As ARC Chair Vicki Sara was the driving force behind the far reaching reforms of the ARC announced in the White Paper Knowledge and Innovation in December 2000 and in the doubling of its funding in the Innovation Action Plan Backing Australia's Ability in January 2001. Professor Sara was a member of the Prime Minister's Science, Engineering and Innovation Council, the CSIRO Board and the Cooperative Research Centres Committee. Professor Sara was appointed Vice-Chair of the OECD's Global Science Forum in 1999.