2011 Strategic Roadmap for Australian Research Infrastructure

plays in identifying and formulating solutions to pressing national and global
matters 28 . Complex problems in health, the environment or social cohesion can
only be addressed through a holistic approach, requiring researchers from the
natural sciences and from the humanities, arts and social sciences to work
together, drawing on a very wide variety of data types from a diverse range of
sources. This in turn drives the need for systems to underpin this approach.
As the trend towards multidisciplinary and multinational collaboration increases as
a means to solve complex problems of global significance, an important step in
planning future research directions is the identification of priority areas to be
supported by investment in research infrastructure under the Understanding
Cultures and Communities Capability. Suggested areas with a level of significance
and complexity that demands large-scale infrastructure support include:
Social cohesion, diversity and equity;
Population change;
Health and wellbeing;
Identity and community;
Indigenous knowledge and opportunity;
Sustaining culture and creativity;
Adapting to a changing environment;
Regional connection and transformation; and
Strengthening global engagement.
5.A.1
5.A.2
What are your views on the key future research directions identified and
are there other key areas that have not been included?
How should we prioritise research areas for this sector when developing
Australia’s research infrastructure?
Section B: Research infrastructure Capability areas
An eResearch infrastructure Capability supporting the humanities, arts and social
sciences was outlined in the 2008 Roadmap but was not ultimately funded. The
Capability featured two broad and connected elements of eResearch
infrastructure:
(1) data creation – through digitisation, systematic capture of ‘born digital’
materials, and support for national survey instruments; and
(2) data management – including curation and dissemination through coordinated
strategies and platforms.
In Australia there is now an unmet and growing demand for enabling technology
solutions. In the United States and Europe, by contrast, major infrastructure
investments in the social and cultural research sector have been made in the past
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As Canadian research has demonstrated, whereas the economic benefits of Science, Technology, Engineering and
Mathematics (STEM) research are clearly evident within a goods-based economy, a knowledge-based economy derives
greater benefit and fosters innovation more effectively, when research in the humanities, arts and social sciences is
supported appropriately (see http://www.sshrc-crsh.gc.ca/about-au_sujet/publications/impacts_e.pdf).
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