WHY BECOME AN INDUSTRY PARTNER
Get involved with the world’s leading health markets research centre.
The CMCRC is a preeminent research and development organisation that provides thought leadership and breakthrough technology solutions for capital and health markets. The CMCRC invites members of the financial services industry and organisations dealing with health claims to become research partners. We also invite parties interested in the application of Natural Language Processing and Trading Algorithm development and evaluation to join us
The research partnering approach recognises that most organisations have a range of research questions but a limited capacity to address them. The CMCRC offers a solution by providing its world-class infrastructure, research services and significant financial and human capital to allow its partners to expand their research agenda. The general approach is that industry partners decide the research questions and CMCRC researchers propose the research design, however experience suggests that both parties will contribute to both aspects in a collaborative manner. The CMCRC specialises in identifying and growing talented human capital. Students/researchers are sourced directly via the CMCRC’s University partners and are dedicated to working with our industry partners under the guidance of trained supervisors and using our extensive infrastructure. Although not a requirement, the researcher may join the industry partner’s staff on project completion.
Our infrastructure provides access to the CMC-HIBIS and I+Plus data mining and modelling solutions (www.loricahealth.com) that have been developed in collaboration with 25 Australian health insurance and workers compensation insurers as well as relevant domain experts.
The CMCRC’s infrastructure is provided at no additional charge to industry partners, thereby increasing the economic value derived from the partnership with the CMCRC.
Research assignments usually last 3 years and cost around $60K per year, or approximately $20K per research output, depending on the complexity of the project. This funding provides a tax free scholarship to the research student ($50K) and an allowance ($10K) to the research supervisor. The entire contribution can also qualify for industry R&D tax concessions providing further leverage for partners’ funding.
Intellectual Property All research is confidential to the partner unless it is agreed otherwise. Where an industry partner provides IP for a project, that IP is always owned by the partner with the CMCRC gaining either a consultancy amount for a specific task or a licensing arrangement where it provides its resources at risk. Such arrangements are documented prior to commencement in a Project Agreement.
How it works
- High quality PhD students are sourced from among those completing honours programmes in accounting, finance, economics or IT, preferably with double majors spanning these disciplines. All students are closely vetted and matched to industry partners. Shortlisted students are of a very highcalibre, normally with a first class honours degree, and some are university medallists.
- Shortlisted students are interviewed and selected by the industry partner for sponsorship.
- Once appointed, the student works on research problems in the industry partners’ office on an agreed basis (normally 2-4 days per week for Sydney based partners, and 5 days per week for a 6-month period each year for overseas partners). The industry partner appoints one of their staff members to direct and supervise the students’ onsite research.
- A senior university academic provides supervision for the academic component of the student’s research and ensures that the student is meeting the requirements for their PhD candidature.
- The funding per PhD student is $60K p.a. over three years, $50K of which is paid to the student as a tax free scholarship, and the remaining $10K is paid to the academic supervisor.
Main points for consideration
- The program runs with about 75 PhD students at any one time.
- Student scholarships are generous, paid at two to three times the normal university stipend (and are tax free) which attracts top students and makes places very competitive. It also offsets the tendency for students in this field to enter the workforce early rather than engage in postgraduate education.
- Most of our students are engaged in research of strategic importance to our industry partners, and the relationship works best when the industry partner selects longer-term projects which require significant brain-power as well as work effort.
- The student has both an industry supervisor and an academic supervisor. The latter is primarily responsible for managing the research design and the academic requirements of their study, while the industry supervisor is responsible for identifying research areas of most interest to the industry partner.
- While working onsite with their industry partner, students apply their learning to practical problems.
- At the end of their term, many students end up working for their industry sponsor, although they are not obliged to do so. Thus, the program is an important source of human capital development for industry participants.
- As part of their academic obligations, students are required to write at least one academic article per year which is monitored by their university supervisor.
- It is recommended that industry partners consider funding students in teams of two. Some sponsors prefer to engage two teams of two students to make a total of four students. It has been shown that pairing up students both from IT and finance streams frequently produce a winning combination and maximises innovation.
Contact
Notwithstanding the general guidelines provided above, each project undertaken by the CMCRC can be specifically tailored to partners’ requirements. For more information, we invite you to discuss your requirements with the Head of the Health Market Quality Program, Mr David Jonas (djonas@cmcrc.com).
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