UNSW Canberra to launch new Defence Research Institute

Headquartered in Canberra, the office will serve as a contact point for the Australian Defence Force, Defence Industry and other relevant organisations to more easily access the work of academics in Sydney and the ACT.

The University of New South Wales already conducts research in space, cyber security, systems engineering and logistics, and will intensify its work in line with increasing demand, UNSW Canberra rector Michael Frater said.

"It's really that there's been a big growth in the research at UNSW Canberra in the last few years, and things have got to a scale where having an institute sitting over the top of it makes sense," Professor Frater said.

UNSW Canberra Space Engineering chairman Russell Boyce said the UNSW Defence Research Institute would provide cohesion for researchers as well as those interested in their work.

"Eventually these areas of research should cross-fertilise each other and the Defence Research Institute provides a way for that to happen in a quite efficient and seamless manner, and provides a shopfront for the Department of Defence and also for Defence Industry to be able to understand and access the research capabilities that we bring together," Professor Boyce said.

UNSW Canberra is on the hunt for a director to lead the institute. It will also hire 33 new academics during the next 12 months in addition to the 192.5 academics already on the books.

As well, the university last year signed a memorandum of understanding with the ACT government on developing a new campus in Reid.