A policy and program for invigorating science and technology for national security: consultation paper – April 2014

This paper outlines the development of a new science and technology (S&T) policy for national security, and invites submissions. Introduction The Hon Stuart Robert MP, Assistant Minister for Defence is championing the development of a new framework for achieving a whole-of-government approach to national security science and technology (S&T). The framework will comprise a national security S&T policy statement and supporting Program. The intention is to transition from poorly coordinated and under-resourced S&T effort to a collaborative co-investment approach between government, academia and industry that effectively and efficiently delivers innovative S&T solutions in priority national security areas for Australia. The Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO) is responsible for leading and coordinating national security S&T, a role transferred from the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet to the Department of Defence in February 2012. As part of that role, DSTO is leading the development of a new policy and supporting program in consultation with the national security S&T communities, for consideration and endorsement by Government in 2014. The national security S&T policy will: enunciate the Government’s priorities for national security S&T, provide a means by which S&T investment can be balanced to support short-term national security operational needs in addition to enduring security challenges, establish an efficient management and governance framework that delivers S&T outcomes to national security agencies, and encourage shared public and private investment in national security S&T, and facilitate commercialisation of research outcomes for national benefit. The policy will be delivered through a coherent and coordinated national security S&T program that address national security S&T priorities and delivers real tangible outcomes for national security users. The national security S&T policy and supporting program will harness S&T providers, including publicly funded research agencies (PFRAs), universities and industry to benefit national security ‘user’ agencies, including policy agencies, regulators, emergency response agencies, policing and law enforcement agencies, border protection agencies and the intelligence community. This paper aims to promote discussion and elicit input from government agencies and the S&T community that will assist in developing a national security S&T policy and program that will improve the delivery and application of S&T to address Australia’s national security challenges now and into the future.   Find out more about making a submission her

Resourcing social enterprises: approaches and challenges

This is the second publication from the Bankwest Foundation Social Impact Series and includes preliminary findings from the Supporting Development and Growth in the Community Sector in Western Australia research program. This report is the first output of the Social Enterprise Financial Resilience project, which forms part of the program. Despite increasing interest in social enterprise, there is limited understanding about the factors that support the capacity for social enterprise to deliver social objectives. In particular, we know little about how social enterprises access and use financial and other resources to sustain their businesses and how this can influence their organisational resilience. There are suggestions that social enterprise and small private for-profit businesses face similar barriers to accessing commercial finance (Burkett, 2010; Mavra, 2011). However, there are also factors specific to social enterprise – related to their organisational structures, their business purposes, and their operating environments - that influence how social enterprises attract, use and choose financial and other resources. With regard to financial resources, there is growing interest in and popular discussion about social finance in general and impact investing in particular. Yet, the financial needs, barriers and effects of certain forms of finance on social enterprise resilience and impact remains unclear. The purpose of this report is to review the existing evidence about the resource needs and behaviours of social enterprises, and their barriers and opportunities to accessing financial and other resources. We augment this review with comments from workshops and interviews undertaken with 15 Western Australian social entrepreneurs, and seven social financiers and policy professionals in May-June 2015. Unpacking the financial needs and behaviours of social enterprises provides a platform for better understanding of the factors that affect financial resilience of social enterprises in Western Australia and beyond, and the tools we need to support such resilience. Of course, organisational sustainability requires access to resources beyond finance; we consider in this report wider resourcing needs and their implications for financial resilience.&nbsp

Data analytics and algorithms in policing in England and Wales: Towards a new policy framework

RUSI was commissioned by the Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation (CDEI) to conduct an independent study into the use of data analytics by police forces in England and Wales, with a focus on algorithmic bias. The primary purpose of the project is to inform CDEI’s review of bias in algorithmic decision-making, which is focusing on four sectors, including policing, and working towards a draft framework for the ethical development and deployment of data analytics tools for policing. This paper focuses on advanced algorithms used by the police to derive insights, inform operational decision-making or make predictions. Biometric technology, including live facial recognition, DNA analysis and fingerprint matching, are outside the direct scope of this study, as are covert surveillance capabilities and digital forensics technology, such as mobile phone data extraction and computer forensics. However, because many of the policy issues discussed in this paper stem from general underlying data protection and human rights frameworks, these issues will also be relevant to other police technologies, and their use must be considered in parallel to the tools examined in this paper. The project involved engaging closely with senior police officers, government officials, academics, legal experts, regulatory and oversight bodies and civil society organisations. Sixty nine participants took part in the research in the form of semi-structured interviews, focus groups and roundtable discussions. The project has revealed widespread concern across the UK law enforcement community regarding the lack of official national guidance for the use of algorithms in policing, with respondents suggesting that this gap should be addressed as a matter of urgency. Any future policy framework should be principles-based and complement existing police guidance in a ‘tech-agnostic’ way. Rather than establishing prescriptive rules and standards for different data technologies, the framework should establish standardised processes to ensure that data analytics projects follow recommended routes for the empirical evaluation of algorithms within their operational context and evaluate the project against legal requirements and ethical standards. The new guidance should focus on ensuring multi-disciplinary legal, ethical and operational input from the outset of a police technology project; a standard process for model development, testing and evaluation; a clear focus on the human–machine interaction and the ultimate interventions a data driven process may inform; and ongoing tracking and mitigation of discrimination risk

Artificial intelligence and UK national security: Policy considerations

RUSI was commissioned by GCHQ to conduct an independent research study into the use of artificial intelligence (AI) for national security purposes. The aim of this project is to establish an independent evidence base to inform future policy development regarding national security uses of AI. The findings are based on in-depth consultation with stakeholders from across the UK national security community, law enforcement agencies, private sector companies, academic and legal experts, and civil society representatives. This was complemented by a targeted review of existing literature on the topic of AI and national security. The research has found that AI offers numerous opportunities for the UK national security community to improve efficiency and effectiveness of existing processes. AI methods can rapidly derive insights from large, disparate datasets and identify connections that would otherwise go unnoticed by human operators. However, in the context of national security and the powers given to UK intelligence agencies, use of AI could give rise to additional privacy and human rights considerations which would need to be assessed within the existing legal and regulatory framework. For this reason, enhanced policy and guidance is needed to ensure the privacy and human rights implications of national security uses of AI are reviewed on an ongoing basis as new analysis methods are applied to data

Institutions, Social Norms and Well-being

This paper discusses the intrinsic and instrumental value of governance and social norms to the well being of New Zealanders. The interaction between informal social norms and formal institutions is also discussed. An attempt is made to identify the channels and precise mechanisms through which governance and social norms respectively may impact on well-being. Empirical evidence on these effects is cited, and the relevance of the evidence to New Zealand is assessed. A range of suggestions is then presented for strengthening the governance of public institutions in New Zealand, focusing on improvements to transparency, accountability and integrity within existing constitutional arrangements. Finally, some tentative remarks are made on the potential role of government in influencing the evolution of social norms, and managing tensions between conflicting norms in New Zealand.Norms; governance; well-being; public institutions; transparency

From “Clientelism” to a “Client-centred orientation”? The challenge of public administration reform in Russia

The inefficiency, corruption and lack of accountability that afflict public administration in Russia impose substantial direct costs on both entrepreneurs and ordinary citizens. This paper examines the major weaknesses of Russia’s public administration and assesses the government’s recently revised programme of administrative reform. It lays particular stress on the relationship between public bureaucracies and the larger institutional environment within which they operate, as well as on the need for far greater transparency of public bodies and stronger non-judicial means of redress for citizens wishing to challenge bureaucratic decisions. Many of the problems of Russia’s public administration are aggravated by the fact that the Russian state often tries to do too much: the paper therefore explores the link between administrative reform and the scope of state ownership and regulation

Investing in Curation: A Shared Path to Sustainability

No abstract available

The Impact of Information Technology (IT) on Human Resource Management (HRM): Empirical evidence from Nigeria Banking Sector. Case Study of Selected Banks from Lagos State and Oyo State in South-West Nigeria

Information technology (IT) has become an indispensable part of contemporary world while human resource management globally has equally being affected in a number of ways through its adoption and application. Despite the considerable growth in the use of information technology in human resource management (HRM), the level of impact is still under-researched. Using the descriptive statistics, this study seeks to harness the overall and generalized impact of IT on HRM in the Nigeria Banking Sector by exploring some aspects of HRM that have been affected by IT and the effect of such adoption on HRM activities through primary data collected with a structured questionnaire administered to selected Banks in South-West Nigeria.It was revealed that IT has significantly increase the efficiency of HR management activities and processes through an effective and efficient employee communication and engagement while the roles and skills of HR managers has expand considerable overtime due to their adoption and continuous upgrade of knowledge in the use of IT in the discharge of their primary functions. Hence, it is duty bound for Banks policy formulators to determine the right size of IT required to derived the best result in an organisation. Keywords: Technology, Information Technology (IT), Human Resource (HR), Human Resource Management (HRM), Nigeria Banking Secto

10 years of water wins: Australia’s National Water Initiative

The National Water Initiative is an intergovernmental agreement between the Australian, state and territory governments. It aims to improve the management of the nation\u27s water resources and provide greater certainty for future investment. The agreement was signed at the 25 June 2004 COAG meeting by all governments (with the exception of Tasmania, which signed the agreement in 2005, and Western Australia, which signed the agreement in April 2006). At its heart, the initiative sets out the basis on which water resources are to be shared to support resilient communities, healthy ecosystems and economic development. Ten years on, this intergovernmental agreement has delivered significant benefits to Australia—benefits that have flowed to individual water users, communities, industries and the environment