Goal 16:
Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
Identify and Engage with Local Stakeholders
The University of Newcastle has written policies, procedures, and strategic frameworks in place to identify local stakeholders external to the University covering industry, government, community and engage with them meaningfully.
Engagement is one of our University’s core values, and our organisational documents make clear our commitment to fostering partnerships that benefit not only our students and staff, but also the regions in which we live and work. We embed stakeholder engagement in policy; set strategic priorities that guide how we work with partners; and ensure that both research and operational procedures provide mechanisms for identifying, consulting, and collaborating with external stakeholders.
2024 Policies and Plans
Here's how our strategic plans were institutionalised in 2024:
- Strategic Plan – Engagement Priorities (2020‑2025)
The University’s Strategic Plan articulates Engagement Priorities that explicitly include collaboration with industry, community, government and First Nations stakeholders.
These priorities — Better, Healthier Living; Connected Communities; Next Generation Resources; Growing Industries — provide a framework for identifying which external stakeholders are relevant and how the University intends to engage with them. - Policy Library & Procedures
- Our Collaborative Research Procedure sets out the conditions under which researchers may undertake collaborative work with external institutions and organisations. This formalises how to partner with external stakeholders in research. This procedure was effective from the 10th of November 2022 and will be reviewed November 2025.
- The Project and Consultancy Procedure lays out how work with external organisations (including industry or community stakeholders) is identified, proposed, approved, and completed — also dealing with how funds or surpluses are handled. This policy was effective from the 16th of August 2023 and was reviewed in March 2025.
- The Volunteer Management Policy explicitly recognises that engaging volunteers (often from external organisations or the broader community) strengthens strategic relationships with local and international institutions and community stakeholders. This policy was effective from the 29th of November 2023 and will be reviewed in November 2026.
- Partner with Us / Research Partnerships
Under our Partner With Us page, it is clear that we maintain research partnerships with industry, government, and community to deliver real‑world outcomes and impact.
We also have living labs, which are explicitly stakeholder‑informed innovation environments in local regions — designed in part by engaging with community partners.
Learn more about partnering with us
Research partnerships
We forge lasting connections with industry, community and government partners to deliver real-world outcomes and impact.
Industry engagement teams
Whether you’re looking for business development support, intellectual property licensing or help getting your innovation off the ground, we have the expertise you need.
Knowledge Exchange and Enterprise
Our KEE team supports business development, intellectual property licensing, University spinouts and commercialisation opportunities.
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TUNRA
TUNRA connects industry partners with University experts for consultancy, testing services, and industry short courses and training. It also provides geotechnical and bulk materials expertise and supports hosted research projects.
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Integrated Innovation Network (I2N)
I2N is the University’s entrepreneurship and venture development unit. It fuels the success of innovators, entrepreneurs, startups and small businesses by connecting them to community, customers, coaching and capital.
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Partner with the University of Newcastle 1:50
The University of Newcastle is continually producing innovation to solve real-world problems.
Solving our region's challenges together
Our researchers drive discoveries that challenge conventional thinking, break new ground and change lives. We are a research-intensive university and proud of the great things we have achieved with our partners in industry, business, government and the community, here and around the world.
The University of Newcastle acknowledges the traditional custodians of the lands within our footprint areas: Awabakal, Darkinjung, Biripai, Worimi, Wonnarua, and Eora Nations. We also pay respect to the wisdom of our Elders past and present.