The University of Canberra is established under the University of Canberra Act 1989 to serve our region through high-quality research and education. We proudly embrace this purpose and opportunities to collaborate with the ACT Government, our founding partner across various projects, encompassing research, education, community, environment, infrastructure and more. In November 2023, we announced our new Civic Partnership Agreement with the ACT Government that aims to increase economic growth and innovation in the region through a number of joint initiatives. 

Some highlights of our research and work with ACT Government include:

• High-quality teacher education, professional development for teachers, and impactful school-based research through the Affiliated Schools Agreement, which was renewed for 2024-2028.
• Establishing a hub for open source software and research, called the Open Source Institute, also in partnership with Instaclustr by NetApp.
• Working together to save local species, including Canberra’s earless dragon, smoky mouse, and green and golden bell frog.
• UC researchers undertook a wellbeing survey in 2019 which provided data critical to the formulation of the in March 2020. UC’s Living Well in the ACT project continues to support the ACT Government in tracking the wellbeing of Canberrans through annual surveys, with a different wellbeing focus each year. 
• Building awareness and knowledge of gambling harms and developing literacy materials and communications strategies to reduce problem gambling.
• Tackling the co-morbidity issues of patients suffering from stroke, brain cancer, and youth mental health conditions.
• Establishing the UC Hospital: Specialist Centre For Rehabilitation, Recovery and Research on UC’s Bruce campus, including a clinic for patients with knee osteoarthritis.

Our partnership with Cisco, established in late-2022, aims to to address the national cybersecurity skills shortage, secure Australia’s critical infrastructure, and expand the (NIIN), an alliance of companies and universities focused on the role that digital adoption can play in meeting Australia’s economic and social challenges.

Initiatives under the partnership include:

• Establishment of Innovation Central Canberra (ICC): the ICC lab is located on UC’s Bruce campus and is a space for collaboration and connection between the University, Cisco and industry partners. ICC coordinates a number of programs and events for students and industry, for more details.
• UC Research Chair in Critical Infrastructure, part of Cisco’s to lead research endeavours across a number of strategic areas in partnership with various universities. UC’s work will focus on applied research related to cybersecurity, across several industries, including Defence. Leveraging extensive resources and expertise, including specialised technology centers, research chairs and university partnerships, UC has joined two additional NIIN alliances– and . 
• The expansion of to the University of Canberra. The Academy is a global education program that provides best-in-class courses, tools, and resources to help people from all backgrounds participate in the digital economy and connects them with peers, mentors and job opportunities.

University of Canberra and Department of Defence collaborations have included:

• Designing and developing custom hard ballistic plates (HBPs) for use in military body armour systems. The objective of this project is to determine whether curved HBPs and/or customised HBPs can improve human factors for users, such as performance, fit and comfort. The project is led by Celeste Coltman, who is also collaborating with the University of Oregon’s Sports Product Design program to develop more inclusive protective equipment.
• Delivering the Arts for Recovery, Resilience, Teamwork and Skills (ARRTS) program with the Department. The ARRTS program is a month-long arts practice residency program held on UC campus twice a year for current and recent Australian Defence Force and ACT first responder personnel. It provides a space and mentorship for participants to build an active arts practice in creative writing, visual arts or music as a key strategy in assisting their recovery from service-related trauma. ARRTS Creative Director, Geoff Grey, is a UC alumnus who completed his PhD around the program in 2023. Multiple UC academics undertake research through the program. 
• Supporting the Department’s efforts to improve mental health and suicide prevention activities by implementing a Continuous Improvement Framework Monitoring and Evaluation System (2018-2023), which will help inform Defence’s future Defence Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy. 

(NRC) is a collaboration between the ecoDNA team at the University of Canberra and the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry to support the development of new eDNA tools for Australia’s biosecurity and biodiversity system. Our team has a track record in coordinating and delivering national-level approaches to eDNA monitoring and surveillance, as well as managing large eDNA projects focused on the delivery of end-user products. These have included the Invasive Animal CRC eDNA Tools and Tech project (2012-2016), Centre for Invasive Species Solutions Real Time eDNA Tools (2017-2022), DAWE Pest Hitchhikers in Shipping Containers (2021-2024), and DES QLD Genetic tools for biodiversity (2022-2025), each requiring governance, project management and delivery of outcomes to end-users.