Research projects
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Research Model Projects
| Project | Government partner | Research partner | Year |
| Flexible working in the Australian Capital Territory Public Service (ACTPS)
Detailed insights relevant for any agency trying to develop optimal ways of managing a flexible workforce. |
ACTPS | UNSW Public Service Research Group | 2022 |
| How do place-based services evolve in a world of virtual, physical and hybrid service delivery?
Emerging considerations for governments in designing and delivering hybrid (i.e. virtual and face-to-face) services and hybrid place-based initiatives, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. |
NSW Cabinet Office | UNSW Social Policy Research Centre | 2022 |
| Governance and operation of smaller statutory agencies
Insights into the challenges and opportunities facing this increasingly important type of public agency and their place in the wider public sector. |
Queensland Public Sector Commission WA Public Sector Commission |
UWA Public Policy Institute | 2023 |
| Leadership development, career transitions and generational transformation: Leadership capability planning for the QLD public service
Developing an evidence base for creating leaders in a way that is collaborative, people-centred, and place-based. |
Queensland Public Service | UNSW Centre for Social Impact | 2024 |
| Trust, Transparency and the Use of Data in Informing Policy Responses
Evidence-based practical guidance for public sector collection, evaluation, and use of public opinion data, for the purpose of developing public policy that integrates, and gives proper weight to, the opinions of those affected by it. |
Australian Public Service Commission | Monash Sustainable Development Institute | 2024 |
| Merit 2.0: Factors in Merit-Based Recruitment, Promotion, and Retention in the Public Sector
Insights into the evolving public sector understanding of merit-based selection and the role of suitability and diversity considerations.
|
ACTPS | UNSW Public Service Research Group | 2024 |
| Would adopting more co-governance arrangements with communities build trust?
Building an evidence base that can be used to scale up successful co-governance projects that can build trust between government and communities. |
NSW Cabinet Office | UNSW Social Policy Research Centre | 2025 |
| Improving Public Sector Integrity Through Action Research
This project, due for completion in late 2025, uses an action research approach to explore how communities of practice develop integrity-in-practice to contribute to a pro-integrity culture. |
Victorian Public Sector Commission | University of Sydney | 2025 |
| Managing psychosocial wellbeing in a diverse public sector: Improved leadership awareness and capabilities for high-risk cohorts and individuals
This project will examine the leadership awareness and capabilities that best support the public sector to better manage psychosocial hazards and risks, and will generate case studies and guidance relevant to all public sector agencies. |
NSW Premier’s Department | UTS Institute for Public Policy and Governance | 2025 |
| Strengthen Australia’s reform muscle via social licence to operate, co-funded by ANZSOG and the South Australian Department of Premier and Cabinet, will explore the capacity and capabilities needed to enact major reforms. The project is being undertaken by the Crawford School of Public Policy at the Australian National University aims to understand how social licence for change is operationalised in the Australian public sector and provide practical advice on how the public sector can build and sustain capacity for major reform. | SA Department of Premier and Cabinet | ANU Crawford School of Public Policy | 2025 |
ANZSOG Research Model Program
ANZSOG was established in 2002 by governments, for governments, with the collaboration of our partner universities. ANZSOG creates public value by informing debate on key issues affecting government and public administration and supporting the development of new knowledge and capability throughout the public sector.
This foundation is reflected in the objective of ANZSOG’s Research Model:
To address key contemporary issues in public administration and policy development through research of practical assistance to government and the communities they serve.
Our Research Model has three distinctive features:
- It targets the priorities of government, aiming at systemic impact and delivering public value.
- It favours collaborative and comparative research at the interface of academia and practice.
- It draws on the strengths of our network of scholars and practitioners and the ANZSOG Board and staff.
Demand-driven research
ANZSOG’s Research Model projects are collaboratively developed and co-sponsored by ANZSOG and government. These are highly impactful, demand-driven projects that directly respond to the identified needs of government. ANZSOG’s unique ability to engage with and connect academics and practitioners is central to the success of our Research Model.
The Research Model follows an annual cycle which progresses through a three-stage process of research development: from themes to topics to projects.
A list of high-level research themes is developed periodically by our advisory Research Committee. Research themes reflect broad current issues and debates in public administration and policy theory and practice.
Research topics are developed through a collaborative process by the Research Network, representatives from all state and national governments in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand. Topics operationalise annual research themes by crafting them into research questions or hypotheses that can respond to applied areas of interest to public administration and policy practice.
The ANZSOG Research team works with sponsor governments to refine the topics as the basis for a competitive EOI process. University-based, applied policy research institutes are invited to respond to the EOI and, following an assessment process, ANZSOG and sponsoring governments work with the successful research institutes to develop the projects. Professor Ariadne Vromen, Deputy Dean (Research) ANZSOG and Bunting Chair of Public Administration at ANU, leads the engagement with partner universities.
Commissioned research projects run for up to two years, with an emphasis on collaboration at all stages with sponsoring governments and the successful applied policy research institute. The process of developing projects, from selected themes and topics, is brokered by the ANZSOG Research team.
Our approach to research
We adopt a flexible approach to research, which allows for us to respond to governments’ varied research needs and priorities.
The Research Model funds either small or large projects:
- Small projects have a timeline of 9 to 12 months and are funded up to $100,000 (excluding GST)
- Large projects have a timeline of 12 to 24 months and are funded up to $300,000 (excluding GST).
Projects lend themselves to a range of methodologies and outputs, including state of evidence reports, deliberative policy-practice panels, organisational and public database analyses, quantitative, qualitative and participatory research methods. Large projects are particularly well suited to research involving, for example, large and multiple database analyses or place-based and community collaborative approaches, where trust built over time is important to research drawing on lived experience.
A project outline issued with an EOI call will provide general guidance on any preferred approaches or outputs. All projects will be steered to determine how the research is to be translated and/or implemented. Here, ANZSOG will work closely with the research team and government partner to translate and transform research findings into relevant, actionable insights and recommendations.
Research impact and excellence
Research Model projects present practical, highly impactful research with cross-jurisdictional relevance and application for improving practice.
ANZSOG plays the role of knowledge broker, bridging the gap between academic research and public administration and policymaking practice. This includes chairing a Steering Committee to oversee the implementation of the project and providing opportunities for researchers and practitioners to collaborate and share knowledge; including the translation of research findings into high-impact online publications and facilitating implementation workshops.
Final reports are published on the ANZSOG website, following an independent and impartial peer review process. This process upholds the excellent and integrity of research projects. Research partners have intellectual ownership over their research to subsequently publish as they like; and projects can be counted as Category 3 grants under Higher Education Research Data Collection Specifications for the allocation of the research block grant.
For a full list of our Research Institute Partners, click here.
Further information
Please send enquiries about ANZSOG’s research to research@anzsog.edu.au.
Related Pages
Impact into Public Sector Practice
ANZSOG research for the 2019 APS Review
ANZSOG was commissioned by the Independent Review of the Australian Public Service, chaired by David Thodey, to provide a range of research papers on key issues facing the APS over coming decades, to inform the Review’s deliberations. These papers were produced by our network of academics and practitioners and fed into the Review's final recommendations, which were released in 2019, and remain a valuable resource for debate about the future of the APS.
The Greater China Australia Dialogue on Public Administration