The Education Minister, Aseri Radrodro, has officially convened the first meeting of the interim National Research Council (NRC), a Cabinet-approved body chaired by Dharmendra Sharma designed to steer Fiji’s research agenda and deepen the role of evidence in policymaking.
The newly assembled council brings together academics, government officials and research specialists to set national priorities for research and to create the institutional structures needed to support transparent and competitive research funding. Its immediate tasks, agreed at the inaugural meeting, are to establish a National Research Council Office, review the existing NRC Act and create a national research database alongside an expert reviewer network to underpin grant assessment and quality assurance.
Radrodro said the NRC will guide research that underpins Fiji’s economic, social, environmental and technological development, while also mapping critical data gaps that currently hinder universities and policymakers. The council is being positioned as a bridge between the academic community and government, intended to ensure research outcomes are better aligned with national development needs and to strengthen a “national research culture.”
Protection of Fiji’s cultural heritage and intellectual property was highlighted as a priority alongside efforts to promote innovation and modernisation. The interim council has been tasked with ensuring that initiatives to commercialise research or adopt new technologies do not undermine traditional knowledge systems, and that intellectual property frameworks are in place to safeguard indigenous and local innovations.
The establishment of the NRC follows wider calls for closer collaboration between researchers and policymakers. Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Professor Biman Prasad has repeatedly urged stronger links between academic findings and policy design, most recently at a Reserve Bank–ADBI–APAEA conference where he said evidence-based research must be translated into practical policy. Officials say the NRC is intended to operationalise that view by creating mechanisms — such as the reviewer network and central database — that enable policymakers to access reliable, timely evidence.
The move also complements other recent initiatives to bolster research and conservation capacity in Fiji, such as the launch of the Fiji National Hub for Coral Reef Conservation, which has brought scientists and agencies together on environmental data and management. Together, these developments point to a growing emphasis across government on using coordinated scientific evidence to tackle development and environmental challenges.
As an interim body, the NRC will continue its work while legal and operational arrangements are reviewed. Establishing the NRC Office and the database are the council’s first practical priorities; the review of the NRC Act may recommend changes to governance, funding rules and the council’s long-term remit. Officials say the council’s next meetings will flesh out funding modalities, membership criteria for the expert reviewer network and a timetable for rolling out the research database.