July 22, 2026
The Australian Research Council National Competitive Grants Program (NCGP) review is a significant contribution to the future of Australia's research system and reflects many of the priorities advanced by the Group of Eight (Go8) throughout the consultation process.
Its recognition of the value of early-stage research, support for Indigenous research excellence, stronger investment in emerging researchers and a more coordinated national research system through coordination with the Ambitious Australia report are all important developments.
Importantly, the review reinforces the central role research plays in driving Australia's future productivity, economic prosperity and sovereign capability.
However, the review ultimately highlights an issue that remains unresolved: Australia's research ambitions continue to outpace the level of investment available to support them. While the review proposes important reforms to the structure and operation of the National Competitive Grants Program, it does not address the fundamental challenge facing the research system – the growing gap between the cost of conducting world-class research and the funding available to sustain it.
Australia's investment in R&D continues to be stalled at 1.69 percent of GDP - well behind the OECD average of 2.72 percent. We also are behind EU members such as Germany, Sweden, Belgium, Austria, Finland and Denmark who all invest over 3 percent of GDP on research. The Go8 has called for stronger incentives to lift Australia's business investment in R&D, which currently sits at 0.91 percent, to reverse this decline.
Australia's research-intensive universities already make a substantial contribution to supporting nationally important research investing $10 billion a year or around 20% of the total national investment in research.
Reforming how competitive grants are allocated is valuable, but it cannot by itself resolve the structural funding pressures facing research, infrastructure and talent development.
The timing of the review is also significant. Australia now has access to major international research opportunities, including Horizon Europe, at a time when global competition for research talent, capability and investment is intensifying. The challenge is ensuring Australia has the research capacity, workforce and investment settings needed to fully capitalise on these opportunities and remain a partner of choice for the world's leading research nations who are outpacing us in terms of investment.
As implementation proceeds, attention must now turn to the broader question of how Australia intends to fund the research system needed to deliver the outcomes the review seeks: stronger productivity growth, greater innovation, deeper industry collaboration, sovereign capability and international competitiveness.
