Usyd researchers awarded grant for research into Australian co-operatives

03 March 2017

Three researchers have been awarded a $370,000 grant in November 2016 Australian Research Council Discovery Program to research ‘Co-operatives in Australia – Explaining Growth, Decline and Revival’.

Dr Nikola Balnave (Macquarie University), Associate Professor Olivera Marjanovic (University of Sydney) and Professor Greg Patmore (University of Sydney) will undertake the research through the Co-operative Research Group, based in the School of Business at University of Sydney.

The project will focus on co-operative prior to the UN International Year of Co-operatives in 2012, which marked the beginning of a new wave of interest in co-operatives in Australia.

Research will focus on case studies of agricultural and consumer co-operatives and developing an online visual database of co-operatives.

From this information a theoretical framework will be developed that explains the fortunes of Australian co-operatives since the 1850s.