Lessons learned from the considerable success of the MTSRF/RRRC
experiment into improving returns on investment in applied science,
including knowledge transfer experience, should be of great value
to the Australian Government as it seeks to improve its
organisational effectiveness and efficiency.
Enhancing the links between science and
policy: There is increasing worldwide recognition of
the unquantified cost of failure to transfer new research generated
knowledge to policy- and decision-makers. Enhancing the sometimes
poor links between science and policy must be a high priority given
the Australian Government's commitment to evidence based policy. In
the context of the recent reviews of the Australian
Cooperative Research Centre program and the national innovation
system, it is both timely and appropriate to consider how
publicly-funded, public-good research might more reliably inform
Australian public policy. A
recent international study of this issue in Europe and North
America is strongly supportive of a new mode of research management
and delivery, very similar to that currently embodied by the MTSRF
and RRRC. The analysis draws conclusions from a series of detailed
interviews with both researchers and policy-makers across the UK
and Europe, and recommends a number of ways to increase the rate at
which publicly-funded, public-good research successfully informs
policy. RRRC is engaged with the researchers in discussions about
the possibility of extending their study to the Australian
sphere.
Minimising slippage of end-user driven
applied research projects: The RRRC has developed a
novel research management and delivery framework designed to
achieve maximum return on investment in applied research. Dedicated
program managers with significant relevant scientific expertise act
to maximise synergies between projects, facilitate milestone
development and review, and broker end-user needs. The result is
timely delivery of milestones that meet end user needs, against a
background of scientific credibility and fiscal transparency.
Ongoing consultation and fulfillment of project objectives with
respect to end users' needs assists in building the confidence of
end users, research providers and funding agencies in the program.
This structure has been remarkably successful in significantly
improving delivery performance of milestones, with the vast
majority of milestone reports being delivered on time and to a high
standard. The CRC Reef Research Centre, Fisheries Research
and Development Corporation and other like entities consider 20%
slippage of research delivery to be fairly normal, yet the RRRC has
achieved 0% slippage in Year 1, 3.7% slippage in Year 2 and 3.3%
slippage in Year 3 of the MTSRF. These efficiency gains speak for
themselves.
RRRC's approach to strategic enhanced
delivery (knowledge brokering): The effectiveness of
governance is frequently limited not only by lack of information,
but by lack of awareness and uptake of existing information. The
reasons for this knowledge transfer failure may appear complex, but
usually reflect the differing motivations and priorities of
researchers and decision-makers – neither is usually provided
with the time, resources or incentives necessary to achieve
successful knowledge transfer. The MTSRF is producing
scientific information with the specific objective of enabling
North Queensland's management, policy and practice to become more
environmentally sustainable. Effective transfer of new
knowledge to a very wide range of policy- and decision-makers is
essential if the MTSRF is to achieve its aim, and to this end the
RRRC has established a dedicated and appropriately resourced
Enhanced
Delivery program. The RRRC is well placed to assist as a broker
for the MTSRF. Its role in MTSRF project management requires
the RRRC to be embedded in many activities important for successful
delivery, such as annual conferences, joint researcher and end user
workshops and the collaborative definition of research questions.
This means the RRRC can maintain an overview of the MTSRF
activities whilst remaining fully engaged with both research
providers and end users. Strategic synthesis and transfer of MTSRF
research results to targeted end users is followed wherever
possible by monitoring and evaluation of transfer success, such
that the knowledge transfer process can be made more efficient and
effective over time.
Lessons learned from review of
rainforest revegetation projects: A MTSRF-funded
study has shown that failure of NHT1 (Natural Heritage Turst)
revegetation projects was commonly the result of a lack of
attention to monitoring and follow-up maintenance (such as weed
control) in the early years following planting, which stems from
the one-off year-to-year manner in which the NHT scheme was largely
implemented, coupled with funding uncertainties from one year to
the next. These insights into the implications of investment style
and emphasis have been successfully delivered to the Australian
Government by the RRRC, and can be used to improve the success of
publicly-funded environmental management programs in future.
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Impacts of the MTSRF
