On Wednesday, Nobel laureate Brian Schmidt and economics professor Richard Holden gave a joint address to the National Press Club in Canberra. Their key message? Australia isn’t spending enough money on university research.

Schmidt wants to ensure Australia can undertake research vital to our national interests.

“I look around and I am scared,” Schmidt said. “The Australian government investment in its sovereign research capability was 50% higher 15 years ago as a fraction of GDP.”

In his remarks, Holden warned, “we’ve become addicted to funding […] research capability through international student income”.

If this sounds familiar, both Schmidt and Holden have made similar calls before. And their press club presentation follows constant and repeated repeated calls from the university sector for more funds.

How much is Australia spending on research and how does this compare to other countries?

When we look around the world, Australia is lagging when it comes to research spending. Australia spends roughly 1.7% of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on all forms of research and development.

Our research expenditure has also decreased every year since 2008,

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