Up & Coming Geoscientists - a sample of our AIG Honours Bursary Recipients

Industry – Academic Research Projects
“
Any failure of large-scale projects
can damage the reputations of the
institutions and can make companies
think twice about where (and how much)
research funding they make available.”
The Ugly. Well, there have been a few cases
over the years of large-scale (high budget),
all-singing and all-dancing paradigm-changing
projects that just fizzled out. Big words can
be used in the proposal, big names can be
THE UGLY COLLABORATIONS
Case Study Example
• Six-figure PA spend from company matched by ARC
linkage.
• Ambitious ‘industry leading’ project with ‘paradigm
changing’ aims.
• Poor communication from start, field visits quickly became
fewer as project progressed.
• Late delivery of reports with basic errors.
• Break-down of trust. Project funding cancelled after 2
years.
Recommendations
involved and big outcomes can be promised,
only for the projects to underachieve. Any
failure of large-scale projects can damage the
reputations of the institutions and can make
companies think twice about where (and how
much) research funding they make available.
There can, of course, be many reasons for
this outcome, but key among them may be a
lack of open and transparent communication:
without mutual trust and respect there will be
no ‘true’ collaboration and this is especially
pertinent for projects with higher budgets and
more participants.
• Communicate: be open and transparent and, if things go
wrong, don’t try to hide it.
• Maintain a professional approach: a collaborative research
project is a contractual relationship with the expectation
that key deliverables will be provided as specified and on
time.
• Regular field visits are essential to provide updates and
communicate results to industry partners.
• Try to maintain project flexibility to be able to adjust to
business needs.
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AIG NEWS Issue 123 · February 2016