The Partnership and its Objectives. The Alliance will develop a research partnership to build on the University’s capacity in regional development, urban planning, and spatial analysis, with the aim of providing an explicit focus on the research needs of the Alliance. These needs are concentrated in: • Economic, demographic and social analysis; • Service and infrastructure planning and delivery; • Strategic urban and regional planning; and • Regional and local governance and it is recognized that the partnership would provide opportunities for the Alliance to engage with a range of groups across the University including in the environmental sciences, architecture and built environment, population health, and education. The partnership’s specific objectives are: • Analysis and modelling of demographic, social and economic indicators; • The definition of current and future service and infrastructure needs and standard; • Collaboration on the analysis of strategic planning needs, and in the development of responses; • Engagement in research and strategy related to the distribution of population and economic activity within the broader context of Western Australia; • Development education and research capacity in areas relevant to the needs of regional cities. Within the specific objectives there are a number of priority research areas as listed in APPENDIX 1 The partnership has a number of apparent benefits to the Alliance including: • A research programme dedicated to the specific strategic needs of Western Australia’s regional cities; • The development of further partnerships with individual research groups and individuals within the University according to their needs; • The opportunity to leverage additional research funds through sources such as the Australian Research Council; • The opportunity to have PhD and advanced students engage in research on Western Australia’s regional cities. The benefits of the partnership to the University include: • Enhanced research capacity in regional development; • Increased publications and research income in regional development; • The development of an innovative research programme not being conducted by other Australian universities; • Enhanced teaching capacity in regional development; • Increased engagement with regional Western Australia.
