Contents
About us
Where We Are
Unitec Research and Enterprise Strategy
Why Research and Enterprise is Important at Unitec
What is Research?
Research Committees
Applying for a research ethics approval
Early Career Researcher Support and Funding
2025 PBRF Preparation
Tūāpapa Rangahau Research Documents – page
About us
Tūāpapa Rangahau, partnering research and enterprise, combines the management and administration of staff and student research at Unitec, under the leadership of Unitec’s Director of Research and Enterprise. Tūāpapa Rangahau is the Research Office at Unitec.
Across our campuses, staff and student researchers are investigating topics from a range of disciplines – from nursing and architecture to computing and construction. The topics are as diverse as the areas in which we teach; the common factor is their focus on creating research that has a concrete output for the world around us.
Our staff are active in research in order to stay relevant as teachers, develop new knowledge and advance practice in their field. This helps equip staff with the professional, industry and academic currency essential for tertiary education. The practice of research also has benefits for our students, who by extension become work-ready and graduate with greater currency in their chosen profession.
Tūāpapa Rangahau is the glue that binds the research activity at Unitec together. It supports both staff and student research, and provides a vital link for outside organisations who wish to work with our researchers. We are here to help our staff and students and our other research partners achieve the research goals of the institute.
Where We Are
Tūāpapa Rangahau is situated in Building 112, Room 2004
For general enquires: research@unitec.ac.nz
Responsibilities and Who We Are
Connecting Researchers
Research Partners work with the Director of Research and Enterprise to support schools, and also to provide specialist expertise across the institute in private and public-sector partnerships, contracts and funding.
Director Research & Enterprise
Associate Professor Marcus Williams
Ph: 021 401 965
Email: mwilliams@unitec.ac.nz
Research Partners
Penny Thomson
Ph: 021 890 114
Email: pthomson@unitec.ac.nz
Commercialisation
Tūāpapa Rangahau is responsible for commercialisation activity, technology transfer and the management of intellectual property.
Research Partner – Enterprise
Gregor Steinhorn
Ph: 021 719 672
Email: gsteinhorn@unitec.ac.nz
Research Outputs and PBRF
We are responsible for collecting and reporting of all Unitec’s research-related activity and research outputs, and managing Unitec’s Performance Based Research Fund (PBRF) activities.
Research Advisor
Arun Deo
Ph: 021 269 7565
Email: adeo@unitec.ac.nz
See Guidelines for Documenting Research Outputs
Project and Contract Management
We manage external contracts in support of Principal Investigators, ensuring legal, financial and human-resource oversight. Assisting staff to deliver on their externally funded research and consultancy contracts by overseeing the hiring of research assistants, procurement, invoicing, etc.
Research Contract Specialist
Hadley Brown
Ph: 021 634 362
Email: hbrown@unitec.ac.nz
Contracts Administration
Asma Munir
Ph: 892 7027
Email: amunir@unitec.ac.nz
External Grants and Funding
We assist staff to seek and win external funding for research projects and in consultancy activity. We serve as a point of contact for external stakeholders wishing to engage with Unitec and the expertise of its staff.
Senior Grants Advisor
Brenda Massey
Email: bmassey@unitec.ac.nz
Research Professional Development
We support researchers in achieving their professional development goals. Researchers are invited to participate in workshops, master classes, writing retreats and a variety of other professional development offerings.
Research Professional Development Liaison
Professor Helen Gremillion
Email: hgremillion@unitec.ac.nz
Postgraduate Student Research
We oversee the administration and management of several aspects of student research, in particular the examination processes for student theses and dissertations above 60 credits, and the Supervision Register. The unit is also responsible for administrative support for the Postgraduate Research and Scholarships Committee, including Postgraduate Scholarships.
Postgraduate Academic Administrator
Cynthia Almeida
Email: calmeida@unitec.ac.nz
Ethics
We are responsible for administrative support for the Unitec Research Ethics Committee (UREC), a Health Research Council-accredited institutional ethics committee.
Ethics enquries should be directed to ethics@unitec.ac.nz.
Research Ethics Administrator
A/P Evangelia Papoutsaki
Email: epapoutsaki@unitec.ac.nz | ethics@unitec.ac.nz
Publishing
We have a peer-reviewed, creative commons, electronic publishing platform, ePress, on which researchers are able to publish their work.
ePress Editor
Marie Shannon
Email: mshannon@unitec.ac.nz | epress@unitec.ac.nz
Unitec Research and Enterprise Strategy 2020–2024
Unitec Research and Enterprise Strategy 2020-2024
This document outlines Unitec’s Research and Enterprise Strategy for the period 2020 to 2024. It provides a broad strategic rationale, direction and focus for research activity at Unitec. The strategy has been developed by Tūāpapa Rangahau and research leadership within Unitec following significant consultation with staff.
The goal of this document is to:
– provide the framework for future research and enterprise activity at Unitec;
– articulate where emphasis on research and enterprise should be placed at an institutional level;
– identify, through the concomitant Action Plan, key deliverables and actions required to meet Unitec’s research and enterprise goals;
– define the unique contribution that Unitec research will make to iwi, community and industry.
The Action Plan for the Research Strategy is reviewed annually by the Unitec Research Committee and is here.
The Unitec Research Committee, Tūāpapa Rangahau, Strategic Research Foci, Research Centres and Schools will be responsible for implementing the strategy across the institution.
Why Research and Enterprise is Important at Unitec
- NZQA requires research-engaged staff in order to be able to confer degrees
- At Unitec, teaching, learning and research are interdependent
- Research facilitates many other institutional objectives, such as external engagement, work-integrated learning, graduate pathways to employment and general improvements to New Zealand society and the environment
Summary
Research at Unitec sits within the context of the government’s Tertiary Education Strategy, which sets the framework and expectations for tertiary education in New Zealand. The Tertiary Education Strategy recognises that tertiary education research “provides significant economic, social, cultural and environmental benefits. This includes helping us to better understand our unique culture and our place in the world, effectively manage our natural environment, and improve the health and wellbeing of New Zealanders.”
The strategy emphasises the importance of realising value from research in the tertiary sector and gives particular focus to tertiary providers working with industry and community. There is an expectation that tertiary providers will work with industry and community to improve the relevance of research that we undertake, and ultimately make a more direct impact in lifting New Zealand’s economic growth.
Unitec’s current Research and Enterprise Strategy has been developed in response to the rapid changes that have taken place in the New Zealand education sector. At Unitec, teaching, learning and research are interdependent. Staff and students are involved in quality research and collaboration with others across the TEO sector, in specialist disciplines, in transdisciplinary teams, and with industry and community. Significant innovation in teaching and learning through research will improve the outcomes for students across the tertiary sector. Importantly, NZQA guidelines clearly state that degree-level “teaching must be conducted mainly by academic staff engaged in research.” Therefore, any teaching on courses (regardless of their level) that contribute to a degree programme is considered degree teaching, and the majority of staff teaching on that programme should be research active.
The focus on research at Unitec is on applied, practically oriented research with impact. It is carried out in partnership and collaboration with government, iwi, industry, community organisations and other institutions, locally, nationally and internationally. Research and enterprise at Unitec focuses on opportunities, challenges and problems identified and brought to the institute by iwi, industry and community. This ‘outside-in’ approach is central to Unitec’s research strategy.
Further reading
Unitec Research and Enterprise Strategy 2020-2024
Guidelines for Programme Approval and Accreditation to Provide Programmes
Key Relevant Government and Public Sector Priorities and Strategies
What is Research?
Research is original, independent investigation undertaken in order to contribute to knowledge and understanding and, in the case of some disciplines, cultural innovation or aesthetic refinement. Research typically involves inquiry of an experimental or critical nature driven by hypothesis or intellectual positions capable of rigorous assessment by experts in a given discipline.
Unitec upholds the notion of academic freedom, ethical research and research that is aligned with Unitec’s commitment to Te Noho Kotahitanga.
Research includes work of direct relevance to the specific needs of iwi, industry, community, government and commerce. In some disciplines, research may be embodied in the form of artistic works, performances and/or designs that lead to new or substantially improved insights. Research may include contributions to the intellectual infrastructure of subjects and disciplines (e.g., dictionaries and scholarly editions); the use of existing knowledge in the experimental development to produce new or substantially improved materials, devices or products, communications or processes; and the synthesis and analysis of previous research to the extent that it is new and creative.
Research findings must be open to scrutiny or formal evaluation by experts in the field, commonly described as peer review. This may be achieved through various forms of dissemination including, but not limited to, publication, manufacture, construction, publication presentation or presentation of confidential reports.
The implementation of research through community, iwi, business and environmental development, research innovation, action research and research-related enterprise is also encouraged and supported at Unitec.
Research and Enterprise – What and Why
Research at Unitec is applied, and partnered with industry or community. It gives staff and students the opportunity to be creative and innovative, while making positive and powerful changes in our industries, communities and environments.
Research Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Research is important at Unitec, with six KPIs that we measure annually, as outlined in the Unitec Research and Enterprise Strategy 2020–2024 with data available on the PowerBI Dashboard https://app.powerbi.com
- Rangahau Māori Productivity – productivity in this context would be aggregated as – QA outputs by Māori staff, funded projects with named Māori staff, Māori supervisors, Level 9 and 10 Māori postgraduate scholarships, QA outputs that demonstrate excellence in Vision Mātauranga, accredited Vision Mātauranga and Kaupapa Māori rangahau professional development achievements and rangahau Māori research stories in the media.
- Industry Funded Projects – research and enterprise projects Unitec is receiving funding for, where the service Unitec is providing is applied contract research or consultancy from all funders excluding any governmental contestable funding sources. This is measured as a count of the number of projects.
- External Research Income (ERI) – income received from external sources for research purposes, calculated on the project milestones achieved and spending to date, in a particular year. This is measured in dollars.
- Research Productivity – measure of staff teaching on degree programmes who meet the agreed levels of research in the research traffic light. This is measured as the ratio of research-active staff to the total number of staff on a degree programme.
- Quality Assured (QA) Research Outputs – recognised research outputs that have been through a peer-review process or have been specifically commissioned. This is presented as a ratio of counts of the number of QA outputs to FTE of degree teaching staff.
- Student Integrated Research – a measure of student input into staff-engaged research including authorship, contributions to wānanga, creative outputs, studentships, or research assistant positions, awards or other contributions (as defined by the PBRF)
Unitec Research Planning
To assist with supporting our staff research and achieving Unitec’s Research Goals, Tūāpapa Rangahau has introduced a partnered approach to research planning. We actively work with Heads of Schools, Research Leaders, Academic Programme Managers and research staff to achieve this planning process.
A critical part of this research planning process is ensuring that all research-eligible staff with time allocations for research have completed an annual Individual Research Plan, and that their main research goals for the year are included in their ADEP so line managers can support their research activity throughout the year (with assistance from the Research Leaders, Network Research Partners and others as needed).
Here is the Individual Research Planner . If you have any questions about the Individual Research Plans please contact your Research Leader or your Network Research Partner.
Research Committees
URC – Te Komiti Rangahau o Unitec | Unitec Research Committee
Description
Te Komiti Rangahau o Unitec | Unitec Research Committee (URC) provides thought leadership in the research aspect of Unitec’s core purpose, operating through the Conduct of Research Policy. It oversees research strategy and policy, providing guidance to Tūāpapa Rangahau (the Research & Enterprise Office) on research goals, quality, compliance and support. Membership is representative of schools, priority group directors, new and experienced researchers and students.
URC derives its authority from Academic Committee.
URC works closely with
Terms of Reference
The powers and functions of URC shall be to:
- Foster the conduct of research, and support the achievement of Unitec’s strategic research, enterprise and innovation priorities;
- Propose and advise on strategic directions and priorities for research, enterprise and innovation;
- Provide expert advice on institutional policy;
- Develop protocols and guidelines and make recommendations in relation to the conduct of research, enterprise and innovation;
- Oversee the Grants Advisory Committee and the reporting of funded projects;
- Encourage and enhance the development of the research, enterprise and innovation culture along with student and staff research capability, with emphasis on the development of Māori and Pacific research capability;
- Oversee the monitoring of research outputs and research reporting; and,
- Foster Māori and Pacific, transdisciplinary, collaborative and externally engaged research, enterprise and innovation.
Policies
All linked policies are listed on The Nest under Policies and Procedures > Academic Policies.
PGRSC – Te Komiti Whakahaere a ngā Pia | Postgraduate Research & Scholarships Committee
Description
Te Komiti Whakahaere a ngā Pia | Postgraduate Research & Scholarships Committee (PGRSC) provides oversight of policy and quality of our Level 9 and 10 programmes and their research activities, including approving thesis proposals, appointing examiners, approving thesis grades, and awarding scholarships. Operating within the Conduct of Student Research Policy, membership includes the Directors of Research and Student Success areas, postgraduate programme leaders, other academics and a Student Council member.
PGRSC derives its authority from Te Komiti Mātauranga | Academic Committee.
PGRSC works closely with Tūāpapa Rangahau.
Purpose
To oversee the institute’s postgraduate Level 9 and 10 quality systems, to identify areas of good practice and areas for improvement and monitor academic quality issues and trends.
Kaupapa
PGRSC is framed within the values of:
- Kaitiakitanga for the Academic Portfolio and Academic Quality, and
- Mahi Kotahitanga and Ngākau Māhaki for its support of the Level 9 and 10 programmes.
PGRSC is accountable to Te Komiti Mātauranga | Academic Committee for ensuring appropriate standards and quality are maintained at Level 9 and 10.
Policies
All linked policies are listed on The Nest under Policies and Procedures > Academic Policies.
- AC 4.0 Conduct of Research Policy
- AC 5.0 Conduct of Student Research Policy
- AC 5.1.1 Supervision and Advisement of Student Research Guidelines
- AC 6.0 Research Ethics Policy
UREC – Te Komiti Tikanga Matatika | Unitec Research Ethics Committee
Description
Te Komiti Tikanga Matatika | Unitec Research Ethics Committee (UREC) is a Health Research Council (HRC) accredited ethics committee which operates within the bounds of Unitec’s Research Ethics Policy. Researchers (students and staff) who are researching human beings, make applications on a range of purpose specific templates to have their research reviewed by the committee, which is comprised of experts prescribed by the HRC. This process is designed to protect the participants and the researchers from risks such as conflict of interest, exploitation, breach of privacy, health and safety.
UREC derives its authority from the Unitec Academic Statute and reports on its activities to Academic Committee
Policies
Research Ethics Policy
Applying for a research ethics approval
- Research Proposal Approval Letter
In order for a student to submit an ethics application to the Unitec Research Ethics Committee (UREC) for review, the research project must be approved by the Research Proposal Committee in the relevant programme. For more information about proposal approval, a student should contact their supervisor. This step is not required for staff.
- Type of Application Form
You will need to decide on what type of ethics application your project will require. This will either be a Form A, Form B or, if you are a teaching staff member submitting an application for blanket ethics approval as part of a course, a Form C. If you are unsure as to what form to use, please download and complete the Unitec Application Screening Questionnaire. This should give you a good indication of which form is best for you to use. For additional information about each application type and the application process, please see the document Applications for Ethical Approval on The Nest or contact the UREC secretary and Ethics Administrator, A/P Evangelia Papoutsaki ethics@unitec.ac.nz.
- Submitting Your Application
Once your application is complete, this can then be submitted to the UREC secretary for processing. If you are a student, your supervisor does this on your behalf (staff may submit their applications directly to the secretary). To ensure your application is complete and ready for submission, and you have support documents, signed copies of your application and all other information ready, please see the checklist on the document Applications for Ethical Approval on The Nest. Note that all sections of the application form must be completed.
It is requested that applicants and their supervisors please ensure that applications submitted to UREC are of the highest quality possible, clearly formatted and well written in order to allow for smooth and prompt review. Applications considered to be poor quality will be returned to the applicant outlining any issues, and will be accompanied by a request for amendment and resubmission.
Application deadlines apply. Please note that late applications are unable to be accepted.
- Reviewing Process
Once submitted, your application is then processed for review and you will receive an email advising you of your unique ethics application number. Your application is then uploaded to a secure site within Unitec’s Moodle network and the UREC review will commence. For a step-by-step guide to the UREC review process, please see the document Process for UREC Ethics Application.
For all other information on research ethics at Unitec, or if you have any queries about the ethics application process, please browse the information provided in the folders below or contact UREC secretary and Ethics Administrator A/P Evangelia Papoutsaki ethics@unitec.ac.nz. For advice on cultural consultation, please refer to the document Guidelines for Researchers Regarding Māori and Community Social and Cultural Responsiveness, available on The Nest.
Early Career Researcher Support and Funding
Growing the next generation of researchers and #leaders of research is a priority for research organisations around the world. The Unitec Research Strategy identifies Early Career Researchers as a key group in this priority and there is a range of products to support them. In order to access this support, staff need to be members of the Unitec Early Career Research Forum which is currently chaired by A/P Kristie Cameron kcameron@unitec.ac.nz.
The products include:
- Early Career Researcher Contestable Funding
- Early Career Researcher Fellowships
- Early Career Researcher Return from Parental Leave Fund
- Early Career Research PhD/Doctorate for PBRF Fund
More information about these support packages, and how to access them, is in the document email research@unitec.ac.nz.
2025 PBRF Preparation
2025 PBRF Assessment – Support for Staff
This page is designed to provide information and resources for Unitec staff completing a PBRF evidence portfolio for the 2025 PBRF staff quality assessment.
Please see here the 2021 Key Research Dates
Who to Contact for Support
- Research Advisor – Advises on the quality of journals etc, administers the Research Output Management System and leads the PBRF review
- Research Leaders – One 0.2 FTE position on each School; liaising between Tūāpapa Rangahau and research staff.
- Research Partner – Coordinates Research Leaders with a strong communication function, facilitates research support funding and serves as a liaison for all academic research needs.
Guide for Unitec Staff Completing a PBRF Portfolio
This guide has been designed specifically for Unitec staff, and covers:
- What to write in the Research Platform, plus examples
- What to write in the ‘My contribution’ section
- What to write in the ‘Description or justification’ section, plus examples
- Suggested format for the Research Contribution entries, examples, and a list of what items (not exhaustive) might go into each of the Research Contribution categories
- A checklist
PBRF Portfolio Structure – What Needs to be Completed (summary)
Panel and Overview
- Select Panel and Subject Area and subject keywords
- Platform of Research – research area, context, portfolio overview (approx. 3 paragraphs)
Research Outputs
Please see here the Unitec Research Outputs Guide.
- Select best four outputs from 2018–2024
- Write ‘Author contribution’ for each of the four best outputs (1 x paragraph)
- Write ‘Description or justification’ for each of the four best outputs (1 x paragraph)
- Ensure there is assessment evidence attached, e.g. full text of published item – as published, or plans of design, etc.
- Select up to 12 other Research Outputs (the next best 12). Just select.
Research Contributions
- Create up to 15 Research Contributions. These are groups of research activities and one entry may contain one or more items. Each entry is up to 2 x paragraphs in length.
- Ensure evidence supports your entries.
- Indicate which items should be cross referred to the Maori Knowledge or the Pacific Research Panel, if applicable.
ROMs
PBRF portfolios must be created in ROMs. However, the various text sections can be drafted in Word or a similar text editor and then simply pasted into ROMS.
PBRF Report – Evidence Portfolio Report
ROMs allows staff to print a copy of their PBRF portfolio. In ROMs, go to the ‘Reports’ function on the grey toolbar and select ‘PBRF Report’. This will create a Word version of a PBRF evidence portfolio based on the content selected or entered. This can then be used to review the content and identify where improvements could be made.