In addition to the three main research programs (ie Heavy Haul, Passenger / Freight and Level Crossing) ACRI is involved in a range of other activities which cross over a range of these programs and/or sit entirely outside of.
This currently includes our involvement in:
- Watching Briefs
ACRI has been collating issue and opportunity statements with its funding participants – these statements are short and succinct sentences on either a noted issue for that organisation or an opportunity for proactive advancement of knowledge in a particular area. One of the outcomes thus far is that some topics raised do not lend themselves to a full research proposal or “traditional” project yet, but participants could benefit from a staying aware of relevant international developments. It is also apparent from both a review of topics raised by our research working groups over time that there continue to be some recurring themes.
ACRI is currently piloting a service we are terming watching briefs. These are designed to be a shorter and sharper complement to the current research program, producing a state of play for an issue.
As an initial move to cover the relevant topics two ‘watching briefs’ have been commissioned from Edith Cowan University Centre for Business Innovation. These cover Social Licence for Rail Freight and Diesel Locomotive Energy Optimisation and C02 Reduction. These are currently under review with the ACRI staff and will be shared with the working groups as a package later in 2020.
The key differentiator is that this is a very short (<10 weeks, ideally ~6) systematic literature review to provide an understanding of the current state of play for a topic and the target cost for each is currently ~5K AUD (may end up being up to ~10K depending on the complexity of the topic but much cheaper and faster than a 6+ month 50-100K full blown academic literature review) so hopefully good value and fast. Keeping in mind for a “traditional” ACRI project that might just be a literature review it still has to go through the “In Development” phases of producing and endorsing a “Mandate” (3-5 page summary) then the same for a detailed proposal (10-15 pages including detailed work packages, budgets, resources etc) which can end up taking 3-6+ months depending on iterations and busy working group members. Whereas this is aiming to short circuit that to help churn new ideas and topics over without that extra work and time.
Click on the project name for more information…
Click the links below to view other research programs: