In undertaking this review, the Review Panel consulted widely across government, with universities and peak bodies, and individuals involved in supporting the work of the Australian Research Council (ARC) or who have benefited from the grants received from the ARC to conduct ground-breaking research.

The Panel provides in this review some examples of how university research has yielded technology and policy innovation that is now so well accepted it is easy to take these for granted, without understanding the origins and the role of basic research as a source of new knowledge. The ARC has been a leadership incubator within the higher education sector; supported the technology underpinning solar cells and quantum computing; collaborated to bring the internet to Australia; and aided our understanding of both the distant and more recent past, to name just a few benefits. The ARC has helped to attract and retain thousands of outstanding academics and led changes to policy and practice within and outside our universities.

A strong theme underpinning all those consultations has been a high level of respect and historical goodwill towards the ARC itself and the work it does to support the university and broader research sector. That trust has been built on:

• A distinctive combination of academic and research expertise which is not available in other areas of government.

• Peer review and research excellence being the paramount consideration in grant approvals. ƒ

• Transparent, merit-based assessments free of conflict of interest, underpinned by a strong research integrity and ethical framework which minimises inherent biases.

• Regular engagement and consultation by the ARC with leading researchers and institutions. ƒ

• Transparency and Parliamentary oversight of the ARC and the respective Ministers responsible for the ARC over that time.

These and other factors are important to ensure that the ARC is a trusted agency for the delivery of the Commonwealth’s investment in research, particularly in its capacity as the prime source of government investment in pure basic and strategic basic research. The case studies also demonstrate the importance of trusting the nation’s best researchers with funding portfolios over sufficient time periods to pursue new knowledge and ideas without always having an obvious or immediate application in sight from the outset.