Published works

The Bushfire and Natural Hazards Cooperative Research Centre (BNHCRC – the CRC) retained us to develop a transparent, reproducible estimate of the total value to Australia of its research: to answer the question, what is the return to Australia of its investment in the BNHCRC?

Cooperative Research Centres, like the BNHCRC, represent the main formal vehicle for explicitly enhancing research and industry collaboration in Australia.  With government sponsorship, researchers and industry work closely to produce socially and commercially desirable outcomes. 

Funders of all research, including that of bushfire and emergency management, increasingly want to ensure that their investments generate value for the emergency management sector and contribute to risk reduction.  Research value can take a number of forms, from a readily assessed improvement in performance due to a new widget or process, to increases in capacity and risk management across the emergency sector, and direct and indirect benefits to the whole of society and economy.  

The ARC (Australian Research Council) has a broad definition of research impact:

“Research impact is the contribution that research makes to the economy, society, environment or culture, beyond the contribution to academic research.” 

The definition suggested by the European Commission is broader still and includes indirect impacts and effects, on for example, innovation culture, capacity building, and increasing the stock of useful knowledge.  We use the ARC’s definition broadened slightly to encompass the specifics set out in the European definition as they help to capture the CRC’s contribution. This is achieved through four pathways to value, set out in the following section.