Collaborative research across institutions

The collaboration between researchers, between institutions and across borders, creates particular issues in relation to sharing intellectual property, conflicts of interest, and commercialisation and management of research findings. There must be clarity on all these issues if the benefits of collaboration to all parties and to the community, are to be realised.

In general, issues of intellectual property and conflict of interest will be managed under the University Intellectual Property: Ownership and Management Policy and accompanying Guidelines (staff access only). The following principles should be read in conjunction with those documents and the Australian Code for the Responsible Conduct of Research. These principles should be followed even when conducting research outside Australia. Any deviation from the Code or the University's policies must obtain institutional approval.

1. All agreements between the University's researchers and partners, collaborators or sponsors will be clearly articulated in writing, and will reflect the principles of integrity, honesty and commitment to excellence.
2. The  University Intellectual Property: Ownership and Management Policy and accompanying Guidelines provide researchers (and the parties to research collaboration) with clear guidelines for the development of comprehensive agreements that address issues of intellectual property, sharing commercial returns, responsibility for ethics and compliance clearances, conflict of interest, ownership and storage of research data and primary materials and equipment, reporting to appropriate agencies; and protocols to be followed by the parties when disseminating the research outcomes.
3. Researchers must be aware of and comply with all policies and written agreements affecting the research project, including those relating to the dissemination of research findings and the management of research data: Ownership and retention of data
4. Collaborative research across institutions subject to approval from the University's ethics and compliance committees shall be undertaken in accordance with the University's ethics and compliance policies and procedures.