The Australian Government is committed to ensuring that Australia maintains its position as an established global leader in world-class research and that Australian researchers continue to have access to cutting edge research infrastructure.
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Demonstrating this commitment, as part of the 2018-19 Budget, the Government announced investment of $1.9 billion over 12 years under the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy to support national research infrastructure (NRI) and secure Australia’s research future.
This investment builds on around $260 million in funding during 2017-18 to support high performance computing and astronomy; and complements the ongoing funding commitment of $150 million per year (indexed) for NCRIS, that the Government announced in the National Innovation and Science Agenda in 2015.
The Research Infrastructure Investment Plan (Investment Plan) sets out the Government’s response to the nine key recommendations outlined in the 2016 National Research Infrastructure Roadmap.
The Investment Plan was prepared by the Departments of Education and Training, and Industry, Innovation and Science, in consultation with Innovation and Science Australia and the Commonwealth Science Council, drawing on advice from Commonwealth and state and territory government departments and agencies, NRI facilities and experts including Australia’s Chief Scientist, Dr Alan Finkel AO.
The Government’s investment in NRI will provide Australian researchers with access to critical infrastructure such as new generation cryo-electron microscopy and pre-clinical Magnetic Resonance Imaging, which will support research to improve the health and wellbeing of Australians.
State-of-the-art genomics infrastructure to support the world’s largest coral genomics sequencing project is also being supported to help researchers trying to understand the genetic makeup of corals and how they might respond to climate change which will help save our Great Barrier Reef.
As a part of the Investment Plan the Government committed $3.19 million to support the cost of undertaking eight national research infrastructure scoping studies, to explore new NRI capabilities.
Please direct any inquiries to: ResearchInfrastructure@education.gov.au