The issue of how to provide a comfortable retirement for Australia’s aging population will be tackled by a $9 million collaborative effort between top scientific agencies.

Researchers from CSIRO, Monash and Griffith universities, the University of Western Australia and the University of Warwick in Britain are set to investigate along two primary themes: superannuation and the economy, and Australians over 60.

The serious conglomeration of intellectual firepower has been dubbed The Superannuation Research Cluster, and will mark the first time CSIRO has turned its investigative lens toward superannuation. The field is hard to miss though, with the giant pool of super savings currently sitting at around $1.6 trillion – more than Australia’s annual gross domestic product.

The cross-disciplinary effort will see experts from the fields of financial mathematics, social science, risk analysis, accounting, economic modelling, finance, health economics and behavioural economics, coming together to get a gauge of what is set to shape large parts of the economic and political future.

Monash University's Professor Deborah Ralston, who is also executive director of the Australian Centre for Financial Studies says: “We are particularly interested in what I call that transition period from about age 55 to 65 and how you allocate assets over that time... I think as people go into retirement, they have different needs.”

The project will see investigations into fund members' behaviour in switching between superannuation investment options, and other facets of the aged-living financial conundrum.

The most recent information from the Superannuation Research Cluster is available online.