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This rapid research brief synthesises the evidence on the impact the [Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)] pandemic is having and likely to have on Australia's research workforce and its capability to support our recovery efforts. Key findings: Australia's research workforce will be severely impacted by the pandemic and the effects are likely to be felt for an extended period; Income to universities, medical research institutes, publicly funded research agencies, [Cooperative Research Centres] CRCs, and the industrial sector is suffering from the loss of foreign students and a sharp decline in business research spending and philanthropy; To try and make ends meet as budgets contract, universities are reducing the number of casual teachers and increasing the teaching loads of permanent staff, further limiting their research capacity; These impacts are greater than during the 2008 global financial crisis and are being observed internationally; University job losses of up to 21,000 full time equivalent (FTE) positions are projected over the next six months of which an estimated 7,000 could be research-related academic staff; There are concerns that women, early-career researchers and recent graduates will disproportionately experience negative impacts; Domestic and international post-graduate students comprise 57 per cent of the university [research and development] R&D workforce; Research interruptions and travel and visa restrictions suggest that more than 9000 international research students will not resume their research in 2020; Industry sectors may experience a reduced capacity to innovate given that universities perform approximately 43 per cent of all applied research in Australia; A decline in innovation may limit economic growth by slowing the development of new technology, skills, and efficiency gains in service and production processes.

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