New strategies for supporting ‘leisure’ research: leveraging opportunities through the Australian Research Council Linkage Projects scheme

Abstract

A major challenge facing both researchers and end-users of research is how to resource research projects via cash and in-kind support. The Australian Research Council's (ARC) Linkage Projects scheme supports collaborative research projects between higher education organizations and industry. As such, the scheme offers a mechanism for leveraging funding of research that can support policy development, planning and decision-making in relation to areas of leisure provision, as well as assisting universities to demonstrate the value and impact of their research. Following a review of the ARC's Linkage Projects scheme, this paper uses two case studies to demonstrate how the scheme might be used to fund leisure-related research. Key features of the scheme are reviewed with a view to providing some context to the scheme and its potential to support research through collaborations between universities and service providers interested in using leisure to promote economic, social and cultural benefits to Australia.