Collaborative research
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Overview
ANZSOG’s unique research program connects public sector leaders with university expertise to address real-world challenges in governance and public administration.
Our projects are co-designed with government partners to target practical priorities and generate actionable insights and undertaken by leading academic experts.
On this page, find out about our projects in public sector capability development, practice, and governance, along with further information about our sector-leading research model.
What’s new
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.
Government partner: Victorian Public Sector Commission
Research partner: University of Sydney
Year: 2025
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.
Government partner: NSW Premier’s Department
Research partner: UTS Institute for Public Policy and Governance
Year: 2025
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.
Government partner: SA Department of Premier and Cabinet
Research partner: ANU Crawford School of Public Policy
Year: 2025
Capability development
Insights into the evolving public sector understanding of merit-based selection and the role of suitability and diversity considerations.
Government partner: ACTPS
Research partner: UNSW Public Service Research Group
Year: 2024
Developing an evidence base for creating leaders in a way that is collaborative, people-centred, and place-based.
Government partner: Queensland Public Service
Research partner: UNSW Centre for Social Impact
Year: 2024
Ways of working
Detailed insights relevant for any agency trying to develop optimal ways of managing a flexible workforce.
Government partner: ACTPS
Research partner: UNSW Public Service Research Group
Year: 2022
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.
Government partner: Australian Public Service Commission
Research partner: Monash Sustainable Development Institute
Year: 2024
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.
Government partner: NSW Cabinet Office
Research partner: UNSW Social Policy Research Centre
Year: 2022
Public governance
Building an evidence base that can be used to scale up successful co-governance projects that can build trust between government and communities.
Government partner: NSW Cabinet Office
Research partner: UNSW Social Policy Research Centre
Year: 2025
Insights into the challenges and opportunities facing this increasingly important type of public agency and their place in the wider public sector.
Government partner: Queensland Public Sector Commission, WA Public Sector Commission
Research partner: UWA Public Policy Institute
Year: 2023
About ANZSOG research
ANZSOG’s unique research program links governments with academic experts to address key issues in public governance. We combine relevance and rigour to produce practical guidance for the public sector.
Our research projects are demand driven. Our advisory committee of expert researchers identifies emerging themes in public governance, which are then collaboratively developed with our government partners into research projects.
ANZSOG and governments co-sponsor university researchers, selected through a competitive bidding process to undertake the research. Projects run for between 12 and 24 months and produce multiple outputs over that period.
Co-designed with ANZSOG and sponsoring governments, the projects use a range of methodologies, including evidence reviews, data analysis, interviews, and participatory research – but always with a view to distilling findings into actionable insights for public sector practitioners.
ANZSOG acts as project manager and knowledge broker. We steer the projects to completion, provide quality assurance and peer review, and support researchers to share their findings.
All the reports from our projects are made freely available here on our website, in support of ANZSOG’s mission to support and enhance public governance that people trust.
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