The first Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) evaluation of
disciplinary and institutional research quality in early 2011
established a comprehensive measure of research performance. The effect
on institutions was immediate and electric, everywhere triggering
strategies to lift ERA rankings.

This suggests that the effects of ERA are virtuous, driving
improvement without additional funding. But are the incentives the right
ones? How valid is ERA as a comprehensive measure of the international
standing of Australian research? What are the flaws, and how could the
process be improved? Will ERA create globally stronger research
universities? Where do interdisciplinary research, and the contribution
of research to innovation, fit into the ERA picture? And will the
accelerated competition kick-started by ERA have solely benign effect—or
will it generate a transfer market in researchers that creates
concentration in some institutions at the expense of the across the
board capacity Australia needs?