Get involved with the world’s leading financial markets research centre.
The Capital Markets Cooperative Research Centre (CMCRC) is Australia’s leading research and development organisation that provides thought leadership and break-through technology solutions for capital and health markets. SMARTS, the leading provider of real-time surveillance systems throughout the world, and HIBIS, which emulates SMARTS in the health domain, demonstrate its success. The CMCRC invites universities to join the CMCRC as research partners.
High Calibre Research
Generous scholarships and real-world research problems (supported by unique industry data sets) attract high calibre PhD students who enrol at a CMCRC partner university. Since its establishment in 2001, more than 140 students have accepted scholarships. In addition to sourcing new students for partner universities, the program also provides an attractive pathway for honours students who might otherwise take industry positions on graduation. It therefore offsets the tendency for students in this field to enter the workforce early rather than engage in postgraduate education. The CMCRC works closely with leading academics at partner universities who engage with the industry partner to supervise student research, and co-author research papers.
Links with Industry
Many universities count among their goals an effective engagement with industry. The CMCRC delivers on this objective with many university partners already developing case studies for impact assessments.
Access to Commercial Data
One of the greatest issues facing researchers in finance and health markets is access to relevant data. Here, through IP agreements with industry, commercial data is released for academic research. In addition the CMCRC’s close relationship with Sirca (a partner of the CMCRC) is also of considerable benefit. The CMCRC built and bequeathed the IP for the Thomson Reuters Tick History to SIRCA which now underwrites the research programs of hundreds of academics around Australia and the world, and is in no small measure directly responsible for the large increase in research output of parties attached to banking and finance departments.
Academic Recruitment
Roughly 43% of the CMCRC’s 90 PhD graduates have gone back into academia providing further infrastructure support to the University partners.
Here to stay
A unique outcome over earlier iterations of the CMCRC is that it has been able to turn one out of every two PhD scholarships into perpetual scholarships. Thus, already around 25 scholarships are permanently funded from industry partner contributions. Add to this the $10m cash endowment earned from commercial activity to date with an aspiration of a further $20m over the final term our long term aim is to provide PhD scholarships into perpetuity, and without the support of government funding.
Savings for Partners
The CMCRC provides substantial research infrastructure, which includes academic counselling, office space, SIRCA datasets (intraday trade and quote data), the Market Quality Dashboard, training opportunities, as well as forums for students to share their experiences and to develop future industry contacts. Universities benefit indirectly from deferring these costs to the CMCRC.
How it works
- High quality PhD students are sourced from Honours (Class I) and Masters Graduates in accounting, finance, economics, health economics and IT. Applicants are closely vetted by a selection committee.
- Shortlisted students are interviewed and selected by the industry sponsor.
- Once appointed, students work on industry research problems with both an academic supervisor and an industry supervisor. The academic supervisor is responsible for the academic component of the student’s research, including research methodology and the production of at least one academic article per year. The industry supervisor is responsible for the research problem and data access.
- The funding per PhD student is $50,000 p.a. which is paid to the student as a tax free scholarship. The supervisor is entitled to an allowance of $10,000 p.a. If the PhD student is required to undertake international travel, additional funding of $20,000 p.a. is required to cover international airfares and accommodation for up to 6-months, usually spent onsite with the industry partner. The total cost for an international PhD student is $80,000 p.a. The CMCRC funds all associated administration and infrastructure costs.
- If a Cotutelle or Joint PhD arrangement is organised with an existing partner university of the CMCRC, then the funding required for a PhD student is split between the two universities.
Points to consider
The CMCRC distinguishes itself from other research organisations in a number of ways:- A substantial PhD program. To date more than 100 PhD candidates have graduated from University members of the CMCRC.
- Up to 75 PhD students are involved in the program at any one time.
- Student scholarships are generous. They receive two to three times the normal university stipend (tax free) which attracts top students and makes places very competitive.
- Students are engaged in industry-driven research in the fields of finance and health.
- Students are trained to handle market data. Coursework is provided both to the student and to the university to support their research in this field.
- On graduation, 43% accept academic positions at universities (another 43% enter industry). Thus, the program is an important source of human capital development for both university and industry partners.