About us

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Australia 21 was formed in 2001 as a non-profit group to fill a national need for fresh and independent thinking about large and unsolved problems that confront us in the new century. 

We create networks by drawing on outstanding researchers and experts from diverse institutions and disciplines, nationally and internationally, and from various sectors of society. We bring together in roundtables and ongoing research, networks of the best minds available and provide them with opportunities to interact in ways that are not usually available.

We undertake inclusive, integrated analyses in four thematic programs:

Australians in society

Australians in the landscape

Australia in the world

Building Australia's resilience.

Our stakeholders are all Australians, including State and Federal governments, corporations, universities and community groups. We serve them by focusing on difficult and long term issues that enhance the links between science, business and policy.

The objects of Australia 21 Limited are:

1.  To promote the development of new frameworks of understanding about the questions which challenge Australia's future.

2.  To raise and distribute funds to support interdisciplinary and interinstitutional dialogue and germinate new research on these matters.

3.  To create networks between researchers, community and business leaders, and policymakers across all sectors of society, to ensure that emerging insights are widely understood and applied to societal problems.

4. To make the results of its research freely available to the public.

 

Patron

Professor Glyn Davis is Vice Chancellor and President of the University of Melbourne. He has just completed a term also as chair of the Group of Eight, representing Australia’s leading research universities.

Professor Davis was educated in political science at the University of New South Wales and the Australian National University, before undertaking post-doctoral appointments as a Harkness Fellow at the University of California Berkeley, the Brookings Institution in Washington DC and the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

Professor Davis teaches and researches in the field of public policy. His public sector service includes working as the Director-General of the Department of Premier and Cabinet in Queensland, and a term as Foundation Chair of the Australia and New Zealand School of Government.

In 2007, Professor Davis co-authored the fourth edition of The Australian Policy Handbook (Allen and Unwin).

He is a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia and a Companion in the Order of Australia.

In early 2008 Professor Davis was named a member of the Innovation Taskforce, an expert group commissioned to review Australia’s research and innovation systems.

Internationally, Professor Davis is Vice-Chair of Universitas 21, a grouping of 25 leading universities from around the globe, a member of the Association of Pacific Rim Universities, a member of the Hong Kong Grants Commission, and a Director of the Menzies Centre for Australian Studies at King’s College London.

The University of Melbourne, established in 1853, has a student body of 44,000, more than 7,000 staff and an annual budget approaching $A 1.3 billion.

In its most recent global rankings, the Times of London named the University of Melbourne among the top 30 universities in the world.

Professor Davis was a member of the Board of Directors of Australia 21 Limited from February 2002 to March 2008.

 

The Canadian Connection

Australia 21 has been inspired by the success of The Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIAR), which is an “institute without walls” that has, during the past twenty two years made fundamental contributions to Canada's international competitiveness, and to its domestic policy.

The CIAR (www.ciar.ca) does not compete with, or duplicate the work of existing research institutions, but adds value to them. It provides a collaborative environment across the nation in which new research ideas germinate and prosper. Its sustained research networks have made vital contributions to world knowledge on robotics, nano-electronics, superconductivity, evolutionary biology, earth system evolution, law in society, economic growth, population health and human development. Through its networks of influence, it assists in refurbishing national policy on issues ranging from human development to economic growth.

“CIAR has done much more than operate a network. It has created a culture - a culture of true collaboration throughout Canada, which radiates beyond national boundaries and attracts foreign scientists in otherwise fiercely competitive fields. This culture is actively passed on to future generations, as students engage in collaborative projects, attend Program meetings and organize their own annual Summer Schools. CIAR collaborations have changed the research landscape of Canada, and have resulted in a succession of ground-breaking discoveries.”
Louis Taillefer, Director CIAR Quantum Materials Program

CIAR works by facilitating long-term interactions between outstanding researchers on subjects that have been singled out as having high national priority. In each case, the research discussion among Canadian researchers is supplemented by international networking. There is communication of the issues, not only across research disciplines, but also across institutions and across sectors of society. Identified networks of outstanding thinkers and scholars meet together up to three times annually to advance understanding of the issue around which they have been assembled.

Linkages between the private sector, government and academia have been particularly important in ensuring that the findings of the scholars were quickly considered and applied.

Like the CIAR, Australia 21 has been developed outside government, academia and the private sector, but is developing close working links with each, and will add value to the operation of each. The Canadian Institute has been operational for for twenty two years, and it is widely respected for its commitment to scholarly excellence, its efficiency in the use of quite modest resources (about $12 million annually), and its impact on innovation, economic policy and productivity.

These resources are drawn from the private sector and from federal and provincial governments, but the primary initiative for the organisation rests outside government. This ensures that organisation is able to take an independent long-term view of its agenda.

Australia 21 is grateful to CIAR and its Founders Network under the leadership of Dr Fraser Mustard who have provided generous assistance to Australia 21 in its early developmental phase.