October 3, 2025

SERD Issues Papers 1-4: IRU response

The IRU welcomes the opportunity to offer feedback on the first four Strategic Examination of Research and Development (SERD) issues papers. The IRU submission to the SERD recommended a systematic approach to R&D through a national coordination agency. Therefore, we focus our feedback on the National Coordination for RD&I Impactpaper and the proposed approach outlined by the SERD panel.

The National Coordination for RD&I Impact paper addresses the fragmentation of Australia’s RD&I system across the R&D pipeline, inefficiencies caused by duplicated programs (particularly for translation and higher TRLs), siloed policymaking, and inconsistent funding strategies across jurisdictions. The paper proposes a five-part model: a three-part national coordination framework; an investment and evaluation framework; and a commitment to sustained support for foundational RD&I. The most substantive part of the paper is the national coordination framework. This is the focus of the IRU feedback. We address key questions from the discussion paper on foundational research in a separate response.

The National Coordination for RD&I Impact National Coordination for RD&I Impact paper’s investment and evaluation framework only contains high level principles with few details. The IRU submission to the SERD recommended prioritising the development of a National Research Evaluation and Impact Framework, as well as fully considering the recommendations contained in the Australian Universities Accord Final Report on this topic and others. The commitment to sustained support for foundational RD&I is mostly a short list of safeguards that align with similar recommendations contained in the Accord. We again recommend the SERD panel consider the Accord recommendations for supporting foundational research and impact evaluation, as well as the outcomes of past reviews, including the Innovation Metrics Review.

The IRU submission to the SERD outlined the need to recognise a balance between commercial outcomes and broader public/social good impacts from R&D, engage with humanities and social sciences research, and ensure R&D benefits are equitably distributed across communities. This is part of the SERD Terms of Reference, but mostly absent from the national coordination framework. The IRU submission also recommended that the SERD engage with the Australian Tertiary Education Commission (ATEC) to foster innovation and boost R&D intensity through greater mission diversity in the higher education sector. We again offer that as a recommendation (see also our forthcoming IRU response to Issues Paper 5: Foundational research).

Overall, the IRU supports a systematic approach to R&D through a national coordination agency. However, the proposed model only partly addresses what the IRU envisaged for a national RD&I coordinating body to do (as set out in our previous recommendations to the SERD). It will not systematically examine research workforce issues, the balance of fundamental and applied research in our system, or at global shifts in RD&I and what they mean for investments in Australia. It is important that a national coordination agency takes a larger system view. We offer the following recommendations that we hope you find constructive.

Recommendations

1. Focus Areas should be future-oriented and engage with humanities and social sciences research, with particular attention paid to equity and ensuring R&D benefits are fairly distributed across all communities.
2. Consolidated translational investment around challenged-based Focus Areas should be driven by new public investment, with broad-based foundational research maintained
3. The Governance Board include the proposed Australian Tertiary Education Commission to facilitate alignment between university research strategy and national priorities
4. A principled-based investment framework and evidence-based evaluation framework is appropriate, but it will need to be further developed and align with other government reviews.

Read the full submission, including details around each recommendation.