CSIRO has today announced changes to its research direction and a workforce reduction as part of a broader strategy to ensure a sustainable and enduring national science agency – one that can continue delivering the science Australia needs to meet the challenges of the decades ahead.
For 100 years, CSIRO has evolved its scientific focus to help drive Australia's progress and adapted to shifting financial circumstances. However, CSIRO is now facing long-term financial sustainability challenges, with funding not keeping pace with the rising costs of running a modern science agency.
After decades of stretching resources to maintain the breadth of its programs and size of its workforce, CSIRO has reached a critical inflection point.
CSIRO Chief Executive Dr Doug Hilton said the organisation needs to adapt to achieve the right balance of focussed research, supported by aligned capability, quality research infrastructure and safe and sustainable sites – where CSIRO researchers can make discoveries and apply them to change the world.
"CSIRO's reason for being is to deliver the greatest possible impact for the nation through our research," Dr Hilton said.
"As today's stewards of CSIRO, we have a responsibility to make decisions that ensure we can continue to deliver science that improves the lives of all Australians for generations to come.
"We must set up CSIRO for the decades ahead with a sharpened research focus that capitalises on our unique strengths, allows us to concentrate on the profound challenges we face as a nation and deliver solutions at scale."
Following a comprehensive 18-month review of its research portfolio, CSIRO has identified key focus areas to bring a renewed emphasis on inventing and deploying technological solutions to tackle national problems.
These include:
- Supporting a clean, affordable energy transition, including transforming our critical minerals to materials
- Addressing the pressing problem of climate change, with a renewed focus on adaptation and resilience
- Applying advanced technologies (including AI, quantum, sensing, robotics and manufacturing) to drive the next wave of innovation in core Australian industries
- Increasing the productivity and resilience of Australian farms by focusing on the deployment of technological solutions
- Mitigating and eradicating biosecurity threats to Australian industries, landscapes and communities
- Applying disruptive science and engineering to unlock the unknown and solve unanswered questions.
This sharpened focus means other research activities will need to be deprioritised, including areas where CSIRO lacks the required scale to achieve significant impact or areas where others in the ecosystem are better placed to deliver.
While CSIRO will seek to minimise the impact on staff, the organisation will need to reduce roles in its Research Units by between 300 to 350 full-time equivalent (FTE) to achieve this sharpened research focus.
In addition to its immediate staffing impacts, to put the organisation on a pathway to long-term sustainability, CSIRO will need to invest between $80 and $135 million per annum over the next 10 years into essential infrastructure and technology. This includes investment in critical repairs and maintenance to ensure safe and fit-for-purpose sites, as well as the research equipment, infrastructure, cyber protection and technology that best enables CSIRO's researchers to make discoveries and turn them into real-world impact.
Early engagement with staff on the implementation of this focussed research direction will commence this week. The organisation remains committed to engaging with staff, keeping them informed, consulted and supported throughout this period of change, with wellbeing a priority and support services available. CSIRO will also be engaging with the CSIRO Staff Association and external stakeholders throughout this process.
"These are difficult but necessary changes to safeguard our national science agency so we can continue solving the challenges that matter to Australia and Australians," Dr Hilton said.
