Charles Sturt University has been granted $3.7 million in prestigious Australian Research Council (ARC) funding, including more than $2.6 million to establish a national Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics.
Education Minister David Kemp released details last night of the multi-million dollar research grant allocations for the next three years. Charles Sturt University's successes feature securing Commonwealth funds for one of 11 Special Research Centres to be established nationwide.
The new special research Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics will be based in Canberra, administered by CSU, and run in partnership with the University of Melbourne - combining the expertise of its Centre for Philosophy and Public Issues with that of Charles Sturt's Centre for Professional and Applied Ethics.
CSU Acting Vice-Chancellor Professor Kath Bowmer said the funding announcement was particularly pleasing because of the prestige associated with such national successes.
"The Special Research Centre Scheme in particular is the flagship of the ARC, and competition was fierce with over 90 applications and only 11 successes - most of which are in the fields of science and technology rather than arts and humanities," Professor Bowmer said.
"Our five successes in the government's industry research and training (SPIRT) scheme are also a good reflection of this University's capacity to work with industry and the service sector. CSU's partners in these projects include the New South Wales Police Service, the Department of Juvenile Justice, the Wine Grapes Marketing Board, the Mudgee Wine Grape Growers Association and Rice Growers Cooperative Ltd."
CSU Faculty of Arts Dean Professor Ross Chambers welcomed the announcement as providing a wonderful opportunity for CSU to build on one of its major strengths. He said the University had one of the largest cohorts of ethics staff in the country, working on a broad range of issues from the media, policing, corruption, social and political issues, to environmental and computer ethics.
"Over the past decade there has been a dramatic increase in concern with matters of ethics in all areas of public life in Australia," Professor Chambers said.
"It is increasingly clear that trained philosophers have a major role to play in the clarification and resolution of these matters. Ethics is an essential part of any research and is applied to critical issues in our everyday lives."
The centre will combine the complementary strengths of two existing centres at Charles Sturt and Melbourne Universities, specialising in the burgeoning field of applied philosophy. It builds upon existing collaborative links between these philosophy and ethics centres, and utilises their extensive local and overseas connections for new initiatives bearing on vital public issues.
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