ADM+S partner on the 2024-33 Decadal Plan for Social Science Research Infrastructure in Australia
Author Australian Academy of the Social Sciences
Date 20 May 2024
On 10 April 2024 the Academy of the Social Sciences launched a 10-year strategy for transforming national social science research infrastructure in Australia.
Led by the Academy with the support of five partner organisations including the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society (ADM+S), Connected, Innovative and Responsive: Decadal Plan for Social Science Research Infrastructure 2024-33 sets out a compelling vision for a framework of connected and integrated social science researchers across universities, government research and data agencies, and private and not-for-profit organisations.
It includes three broad goals for the sector over the 10-year timeframe, with nine priority actions that will help achieve those goals, and five decision-making principles to guide investments and priorities and ensure the biggest return for Australians on our research investment.
ADM+S researcher and expert working group member on the project Prof Daniel Angus explains, “a national commitment to digital platform National Research Infrastructure (NRI), on the scope and scale that is often provided for science and medical infrastructure is likely to be one of the most cost effective and sustainable approaches.”
Speaking at the launch in Canberra, the Academy’s project lead Dr Isabel Ceron noted that the plan has been developed at the right time to take advantage of an enormous step change in the amount of social data that’s becoming available to researchers.
‘In a similar way large telescopes inaugurated a new era of discovery for astrophysics and space science, in the same way that peeking into our genes forever changed the way we understood life and its determinants, we are now starting to see masses of social, human data, pouring in from all corners of society.’
By building and connecting the infrastructure, protocols, governance and people support needed to make this data accessible, social science researchers will be able to gain a much more detailed and nuanced understanding of social systems, structures and trends and provide more valuable insights and advice to decision makers.
One of the central considerations of the plan is the need to facilitate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ leadership of and sovereignty over their own data, with priority actions focused on embedding principles of Indigenous Data Governance, Indigenous Data Sovereignty and Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property principles and processes into future research infrastructure.
Another key consideration is to encourage greater awareness and understanding of the value of investing in and utilising a cohesive and functional research infrastructure ecosystem across both the research and policy sectors.
The Decadal Plan is the result of a partnership between the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia, ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society, ANU Centre for Social Research and Methods, ARC Centre of Excellence for Children and Families over the Life Course, ARC Centre of Excellence in Population Ageing Researchand UQ Institute for Social Science Research (ISSR).
It was developed over two years and in consultation with hundreds of social science researchers, technical experts and stakeholder organisations.
Read more on the Academy website.
