Manager, Business Intelligence, Charles Darwin University, Australia
David chose to be interviewed in chair #1.
1. What is your job title?
Manager, Business Intelligence at Charles Darwin University.
2. Briefly, how would you describe your role in terms of your place in your institution?
Apart from coordinating the growth of the data warehouse and its corporate reporting assets, my role is holistically concerned with creating an environment where our data creates actionable information. The staff at Charles Darwin University are in a position to use that information as the core of their decision making.
3. From your perspective, what are the emerging areas of interest in institutional research?
Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning are certainly the hot topics, but the larger part of the institutional research community are asking themselves, ‘What do we do with these technologies?’
The real interest, therefore, is in finding the right home for a clever insights engine inside of the existing information and decision support systems of universities.
4. What do you believe will be the future priorities for institutional research?
As the sector continues to mature its business acumen, institutional researchers will be asked how we can do more with less in our universities. Managing on-campus facility costs for reduced numbers of on-campus students, and discovering and providing the services and support to retain students in a mostly online education environment, are key areas I think will occupy our colleagues’ minds in the coming years.
5. Complete this statement: In my role, I can’t operate effectively without …
…open and honest communication…
… and my midmorning coffee!
Read the September 2019 AAIR newsletter. Right Here, Right Now!
Would you like to feature in the ‘Institutional Researcher’s Corner’ segment of our newsletter, The Institutional Researcher? Contact our trusty editors with the answers to 5 simple questions, and we’ll feature you in an upcoming issue.
