University of Wollongong denies job losses to come in AIIM restructure

Staff have been concerned about the impact of UOW dissolving AIIM, with administration employees to be moved into one university-wide research "platform" with the institute gone.

That, and the talk of "resource sharing" had raised concerns with the National Tertiary Education Union about job losses when the Innovation Campus's high-profile research centre was gone.

The move is part of the reaction to a university-wide review by UOW internally and by external consultants.

AIIM research academics will continue their work and remain in the purpose-built building at UOW's Innovation Campus but they will be absorbed back into the university's faculties.

The Mercury last week reported job losses were likely but a UOW spokesman said there would be "no impact" on jobs.

"The realignment of our research institutes informed by comprehensive internal and external reviews will bolster research collaboration and enhance research performance, while aligning with the University's broader strategic goals," he said.

"It will not be a physical move for staff and the realignment seeks to optimise the research efforts and better align with overarching strategic objectives operated under the faculty structure with no impact on jobs anticipated."

The AIIM has long been a prominent part of UOW's Innovation Campus, with a purpose-built home front and centre of the campus since 2012.

Of AIIM's four research organisations listed on the UOW website two - the Intelligent Polymer Research Institute (IPRI) and the Institute for Superconducting and Electronic Materials (ISEM) - would become part of the Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences.

A third, the University of Wollongong Electron Microscopy Centre (EMC), would be run by a centralised research management "platform" which will absorb AIIM's administration.

"Both research groups will keep operating in their laboratories and facilities on Innovation campus, but structurally will operate within the Faculty of Engineering and information Sciences," the spokesman said.

"This will present many more opportunities in teaching and learning, and student mentoring and supervision in addition to research, and hence will offer more diverse career opportunities for AIIM staff and students."

The fourth research organisation listed on the UOW website, the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Science (ACES), had ceased its work.

The UOW spokesman said ACES was a research centre funded for a certain period, and its final report was submitted in June 2022.

A year ago the Intelligent Polymer Research Institute was part of a group awarded $7 million in funding for stem cell research into joint disease treatment.