Impacts of the MTSRF: Informing public policy and practice

Research snapshots

Here, the RRRC presents just some of the cases in which successful delivery of MTSRF-funded solution science to end users has already contributed to changes in policy and/or practice:

Background

The Australian Government's commitment to evidence-based policy means that the longstanding problem of publicly-funded research programs failing to inform public policy or practice needs to be addressed.

Most research facilities measure their success in terms of the number of scientific and technical publications they have produced.  While publication by these means is an extremely important step to maintaining the credibility of scientific information, the objectives of the MTSRF are more accurately served using additional indicators of performance.

Encouragingly, MTSRF-funded science solutions are being taken up by end users and impacting positively on policy and practice. What makes the MTSRF so successful in this regard?

Measuring up:  The MTSRF model

In the MTSRF, the Australian Government has conducted an innovative experiment in the management and delivery of applied research.  Under the MTSRF model, an independent entity (the North Queensland based Reef and Rainforest Research Centre Ltd, or RRRC) performs project management, engagement, synthesis and delivery roles on behalf of a large interdisciplinary consortium of researchers and end users.  The effectiveness of the RRRC in these roles is proving to be fundamental to the consortium's success in the provision of useful, timely information to end users.

As a startling example of the value of this innovative approach, the RRRC's novel research project management system has achieved 0% slippage in the delivery of project milestones in Year 1 (2006/2007), 3.7% slippage in Year 2 (2007/2008) and 3.3% slippage in Year 3 (2008/2009) of the MTSRF program, despite the fact that slippage rates of ~20% are considered fairly normal for other established models of research project management in Australia.

Impacts on policy and practice

One of the biggest end users of the MTSRF is the Australian Government, which has publicly committed to evidence-based policy.  The Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts (DEWHA) faces the challenge of acquiring the relevant management and policy information that is needed in order to meet this commitment, and to achieve the outcomes outlined in their Strategic Plan.

The Department's primary roles are best conceptualised through the five outcomes they aim to achieve as well as an overarching corporate outcome:

1. Conserving our natural assets (Caring for our Country);

2. Living and working sustainably;

3. Protecting Antarctica;

4. Adapting to a future with less water;

5. Protecting and enhancing Australia's culture and heritage; and

6. Improving organisational effectiveness.

Outputs generated by MTSRF-funded research projects fit generally within Outcomes i, ii and v.