An institutional perspective on programme integration

ABSTRACT

Integration is an approach used in practical evidence-based policy development to learn and share insights between different disciplines, models, policy arenas, methods, audiences, researchers and policy makers. The aim of this article is to use an institutional perspective to investigate an integrative research programme, the Murray-Darling Basin Futures Collaborative Research Network based at the University of Canberra, Australia, analysing the actors, resources and rules used to deliver integration outcomes. This innovative examination of integration provides some new insights for the integration literature as well as for policy makers and academics involved in integration programmes. Specifically the paper identifies that both the formal and informal rules are significant in facilitating the process of integration across research teams, themes and projects. The case study highlights the merits of multiple integration activities structured to encompass diverse integration approaches, modes of communication, actors and media across both social and cognitive outcomes. It also identifies that the set of necessary institutional conditions for integration (i.e. favourable institutional arrangements, suitable integrating framework and available resources) are not sufficient for delivery unless values and behaviour and incentives for action are also achieved.

KEYWORDS:

• Academic
• policy
• Murray-Darling Basin

Acknowledgements

We thank the academics and policy makers who participated in the CRN – without whom we would still be in the dark on the usefulness of integrative research! This work was undertaken as part of the Murray-Darling Basin Futures Research and is supported through the Australian Government's Collaborative Research Networks (CRN) program.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Dr Leonie J. Pearson, a transdisciplinary applied economist, is the research leader at the Regional Australia Institute and Fellow at the University of Canberra. Her research interests focus on the economic and institutional drivers for communities to adapt and transform to achieve sustainable futures. Her research is published in various scholarly journals, edited books, policy papers and commissioned works.

Professor Barbara Norman is the Foundation Chair of Urban and Regional Planning, and Director of Canberra Urban & Regional Futures (CURF) at the University of Canberra. She has extensive experience in the public sector at all levels of government. Her research interests include coastal planning, sustainable cities, urban and regional planning, climate change adaptation, and coastal and urban governance. She was a recipient of an Australian Centenary Medal for her contribution to the community through urban and regional planning.

Professor Peter O’Brien is Fellow of the University of Canberra, and previously deputy secretary in the Australian Government, and CEO of government agencies and statutory authorities. He is also a scientist, holding a Ph.D., together with Fellowship of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. This combination has provided deep understanding and critique of why and how people and institutions engage.

Professor Robert Tanton is director of NATSEM in the Institute for Governance and Policy Analysis, University of Canberra. His principal areas of research are spatial disadvantage and well-being; spatial statistics and small area estimation; and community well-being. He has published extensively in the academic literature on spatial disadvantage and social exclusion, and has presented results of his work to a number of national and international conferences.