HomePolicy and ResearchResearch Centre

The aims of ASFA for the Research Centre are ambitious - it seeks to undertake and disseminate research that informs policy and practice, is evaluative as well as descriptive, is comprehensive, is quality and value for money, identifies the significant and differentiates it from the merely interesting, is accessible, and is available when it is needed. The Centre aims to provide research support for policy makers and policy making both within the sector and within government, to provide support and back-up for practitioners, and to provide information and assistance in a general sense for fund members.

The Centre has limited resources in regard to both direct staff and the ability to commission external research. It therefore needs to effectively draw on the knowledge of the superannuation sector if it is to achieve its aims. It also seeks to enter into partnerships with industry and government organisations in order to undertake larger and more expensive research exercises. A notable example of such a partnership was the development of the Westpac/ASFA Retirement Standard.

The Research Centre also has in a number of instances undertaken research commissioned by external parties.

Communication is a key to developing a relevant work program and undertaking effective research. The Centre welcomes contact with the industry and with other researchers in order for it to be kept informed about what are the key issues for the sector and the economy and society more generally, and who is working on them. And when research is completed it will only be of use if it is well communicated. Accordingly research papers of the Centre are generally available for downloading from the My ASFA area of this website, and some tens of thousands of copies of research papers have been downloaded. There also have been articles prepared for Superfunds magazine on a regular basis, and presentations made to various conferences and seminars conducted by ASFA and other organisations.

We ask users of this site who are undertaking superannuation research to provide information on projects that they or their colleagues are engaged in which are relevant to the superannuation sector.

Click here for a listing of ASFA Research Centre Papers.

Contact with the Research Centre can be made through its Director, Ross Clare.