessed research outputs using a combination of peer review and bibliometric analysis, both moderated by expert panels. The assessment method varied depending on the field of research: STEM disciplines were primarily assessed through bibliometric analysis, while Humanities and Social Sciences were mainly assessed through peer review.

History, reviews and evaluations

ERA evolved over time, with periodic reviews to ensure it aligned with Australia’s research priorities. In 2020-21, the ARC conducted a comprehensive review of ERA and the Engagement and Impact Assessment (EI), a companion exercise, to ensure the national assessments met Australia’s future needs. In response to the ARC Act Review, the Australian Government discontinued ERA and the EI Assessment in 2023. A future approach to national research evaluation was recommended in the 2024 final report of the Australian Universities Accord, with work currently underway.

Last updated: May 2025

Acknowledgements: Information provided by Arne Sjostedt and Lee Harris.

Purpose

The Engagement and Impact (EI) Assessment, introduced by the Australian Research Council (ARC) in 2018, was a largely formative assessment framework designed to evaluate how effectively researchers engage with end-users and how well universities translate research into real-world impacts beyond academia, including economic, social, environmental and cultural benefits.

The EI Assessment complemented the Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) evaluation, which focused on research quality. Together, these assessments aimed to provide a more holistic view of Australian research performance – both in terms of academic excellence and the broader value of research and its contributions to society.

Year of Introduction
2018

Census period
Not repeated

Governance agency(s)
Australian Research Council

Purpose
Accountability
Organisational learning and development

Unit of Assessment
Disciplines across organizations

Focus of Assessment
Societal interaction

The EI aimed to:

Promote Engagement and Impact: Rigorously assess research engagement and impact to promote better engagement with, and translation of research into benefits for end-users and Australian society more broadly;

Inform Decisions: Provide a rich and robust source of information on the strategies, practices and benefits of university research engagement and impact to inform and support the needs of university, industry, community, and government stakeholders;

Demonstrate Success: Provide evidence that Australia’s universities are undertaking valued engagement with research end-users, embedding practices of engagement and impact, and producing research with social, economic, environmental, and cultural benefits;
Enable Comparisons: Provide a basis for discipline-level comparisons between Australian universities on research engagement and impact performance.

The EI exercise was conducted only in 2018 and was not repeated. While the assessment provided a framework for evaluating societal engagement and impact, the findings were primarily used locally within each institution for organisational learning and development.

The Australian Government discontinued both the ERA and the EI Assessment in 2023. A future approach to national research evaluation was recommended by the Australian Universities Accord final report in 2024. The Australian Government is yet to respond to this report.

Governance

The EI exercise was managed by the Australian Research Council (ARC), an intermediary organisation responsible for overseeing research funding on behalf of the Australian Government. Participation in the EI was voluntary.

Operation of the exercise

The EI focused on the assessment of societal interaction (specifically engagement and impact).

The EI assessment was conducted within each discipline at every university. The EI 2018 used the Australian and New Zealand Standard Research 2008 Classification (ANZSRC) to define the disciplines for assessment. Optional impact studies for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander research and interdisciplinary research were also included.

The EI assessment evaluated engagement, impact, and approach to impact through expert peer review of case studies and other evidence (including engagement narratives and indicators).

Panels assessed research engagement activity based on an engagement narrative, a small suite of quantitative indicators, and an engagement indicator explanatory statement. The engagement narrative explained the interaction between researchers and research end-users outside of academia for the mutually beneficial transfer of knowledge, technologies, methods or resources.

Narrative case studies were published on the ARC data portal and the results of the evaluation were presented in the National Report.

History, reviews and evaluations

The EI exercise was conducted only in 2018 and was not repeated. In 2020-21, the ARC conducted a review of the ERA and the EI to ensure the national assessments met Australia’s future needs. In response to the ARC Act Review, the Australian Government discontinued ERA and the EI Assessment in 2023. A future approach to national research evaluation was recommended by the Australian Universities Accord final report in 2024. The Australian Government is yet to respond to this report.

Last updated: May 2025

Acknowledgements: Information provided by Arne Sjostedt and Lee Harris.