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Research partnerships
Achieve your business
goals through partnership
If you’re ready to innovate and transform your business, UWA’s experts can help you.
We deliver tangible benefits to our partners, helping to:
Solve a business problem
Drive innovation
Build commercial advantage
Create impact
Analysis by EY for Universities Australia shows the strong return on investment from business-university partnerships. For every dollar invested in these clever collaborations, there's an average four times return to the business.
As one of the world’s elite, research-intensive universities, we are recognised for resolving real-world challenges that are critical to the planet and its people. We will work with you to understand your business, its challenges and your ideas, and collaborate on creating knowledge to drive your business and industry forward.
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Research strengths
We are in the top 1% of the world's universities, and are leaders in fields including agriculture, earth sciences, engineering, medicine and psychology. Explore our strengths and research pursuits.
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Find an expert
Discover UWA staff, find information about their research, teaching, grants, and activities, and access their research outputs.
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Infrastructure and facilities
Tap into our facilities and expertise for your projects and cutting-edge research. Our infrastructure portfolio is continually developing, some of which is unique in the southern hemisphere.
Leverage tax offsets
and funding opportunities
A number of incentives and funding schemes have been established to support collaborative research and development (R&D). UWA has a strong track record of winning government funding with industry partners.
If you’re a business looking to partner, the rewards are high, including investment of in-kind or cash contributions being matched by the government in many cases. A selection of major funding opportunities is listed here. Your organisation may also be eligible for industry specific schemes.
Ways of working with us
Depending on your business needs, a research partnership could include:
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Collaborative and contract research
UWA can work with you to develop solutions to your business requirements through specifically designed research projects. Whether you are a small business or interested in collaborating on a national or international program, we can problem solve with you.
Research collaborations are flexible and largely depend on the specifics of the brief, but options include:
- UWA takes the lead, from specifying the research agenda to analysing the results
- Your organisation sets the research agenda according to your needs and budget
- The research agenda is determined together and both parties provide an agreed percentage of intellectual input and resources (i.e. staff, funding, materials and facilities)
In research the expectation is that new knowledge, methodologies or inventions will be created. Research partnerships are mutually beneficial as our researchers gain unique insights into the complex challenges facing your organisation and industry. Researchers then publish results in relevant academic journals, with respect to any confidentiality or waiting period agreements with your organisation.
Consulting services
UWA Consult provides an alternative to a research partnership. Consulting involves engaging our experts and/or equipment to work on a specified project where tangible and evidence-based outcomes are produced but would not result in research publications. For many of our partners, consulting is a quick and easy entry-point to working with UWA and often leads to larger collaborations and research partnerships. Our team will work with you and our researchers to determine if consulting or a research partnership is the best fit for your project.
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Co-location
Co-locating academic and industrial researchers in the same or adjacent physical space can better facilitate the flow of ideas, innovation and collaboration. For collaborative research projects, the use of a common space enables a daily basis interaction and reduces communication and cultural barriers associated with being located in different facilities.
There are many benefits of co-locating with UWA:
- Affordable spaces
- Flexible terms
- Ease of access to academic and research expertise
- Ease of innovation facilitation and collaboration
- Access to a talent pipeline
- Beautiful natural environment
We host industry partners on UWA campuses and in our other commercial and research spaces for short- or long-term tenancies. Co-location partners range from corporations, activity-based teams / projects, SME’s, start-ups, government and not-for-profits. Our recent co-location collaborators include Austal Ships, Auspire, Watts and Fisher, Future Green Solutions, Uluu and Artrya.
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Facilities, equipment and infrastructure
UWA's multimillion-dollar infrastructure is available to research institutions and industry. Tap into our facilities and world class expertise for your projects. Our infrastructure portfolio is continually developing, some of which is unique in the southern hemisphere.
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Industry chairs
Sponsored industry chairs are research leaders who work with industry partners to carry out cutting-edge research to address various constraints faced by industry, producing new knowledge and significant benefits to the sector and our broader community. Supporting a chair can achieve the critical mass required for a major research endeavour and/or assist in the development of research efforts in fields that have not yet been developed.
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License technologies
Our ground-breaking technologies and research results are available for partnering and commercialisation.
- View our suite of available technologies that could give your business an innovative edge.
UWA’s Office of Industry and Commercial Development manages intellectual property, licensing and technology transfer. To discuss how our research, product, licensing and commercialisation opportunities can benefit your organisation, please contact us.
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Research students (Masters or PhD)
Partner with our highly talented research students who are emerging experts in their fields. Through a tailored PhD or Master’s internship, you can collaborate to solve complex business and industry problems, creating new knowledge and innovative solutions.
UWA partners with a number of intermediary organisations both locally and nationally to maximise placement opportunities for our research students. Explore the opportunities below or find out more about creating a PhD internship directly through UWA.
CEED WA
CEED projects are industry sponsored student research projects undertaken for academic credit at Honours, Masters and even PhD level. There are two main CEED intakes each year – a main intake in September-November, and a mid-year intake predominantly for Engineering disciplines in April-June. Project topics are defined by the client, and should address issues of immediate business value.
iPrep WA
iPrep WA involves multidisciplinary teams of PhD students working on a seven-week project for an industry partner during their thesis examination period. Industry partners range from start-up's through to large corporations and government departments. iPREP WA provides a platform for organizations to engage in low-risk research activities and helps PhD graduates to recognize that skills they develop in the PhD, such as problem-solving and analytical skills, are applicable across a range of disciplines.
APR Intern
Australian Postgraduate Research (APR) Intern connects PhD students with industry through short-term 3-6 month internships. For businesses, APR Intern is a platform to access Australia’s brightest emerging research talent and accelerate innovation.
Partnerships in action
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Find an expert
Find an expert through our database, or contact The Office of Industry and Commercial Development for general advice on our consultancy services and to be connected with the most suitable expert for you.