2026 ARCitects of Collaboration Summit

2026 Science Week: Nurturing knowledge for all!

In celebration of National Science Week 2026, we reflect on the ARC Centres of Excellence (COE) communities that nurture knowledge, collaboration and impact across Australian research.

The ARC Centres of Excellence Directors and professional staff gathered in Sydney in early August for the three-day 2026 ARCitects of Collaboration Summit.

With the recent announcement of the ARC’s new National Competitive Grants Program and the Centre of Excellence scheme set to conclude, this year’s gathering provided an important opportunity to look ahead.

Since the ARC Centre of Excellence scheme was established in 2003, a strong community culture has grown and evolved around a shared commitment to sharing and nurturing knowledge for all. The legacy and impact of COEs are not only reflected in their scientific discoveries, but also in how this community works together. Across generations of COEs, this spirit of collaboration has created connections that extend beyond individual disciplines, institutions and Centre lifecycles. Through this Summit, the community has embraced a shared mission to pass on the culture and knowledge built over more than two decades to the new ARC Priortise community to ensure this legacy can continue to grow and thrive.

Our Centre was honoured to co-host this event with ARC Centre of Excellence in Synthetic Biology, ARC Centre of Excellence for Enabling Eco-Efficient Beneficiation of Minerals (COEMinerals), ARC Centre of Excellence in Plants for Space, ARC Centre for Quantum Computation and Communication Technology and ARC Centre of Excellence in Quantum Biotechnology (QUBIC) to bring the 2026 ARCitects of Collaboration together.

We thank all the speakers who generously shared their knowledge and experience throughout this Summit, and UNSW and MQ for generously supporting the event venue. Most importantly, we thank everyone across the COE community for embracing, building and strengthening this culture of collaboration, sharing and nurturing knowledge for all.