Cuts to Future Fellowships will cost more than just jobs

Christopher Pyne's proposed cuts to the Future Fellowships program will have devastating ripple effects well beyond those researchers who will miss out on research funding. The Australian Research Council's Future Fellowship scheme has succeeded precisely because it has been Australia's most significant systematic investment of funds in people. People are the human resource backbone for the Australian research innovation system, and Future Fellowships underwrite highly performing researchers to pursue research with intensity. Less obviously, but no less significant, the scheme has sparked diverse flow-on benefits. Cutting the scheme will deny researchers funding, immediately threatening jobs and constraining Australia's development of new knowledge, techniques and technologies. But it will also prevent the nation from enjoying a fuller suite of future benefits. What are some of the positive knock-on effects of Future Fellowship funding?