I have an idea for research to make it less 'just click on a button'. I'll immediately admit, I got this idea from Imperium Galactica II, sorry about that

Simply clicking on what to research next becomes monotonous. In order to combat this, there could be simple missions in order to research a certain technology. Examples:

"Technology A" requires you to follow clues to find a scientist who has vital knowledge to progress research.
"Technology B" requires you to find a precursor artifact that'll help you understand things better.
"Technology C" requires your spies to steal certain alien technology because the aliens don't want to share.
"Technology D" requires you to trade certain technology with aliens.
"Technology E" requires you to find a derelict ship with something (info/artifact) on board that'll help.
"Technology F" requires you to build a special mining vessel* and mine specified asteroids for specific minerals.

* This vessel would become available once the mission starts and is removed from the game when completed. It would become available again when you get the mission again.

All missions would be randomly assigned and thus you could get the same mission multiple times, though locations would not be the same.

I believe this would add a fun factor to the game, keep it interesting even to research high-end technologies which got quite boring later on in the game in GCII.