If we are serious about addressing the complex problems before us – curing illness and disease, harnessing AI for good, addressing social polarization, mitigating and adapting to climate change and reversing biodiversity loss – then research needs unprecedented levels of scientific collaboration and innovation.
The International Science Council’s (ISC’s) Science Missions for Sustainability took a bold and novel approach to unite science, policy and society for a sustainable and equitable future. This challenge-led approach, collaborating strategically across funding sectors and pooling resources, opened the conversation to how we can maximise the impact and efficiency of research missions.
Inspired by this, Monash University has released a framework on catalysing challenge-led research. Based on 15 years and over $1 billion in research investment, the report draws on 12 case studies including the efforts of more than 1,200 scholars.
Some of the case studies include:
The Framework presents seven key ingredients for how universities can catalyse missions to tackle wicked challenges.
The ability for research institutions and universities to build on past experiences and capabilities, showcasing a strong track record in research excellence and interdisciplinary collaboration, is highly valued by external partners. Past collaborations and interdisciplinary engagements of the research team serve as important indicators of readiness for investment. However, initiatives must be developed and driven by the ambitions and goals partners have for sectoral and societal impact beyond academia. This includes communication of research translation pathways and responsible research practices, such as shifting from ensuring social licence to creating social value.
Leadership for mission-oriented research is explicitly not reliant on a single charismatic leader. Instead, it often necessitates a collaborative ‘team science’ approach, where leadership is distributed across diverse stakeholders, fostering synergy and shared responsibility in driving forward ambitious research agendas. Academic leaders require both executive acumen and sensitive stewardship skills, and the ability to align partner timelines, expectations, and priorities to maintain cohesion and momentum even during periods of uncertainty.
Cultivating long-term partnerships that transcend transactional projects or program-led collaborations is paramount. Mission-oriented initiatives often need a mixed pool of partnerships and funding (e.g. government, philanthropy, corporates) to ensure maximum societal impact and buy-in for long-term sustainability. This can be achieved by working collaboratively with partners and stakeholders to identify and address their needs, deeply understanding partner priorities, fostering generosity in knowledge-sharing, and building interpersonal trust to nurture collaborative relationships for mutual benefit.
In the Monash report, many of the cases are consortia funded – including with the governments of Australia and New Zealand, leading global charitable organisations, such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Wellcome Trust, Asian Development Bank, McCall McBain Foundation, as well as key Australian philanthropic and industry partners such as Paul Ramsay Foundation, Woodside Energy, and Peninsula Health. This creates a commitment to co-owning missions and impact pathways.
Universities and their researchers must be bold, challenge conventions, embrace calculated risks, and demonstrate personal and organisational resilience in the face of setbacks and changes to successful catalyse research missions. This requires an environment and capabilities that nurture innovation through flexibility, agility, and support to venture beyond the conventional academic career trajectory. External networks help identify societal challenges and co-develop leading research questions through inclusive co-design. Iteration, experimentation, and rapid prototyping are valued, guided by agile monitoring, learning and evaluation (MEL) frameworks. But it also requires interrogating risk levels across different groups, especially the implications for communities and the most vulnerable who often have more to lose if missions don’t fully meet their ambitions.
Creating an environment conducive to transdisciplinary collaboration necessitates working across traditional vertical boundaries (e.g. disciplines, faculties, schools) to foster horizontal integration across an organisation. It also requires systems with clear goals and accountability systems to avoid further fragmentation. Research institutes and centres can provide these collaborative spaces, where a crucial role is played by senior leaders. Support from institutional leaders means they can help navigate institutional dynamics, address conflicts, mobilise support and resources, and overcome internal bureaucratic hurdles.
Moving beyond the traditional silos of expertise that can dominate the structure of research institutions and universities requires new team formations. Comprising specialised expertise blending business development, leadership, strategy, and research design skills, ‘tiger teams’ are small and agile, ready to pursue opportunities when they arise, keep the momentum, and strategize effectively with the leadership to convert opportunities. Strong collaboration skills are key, due to the scale, complexity, and ambition of these missions, as well as the extensive co-design required with consortia partners and communities. Other key skills include negotiation, conflict resolution, and managing trade-offs to translate strategic vision to operational impact.
Understanding power dynamics is crucial for mission success. Inspired by ‘thinking and working politically’ in international development, this element recognises the importance of nuanced navigation of political factors. To achieve sustainable impact, universities must cultivate effective relationships with power holders and influence decision-making, policy, and investment processes beyond their immediate sphere of influence. This includes attentive and active listening, especially to governments and community partners, to understand funding requirements, research translation, and policy impact pathways. It also means being sufficiently prepared to seize unexpected opportunities when they arise, and harnessing interpersonal connections and networks.
Mission-oriented research allows us to make positive change and to share our purpose for impact with stakeholders. It responds to our current global context and the wicked problems we face that demand more sophisticated ways of collaborating. It requires a higher risk appetite, more innovative approaches to external partnerships for funding, co-design, and delivery of solutions.
But it is not easy. It requires working across multiple disciplines, sectors, and often cultures and countries. It is difficult to crowd in expertise and iterate when the future is unknown. Research missions are not a panacea and they are not appropriate for every initiative. However, investing in a mission-oriented approach is the right thing to do – and can help us solve some of the great challenges of our time.
University-led and mission-oriented research and innovation
Monash University
Read more about Science Missions for Sustainability 
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