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International Strategy
The ARC has developed this international strategy in response to the increasing globalisation of research. The ARC presently undertakes a range of international activities including direct support of international researcher collaboration, participation in research forums and liaison with similar agencies overseas. This international strategy will guide the ARC in developing more strategic partnerships both nationally and internationally and responding to international trends in research policy and research support.
Relationship to the ARC’s mission
The mission of the Australian Research Council is to advance Australia’s research excellence to be globally competitive and deliver benefits to the community. This international strategy falls within the mission of the ARC by aiming to establish and maintain global linkages for Australian researchers to increase the quality and impact of Australian research.
Positive outcomes from this strategy would be Australia’s ability to attract highly skilled people to come and work in Australia and promote capacity building; attracting investment in our research activities; and generating income and jobs.
If its mission is to be realised (that is, by assisting Australian research to be world-class and thereby deliver lasting benefits to the Australian community), the ARC must provide incentives for Australian researchers to engage closely with leading-edge research and innovation around the world.
Implementing the International Strategy
The ARC will implement its international strategy through the following objectives:
Overarching objective: To ensure Australia benefits from and makes a strong contribution to international research developments, partnerships, collaboration and policy.
| Objective 1: | Build on existing ARC support for international research collaboration through the NCGP schemes |
| Objective 2: | Facilitate new opportunities for international research collaboration |
| Objective 3: | Maintain strong linkages with overseas research funding agencies on international research collaboration opportunities |
| Objective 4 : | Allow for comparisons of Australia’s research nationally and internationally for all disciplines areas |
Objective 1
Strategy
Maintain and build on existing ARC support for international research collaboration by:
- improving the present range of ARC funding schemes which give direct support for international collaboration
- mainstreaming the international research agenda as a generic concern of all ARC schemes.
Actions
- Improve the present range of ARC schemes which give direct support for international collaboration by
- improve the existing schemes to create and enhance international collaboration opportunities for the Australian community, and design new schemes that allow for inclusions of internationalisation objectives
- identifying current levels of international activity/inputs and outputs under the present ARC schemes; benchmarking against activities and outputs of other countries; deciding what the ARC will need to monitor and measure; and establishing systems to track improvements.
- identifying international shared infrastructure initiatives for possible future ARC investment and evaluating the potential outcomes of such investments.
- Mainstream the international research agenda as a generic concern of all ARC schemes by:
- including internationalisation of research as one of the objectives of NCGP schemes
- seeking to persuade the international community of the merits of locating world-class international facilities in Australia
- actively promoting the internationalisation of research by incorporating international aspects on the ARC’s website, and provision of statistics on international collaboration.
Objective 2
Strategy
Facilitate new opportunities for international research collaboration by:
- contributing to Australia’s strength as an international research player
- being well-informed about international research policy developments
- disseminating knowledge of these developments widely.
Actions
- Contribute to Australia’s strength as an international research player by:
- establishing closer, ongoing partnerships domestically with key Commonwealth agencies
- cooperating with inter-agency international research initiatives by assisting the establishment of a coherent whole-of-government strategy for international engagement
- working with other bodies, government and non-government, to develop an implementation plan to enhance whole-of-government cooperation in international research collaboration
- pursuing opportunities for Australian researchers to link into global innovation markets, business and industry.
- Monitor international research policy developments by:
- enhancing communication with other agencies to ensure regular updates on policy initiatives around the world
- developing and managing the international strategy by regularly reviewing information on international research trends and opportunities, international funding agency comparisons and different country information in relation to research.
- Disseminate knowledge of these developments widely by:
- keeping close track of research trends around the world
- incorporating information on new developments in research policy
- clearly articulating and communicating our international activities to the research sector
- actively communicating the ARC’s international strategy with other overseas agencies and organisations
- developing information exchange and networks with other research agencies.
Objective 3
Strategy
Facilitate new opportunities for international research collaboration, particularly in research areas of high priority by:
- maintaining existing formal and informal arrangements, prioritising cooperation with a range of countries to grasp new opportunities.
Actions
- Maintain existing formal and informal arrangements, prioritise cooperation with a range of countries to grasp new opportunities by:
- contributing to sustaining Australia’s traditionally strong research links with a range of countries
- developing links and effective communication with all relevant agencies and learned academies which fund and manage research
- identifying areas of research strength and priority in those countries and seeking to link activities in those areas with research in areas of priority for Australia
- host delegations from overseas countries who seek information about the ARC and its international collaborative strategies and funding opportunities.
- promote the internationalisation of the NCGP schemes to other countries to enable attraction of high quality researchers from overseas.
Objective 4
Strategy
Compare Australia’s research nationally and internationally for all discipline areas by:
- program Evaluations – undertaking evaluations of ARC programs and assess outcomes by comparison with other international agencies.
- implementing the Excellence in Research for Australia initiative in 2010
Actions
- Contribute to the understanding of excellence in research discipline areas by:
- assess ARC programs outcomes with comparable measures utilised by other international research agencies
- undertaking the Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) initiative in 2010 and reporting to the Commonwealth Government on the results of the evaluation outcomes.
- comparing Australia’s research excellence internationally, including the use of international metric-based benchmarks in ERA.
- identifying and reporting on areas of excellence in research disciplines, and also emerging areas and opportunities for further development.
19/02/10
