Our greatest strength is our people … whose ideas and expertise are shaping our future. Celebrating its 20th year, the NCRIS program represents the best of Australian innovation and dedication to scientific endeavour.
The Hon Julian Hill MP, Assistant Minister for International Education
The National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS) program and its achievements are something to be immensely proud of in Australia.
As the Hon Julian Hill points out, this national strategy has put resources in reach of scientists, researchers and innovators. The focus has been on national priorities across all areas of research such as advanced imaging and biosecurity, to agriculture, marine science, astronomy, data platforms, emerging technologies and advanced manufacturing.
Its scale relies on the collaborative design of NCRIS that brings together “universities, research institutions, industry partners and government agencies to share access to nationally significant infrastructure that no single organisation could deliver or maintain alone”.
And NCRIS “is more than just the ‘kit’”, he emphasises. The myriad of successes rest firmly on the shoulders of the highly skilled professionals whose expertise ensures researchers can fully realise the benefits of these capabilities.
Along with Department of Education, NIF thanks all the members of the NCRIS community who make this excellent program possible over this 20 years. The program illustrates the value of collaborative investment and delivers more results than competitive grants would, by establishing national networks of capabilities and providing long-term funding.
See the NIF highlights on:
- page 8, where Prof John Hooper says that “NCRIS has been essential for taking my research out of the lab and into clinical trials in cancer patients. My research team would not be where we are today without the support of Australia’s fantastic NCRIS facilities”
- page 13, where it’s noted that NIF users are helping transform care for children with cerebral palsy
- page 18’s New technology frontier case study detailing NIF’s contributions to the “advanced imaging powering a breakthrough in cancer surgery” via FerroTrace – an innovative nanoparticle designed to improve cancer detection and treatment by precisely identifying high-risk lymph nodes.
We also congratulate fellow NCRIS providers and NCRIS Health Group providers for their innovative, collaborative and impactful solutions over these 2 decades.
This article is based on selected excerpts from the Australian Government’s publication Celebrating 20 years of the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS).