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partnering externally to network with current high school teachers of brass, wind and percussion.
2.3 Research The School has enjoyed a decade of considerable achievement in research but there are emerging challenges. Supporting the research endeavour from a small staffing base in a difficult funding environment will require: •
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investing in researcher development, training and mentoring, including better connecting to centrally delivered researcher development programs developing HERDC category 2 and 3 grant strategies for arts researchers further developing collaborative research opportunities (including a review of our relationships with honorary staff) and leveraging the Creative Arts and Human Flourishing (CAHF) project’s next phase to amplify the activities of our researchers.
A second area of need involves the School of Music’s research narrative and communication strategy. A unified profile and sense of visibility is difficult to achieve with our combination of diverse disciplines across a small staff base. Our approach involves: •
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building our distinctive collaborative research identity, (notable for the involvement of artist-researchers collaborating with other disciplines), articulating our contribution, documenting our impact and communicating our narrative more effectively incentivising increased staff engagement with UQ research culture and systems through mentoring, support and workload management.
2.4 Diversity and Indigenous Strategy While the School has made progress in Indigenous engagement through important aspects of its public performance and research profile, we need to Indigenise our curriculum more comprehensively and build stronger contributions to UQ’s Aboriginal and Torres Page 18
Strait Islander Research Strategy. Additionally, our staff and student cohorts are not fully reflective of the diversity of the Australian population. Our strategy will include a focus on making the School of Music a more welcoming and accessible place for Indigenous students, staff and partners. We will continue to seek guidance from ATSISU and other Schools that are further along the path to embedding Indigenous perspectives in their curriculum and make that process a greater priority in 2023. It is important, as we move towards increasingly comprehensive forms of Indigenous engagement, for the School to find new modes of collaboration with Indigenous artists, researchers and partners as we undertake future performance, research and community-focused activities.
2.5 Engagement The School of Music, by virtue of many of its activities, is a naturally public-facing School with clear pathways for public engagement. COVID-19 has impacted our capacity for certain aspects of engagement, particularly internationally but also regionally. Going forward, the School’s strategy will be to seek further opportunities to contribute to UQ’s Queensland Commitment. We will also explore a more long-term and strategic approach to building the Friends of Music to build our philanthropic support. Actions to support this strategy include: • •
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establishing new international connections in alignment with UQ’s strategic focus on the Indo-Pacific seeking funding for increased regional engagement across Queensland through ensemble tours, student and staff performance and research opportunities reviewing the structure and function of the Friends of Music in collaboration with the Advancement Director.
