As incoming Director, I am faced with the myriad challenges of adjusting to my new life in Queensland. I probably have overused the word in recent months, but I am excited at the opportunity to guide the CEPS community of researchers and students to the next phase of its evolution in coming years.

 

CEPS is unique in many respects as a collaborative research institute that spans four universities (Griffith University, ANU, UQ and CSU) and works closely with governmental and policing agencies around Australia. My own disciplinary background, grounded in criminal law and comparative law, will inform existing projects in both policing and security and stimulate new ones.

 

2010 presents new opportunities for integrating projects across the four university nodes and sharing our academic work through research and public policy-practitioner communities through publications, conferences and workshops. We will also be redoubling efforts to attract new students and visitors to our programs. Cultivating and supporting early career and PhD students as the next generation of researchers is an important responsibility of our Centre. As I move around this month meeting new colleagues and learning about the various projects and plans, I am impressed by the breadth and innovative nature of the research sponsored by CEPS, a feature which has been commended by the recent ARC Centre Review. This commendation is a credit to all the Chief Investigators, research staff and students of the four universities, and to the Executive leadership provided by former Directors, Professors Lorraine Mazzerolle and Mark Finnane, Deputy Director Professor Peter Grabosky and the Associate Director, Dr Rebecca Denning. Deepening connections may well be the theme for 2010's work program, not only in terms of integration across projects, but also in terms of our annual conference, which will explore the many facets of the nexus between policing and security. I look forward to working with my colleagues and friends within CEPS and the wider criminal justice community to advance our research agenda.