Resources

Annual Report and Business Plan

The value of research networks is that they bring together researchers from different disciplines, different universities and different cities. This involves building bridges across intellectual and physical barriers. We have already made a mark in the field. In just over a year we’ve:

  1. Held two annual conferences, the first within 3 months of the announcement of the bid’s success.

  2. Established a $3.7m governance research fund for joint work between Indonesian and Australian scholars by AusAID.

  3. Successfully lobbied the World Bank and other donors to provide US$500,000 for the inaugural ‘World Ethics Forum’ held in Oxford from April 2006. This shaped an agenda and institutional means for providing assistance to leaders in developing countries to lead with integrity.

  4. Entered into a principle agreement to establish a joint research program with the United Nations Environment Program, Finance Initiative with a likely extension to the United Nations Global Compact.

  5. Created corporate governance research links with leading UK researchers.

  6. Enhanced research bids to improve the quality, interdisciplinarity and geographical spread of the teams and the scope of the ideas researched with increased collaboration between lawyers and ethicists.

  7. Generated momentum towards more substantial research projects in the future – including a planned project on negotiated prosecutions.

Websites

These websites may be of general interest and they cover sites that fit within several Governance Research Network streams.

Global Governance

Asia-Pacific Regional Governance Mechanisms

Public Sector Governance

Corporate Governance and Regulation

Objectives

We set ourselves the following objectives - each of which represents a networking activity that adds value to existing research and helps meet the objectives of the Australian Research Council's networking program to achieve scale, focus, interdisciplinarity and innovation:

  • Encouraging the foment (and ferment) of ideas across the disciplines and subjects of governance involving end-users in planning research directions.
  • Establishing research streams for developing and funding innovative, higher quality (and generally interdisciplinary) projects and programs, researching the governance of particular institutions and sets of institutions. The five streams cover: global governance, Asia-Pacific regional governance mechanisms, public sector governance, corporate governance and regulation, and the many and varied institutions of 'civil society'.
  • Exploring cross-cutting research themes, based on national priorities and emerging governance issues that cross the traditional institutional boundaries of governance research. For example, issues concerning corruption in Australia and elsewhere cross over corporate and public sector institutions and the solutions generally involve civil society and the professions.
  • Asia-Pacific governance capacity building. (This diversifies funding sources, reduces reliance on the Australian Research Council and exposes researchers to significant governance problems in a range of different contexts).
  • Improving the techniques of research design and management.Once won, grants need to be used as efficiently as possible.
  • Improving communication of results to various audiences and end-users.
  • Strengthening the Network and enhancing future viability.
  • Improving the experiences and employability of research higher degree students.


Through the pursuit of these objectives, we will extend earlier networking activities and provide critical links:

  • within relevant disciplines
  • across disciplines
  • between humanities, social sciences (and some physical sciences)
  • between engaged academics and reflective practitioners
  • between national and international networks

Sources of Funding

  • Australian Research Council: $1.5 million for 2004-2009
  • Griffith University: cash and in-kind 2005-09
  • Charles Sturt University, Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics: cash and in-kind 2005-09
  • Australian National University (including Australian Public Service Commission funding for Australia and New Zealand School of Government research): cash and in-kind 2005-09

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