Connecting manufacturing research across continents: from Glasgow to Adelaide

Professor Jill MacBryde and Dr Nicola Murray from Strathclyde Business School recently travelled to Adelaide to visit colleagues at Flinders University as part of the business school's UKRI-supported InterAct project. Here, they share their reflections on shared learning with colleagues at Flinders and beyond. 

InterAct is part of UKRI’s £147m Made Smarter Innovation programme. It is an Economic and Social Research Council-led network that aims to bring together economic and social scientists, UK manufacturers, policymakers, and digital technology providers, with a shared goal of addressing the human issues resulting from the diffusion of new technologies in industry.

Building networks with, and sharing learning from, global manufacturing stakeholders is a key element of InterAct’s mission. This visit provided an invaluable opportunity to strengthen international collaboration, share research insights, and explore how our respective programmes of work intersect.

Shared Research Conversations

During the time in Adelaide, Flinders colleagues shared important research insights with the Strathclyde team including how job crafting and work engagement relate to dynamic capabilities in the manufacturing sector, particularly within SMEs.

Their research directly addresses a persistent national challenge in Australia: long-running productivity slowdown and the need to develop a skilled, adaptable, and engaged manufacturing workforce. Crucially, the work recognises that productivity and resilience are not driven solely by technology and capital investment. They are also shaped by how work is designed, experienced, and adapted by employees themselves.

Several important themes emerged:

• Worker-driven innovation can amplify productivity, but it must be supported by both top-down and bottom-up approaches.
• Effective job design and role clarity are central to strengthening engagement and capability development.
• SMEs require tailored, flexible, and low-burden engagement models.
• More targeted funding models are necessary to support meaningful workforce-focused research.

These discussions resonated strongly with our own work at Strathclyde on job crafting, innovative work behaviour, and the development of dynamic capabilities within manufacturing contexts. We explored where our research complements one another, where there are conceptual and methodological differences, and most excitingly - where there is potential for future collaboration!

 Flinders Factory of the Future

A particular highlight of the trip was a visit to the Flinders Factory of the Future. Located in the Tonsley Innovation District in Adelaide, the Factory of the Future is a transdisciplinary advanced manufacturing research hub designed to accelerate industry growth through practical, evidence-based solutions.

Partnering directly with manufacturers, it brings together technology, engineering, and human factors expertise to optimise both people and systems in advanced manufacturing environments. The Factory is funded by national and state government support and operates within a vibrant innovation ecosystem where organisations can test, pilot, and showcase solutions, de-risking adoption and accelerating time to value.

Looking Ahead

International collaboration in manufacturing research is more important than ever. The challenges facing the sector; productivity pressures, technological transformation, workforce capability development, and sustainability - are global in nature. By bringing together complementary expertise, we can generate richer insights and more impactful solutions.

Beyond sharing findings, the visit allowed us to think strategically about future joint activity. We discussed:

• Potential collaborative research projects
• Co-authored journal papers
• Conferences and joint presentations
• Opportunities to connect UK and Australian manufacturing stakeholders

Our visit to Adelaide reinforced the importance of integrating technological advancement with human-centred organisational research. Facilities like the Factory of the Future demonstrate what is possible when engineering, management, and human factors are brought together within a collaborative ecosystem.

We returned to Scotland energised by the conversations, inspired by the work underway in Adelaide, and excited about what may come next!