Each year more than $12 billion disappears into the abyss vaguely described as ‘research and development’ in the higher education sector. By way of return on this ‘investment’, there has been a steady flow of research projects demonstrating an unhealthy fixation on the niche, the ideological, and the political.

Hardworking Australians would be justified in asking where their money goes and who oversees its dispersal.

The allocation of grant largesse is decided by the team of bureaucrats at the Australian Research Council (ARC).