Although Australia’s 2012 budget, revealed May 10, has been slashed by AUD 22 billion ($24 billion), funding for some research agencies has not. The budgets of the National Health and Medical Research Council, and the Australian Research Council will remain at AUD 850 million and AUD 845 million, respectively. Regional universities will receive AUD 500 million to invest in infrastructure over the next five years. Also, AUD 9 million will go towards the creation of a science and research collaboration with China. “Inspiring Australia,” an initiative designed to foster interest in and promote the study of science, will receive AUD 21 million. However, the AUD 114 million six-year budget of the Collaborative Research Network, which funds research at regional universities, will be reduced by AUD 20.7 million. The Cooperative Research Centers, a group of 42 facilities that perform agriculture, forestry, mining and manufacturing research, will lose AUD 34 million over the next three years from their annual budget of AUD 180 million.

Source: Nature News