The shape of research to come

There is $25m for five new Industrial Transformation Research Hubs 

Which do what? According to the Australian Research Council, which administers the programme, they, support HE institutions and industry “to focus on strategic outcomes that cannot be realised independently of each other.”

The new ones will research: * steel innovation: Paul Zulli Uni Wollongong ($5m), * offshore energy infrastructure,” Phillip Watson, UWA ($5m), * waste resources into construction and manufacturing materials, Sujeeva Setunge, RMIT ($5m), * nitrogen in agriculture, Deli Chen, Uni Melbourne ($4.95m), *eliminating fire risk in new energy storage technologies), Ying Chen, Deakin U ($5m)

Just what the minister wants: “We want universities to be even more entrepreneurial and engaged with industry,” Education Minister Dan Tehan says

More university than industry:  Learned Readers suggest the hubs can be a handful for business partners in a bid unused to the ARC’s ways – with questions about peer-reviewed research publications and a time-frame suited to the pace of academic life, not industry.