Sailing the Marine Knowledge Landscape with RLA

The Challenge

The Fisheries Research and Development Corporation (FRDC) invests in research and development (R&D) for fishing and aquaculture. It is currently the only RDC operating primarily in the marine science space and, thus, has a unique research landscape to understand compared to other Research Development Corporations (RDCs) that have a primarily agricultural focus.

To date, there have only been a handful of initiatives undertaken to synthesise cross-RDC research, and even fewer attempts to synthesise RDC-funded activities with research generated outside the RDC sphere (i.e. by universities). The FRDC seeks  to actively explore research from the broader corpus of marine knowledge, enabling informed decisions on research investments and enhancing the discoverability of its own research.

The Response

The FRDC and other RDCs make research discoverable via websites, cross-RDC platforms such as GrowAg, or initiatives such as the RDC Knowledge Transfer and Commercialisation (RDC KTC).

The ARDC Research Link Australia (RLA) platform provided an opportunity to trial how FRDC research can be made more discoverable and accessible, complementing the existing mechanisms. Furthermore, the RLA service provided an opportunity for the FRDC to explore and better understand the marine science landscape, explore the agricultural innovation landscape, and identify potential research partners. Also, RLA presented an opportunity to facilitate more cross-sectoral research opportunities.

Capitalising on RLA, this project sought to:

1. share FRDC research project details to be made available on the RLA platform, thereby making it more discoverable, accessible and usable
2. explore different knowledge tools (i.e. RLA-generated dashboards or applications of large language models or LLMs) to better understand the marine science space and explore the agricultural innovation landscape
3. make the RLA platform known within the wider marine science community and across different RDCs and encourage adoption.

Who Will Benefit

Future research providers and funders

Making FRDC research projects available on the RLA platform allows the projects to be seamlessly integrated with research from other research providers in the marine space. This has a long-term benefit for future research providers, as they will be able to identify knowledge gaps within the larger body of marine knowledge and plan research activities accordingly.

Fishing and aquaculture community

Getting insights from data contributed by research organisations and funders could: 

• inform developing marine governance frameworks such as the DCCEEW’s Sustainable Ocean Plan. 
• inform future FRDC investments and R&D application assessment
• minimise the risk of duplicating existing investment
• potentially advise national structures such as the National Marine Science Committee (NMSC).

FRDC

FRDC can be an information consumer of RLA by having their project information enriched by project executors from universities. The enriched project information can inform organisational performance monitoring and evaluation processes.

Other RDCs

By providing a rich data source to the RLA platform and details of its funded research projects, the FRDC can demonstrate best practice in research discoverability to the other RDCs, which collectively represent over $800 million in research investment each year.

Our Partners

• Fisheries Research and Development Corporation (FRDC)
• National Marine Science Committee (NMSC)
• Volve

Key Resources

• View the FRDC data in RLA.
• Read the project report.
• Visit ARDC Research Link Australia.
• Learn about the main Research Link Australia (RLA) Project.