The Menzies Centre for Australian Studies offers visiting fellowships to members of the Australian Public Service on secondment. A Public Service Fellow (PSF), who is always a relatively senior public servant, has the following duties:
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principally, to carry out a designated research project of interest to their department and the Menzies Centre
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to convene a conference in their field and edit the papers for publication
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to present, publish and edit other research papers
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to help organise business briefings, seminars and conferences
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to help with liaison between the Centre, Canberra, Australia House, Whitehall and its various continental equivalents, including the OECD
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to carry out such other duties (e.g. accompanying visiting Ministers, representing the department at meetings and reporting back) as are agreed by the Head of Centre and their department.
In practice, these duties tend to reinforce each other and the interconnections help focus the main research project the PSF is engaged upon.
The PSF scheme began in the mid 1980s. Recent PSFs have been Megan Mitchell (FACS), John Ryan (DIST), Rob Elder (Transport and Communications), Andrew Bain (DITAC) and Grahame Cook (PM&C). Some of the projects worked on by PSFs have been: community service and the marketplace; strategies for industrial growth in the OECD; Australia and the European single market; comparative environment policies; transport in Australia and the UK; and the future of Antarctica. The results of the work have been published by, among others, the AGPS, Manchester University Press, and by the Menzies Centre itself.
Previous fellows have valued the unparalleled networking opportunities offered by the Centre - particularly its connections with the major British universities, colleges and think-tanks and with the British civil service - the exposure to research and debate at the highest academic level, the chances created to exploit the Centre's unique position at the academic-business-government interface, and, above all, the supreme benefit of spending time thinking and writing without pressing administrative deadlines.
The Menzies Centre provides the PSF with an office, networked computer, phone, fax, secretarial support, and access to the libraries of the University of London. The department contributes $5000 p.a. towards overheads and continues to pay the fellow's salary, etc. PSFs are usually for twelve months or so, but shorter periods are also possible.
Professor Carl Bridge, the Head of Centre, is keen to hear from any suitable applicants for the PSF for from October or later. Please send a brief CV, including a list of theses, publications and reports, and a brief outline of your likely project and research interests. Further information on the Menzies Centre, including its latest Annual Report, is available on the Centre web-site