Successful Applicant for Promotion to Level C and D

1. Successful Applicant for Promotion to Level C and D Dr Arlie Loughnan, Associate Professor Sydney Law School 2014 Academic Promotions Applicant Information Session

2. Deciding to Apply Deciding to Apply • Ask yourself ‘is now the right time?’/‘what have I done since my last promotion?’: • If yes, can you make a case for ‘excellence’ in teaching and/or research? • If not, what do you need to do to be in a position to apply next year? • Start the decision-making process early: • Preliminary consultation with HOD/Dean; • Consult with (select) colleagues (senior colleagues and peers). • Be realistic: critically assess strengths and weaknesses: • Draft CV/summary of application and consult again; • Review the timeline for the application process (esp. date for 1 pg update); • Think forward to 1 January next year: where will you be at that point?; what do you want to be able to do from that point onwards?

3. Planning the Application AIM: Tell a personal (unique), persuasive and evidence-based story of success. • Consider the application as a whole: • Save space by avoiding repetition; • Avoid ‘double-dipping’ (although there is some flexibility about where certain activities belong eg HDR supervision). • Referees: • Referees should add to what you can say for yourself & address the criteria; • Think laterally (ie beyond supervisors, examiners) & ‘Double-up’ where possible. • Supplementary material: • Allow time for collection and organisation of material (eg citations). • Completing the application form online: double the time you think you will need (the ‘end matter’).

4. The Application Summary of Application • Convince the Committee of the merits of your case on the basis of this section alone; • Lead with a short punchy summary paragraph; • Demonstrate an upward trajectory in your teaching/research/service; • Provide an individualised account of strengths/achievements; • Make the strongest possible case across teaching, research and service; • Use evidence judiciously – avoid re-using the same evidence; • Do not double dip (although you can split activities that cross over different sections eg administrative roles); • Be detailed/descriptive but do so as succinctly as possible (eg ‘In addition’, ‘At the same time as...’, ‘Concurrently...’).

5. Teaching Case • Demonstratesuperior competency/skill and level of self-reflection about teaching. • What kind of teacher are you? What is ‘excellence in teaching’ to you? • Develop a narrative (eg leadership in teaching, scholarship in teaching) • Outline what you do differently/consistently and its pedagogical value • Explain what is involved in teaching in Faculty/School (eg class sizes, coordinating tutors, curriculum renewal/development, lectures or seminars) • Support all aspects of this section with evidence (USEs, emails, invitations to teach, above load teaching, report from colleague/co-teacher) • Supervision of HDR students, completions (student success) • Don’t forget: informal/formal mentoring of junior colleagues, teaching conferences/colloquia, guest classes, and training.

6. The Application Research Case • Demonstrate that you have a research agenda that you prosecute actively and that results in high quality research outputs. • What is your ‘hook’? (eg monograph, grants, impact, public engagement) • Explain to a non-specialist what is significant about your research • Benchmark yourself (‘Relative to what would be expected at Level X, ...’) • Dissemination: • Include national and international outputs • Provide detail about discipline-specific aspects of ‘excellence’ • Demonstrate reflection about the readership/scholarly community • Recognition for research (eg by professional community) • Research leadership (journal editorships, edited collections etc)

7. The Application Service Case • Demonstrate good citizenship of scholarly/other communities • Provide detail about what your service involved (meetings, reports); • ‘Over and above my role as member, ....’ • ‘Biweekly meetings covering everything involved in hosting a major conference...’ • Indicate length of service commitment (consistency counts); • Take into account the role of others (I/We/The Committee...); • Remember: media commentary, writing for a popular audience, guest presentations, University consultancies, extra-curricular activities, activities with USyd student community and alumni.

8. General Points • Answer the selection criteria: articulate why you deserve promotion (ie avoid leaving it to the Committee to work it out); • Say what you have done and why it is important – give the committee concrete reasons to promote you; • Don’t assume even your closest colleagues really know what you do or have done – spell it out for the selection committee members, many of whom will not be in your discipline;  • Don’t assume even your closest colleagues know who the experts or best journals are in your field – again, be succinct and, without being patronising, spell it out; • Back up every statement with evidence' • And, most importantly, remember that there is no single type of successful application.

9. General Points Good luck!