ARC Discovery FAQs

Funding Rules

• How much funding will the ARC award for a project?
• How many years will the ARC provide funding for?
• What will the ARC not fund?
• How many ARC Discovery Projects can I be involved in at any given time?
• Am I eligible to be a Chief Investigator?
• Who is eligible to be a Partner Investigator (PI) on my application?
• Can I submit an application for a similar project through another University?
• What is the definition of an Early Career Researcher?
• Am I eligible to apply for an Australian Postdoctoral Fellowship (APD)?
• What salary can I apply for as an APD?
• Am I eligible to apply for an Australian Research Fellowship (ARF)?
• What salary can I apply for as an ARF?
• Am I eligible to apply for an Australian Professorial Fellowship (APF)?
• What salary can I apply for as an APF?
• Is it possible to submit an eligibility or exemption request?
• What is GAMS and how do I access it?
• Is there a specific format I must use for the application?
• Do I need to get approval from the university to submit my application?
• What are the selection criteria?
• Who assesses my application?
• Will I get a chance to respond to assessors’ comments regarding my application?
• How will I find out if my application was successful?

Budgets

• Where can I source travel related costs?
• Are there any limits set on the amount I can claim for travel allowances?
• Do I have to include on-costs in my budget calculations?

Funding Rules

The minimum level of funding which will be provided by the ARC for a project is $20,000 per annum and the maximum is $500,000 per annum.

If an ARC Fellowship is requested, include a request for the Fellowship salary and on-costs in the budget (see Appendix 3 of funding rules).

Funding may be awarded for 5 years.

Australian Postdoctoral Fellowships (APD) are awarded for a standard duration of 3 years (with 4 year research teaching option available). Australian Research Fellowships and Australian Professorial Fellowships are awarded for a standard duration of 5 years.

• Capital works and infrastructure

• Salaries of Chief Investigators (CIs) or (PIs)

• Teaching relief. This will only be funded if fully justified in terms of achieving a successful outcome for the project. Teaching relief is limited to a maximum of $32,972 for 6 months or (pro rata for lesser periods), regardless of the level of appointment of the staff member.

• Special Studies Programs – funds are not provided for travel or related expenses for researchers when on a Special Studies Program.

• Research support for Partner Investigators – apart from short-term project support for investigators visiting from overseas.

• International students’ fees and HECS liabilities for Australian students

• Basic facilities which the administering organisation must agree to provide:
• Accommodation (office, suitable equipped)
• Access to workshop services (e.g. qualified technicians)
• Access to film or music editing facilities
• Access to basic library collection
• Standard reference materials or funds for abstracting services
• Provision of computers and basic computing facilities such as word processing and other standard equipment (excluding high-performance computers or other specialised applications)
• Use of photocopiers, telephones, mail, fax, email and internet services

• Publication costs, including page costs.

• Costs not directly related to the project, i.e childcare.

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• If you are a Chief Investigator (CI) or Fellow you may not be involved in more than two Discovery Projects projects on which you are a CI or ARC Fellow.
• If you are the sole Chief Investigator or sole Fellow applicant you may not be involved in more than one Discovery Projects projects on which you are a CI or ARC Fellow.
• Partner Investigator (PI) limit - a researcher may not be involved in more than four Discovery Projects projects. If a researcher is eligible to be a CI, they can not be a PI.

 To be eligible to be a CI, you must meet the following criteria by 1st January 2009 , and for the full term of the funding applied for:

• You must reside predominantly in Australia . If you don’t have permanent residency status, you must obtain temporary or permanent resident status from the Department of Immigration and Citizenship.

• You must meet at least one of the following criteria:
• Be an employee of an eligible organisation and derive at least 50% of your salary from this organisation
• Be a holder of an adjunct appointment (i.e. emeritus, honorary, visiting scholar)
• Be a Federation Fellow

• If you derive more than 50% of your salary from organisations outside the higher education sector that are funded primarily for research from State/Territory or Commonwealth Government sources you are not eligible to participate as a CI (e.g. CSIRO & AIMS).

To be eligible as a PI, a researcher must:

• Not meet the eligibility criteria for a CI (above)
• Demonstrate a significant contribution of cash, in-kind or other material resources from their organisation (having regard to the total cost of the project and the relative contribution of each CI); and
• Take significant intellectual responsibility.

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Only one proposal may be submitted for a project per funding round, regardless of a variation in the listed researchers or the administering organisation. If the ARC considers the project to be the same similar to another project submitted in the same round, they may decide not to fund any or all of the proposals submitted.

 Early Career Researcher (ECR) means a researcher who has a PhD or equivalent research qualification or experience awarded on or after 6 March 2003 .

 APDs provide opportunities for researchers at the postdoctoral level to undertake research of national and international significance, and to broaden their research experience.

You are eligible to apply, if:

• you have been awarded your PhD or equivalent qualification on or after 6 March 2005, or

• you have not yet submitted a PhD thesis but expect to do so before the end of 2008, in which case the ARC will require official confirmation that the thesis has been submitted by 31 st December 2008 . An APD Fellowship can not be taken up until formal advice is given to the ARC that the PhD has been awarded, within a maximum time limit of 6 months.

• You have not previously been awarded an ARC Fellowship

APDs are awarded on a full-time basis only. You can either apply for a 3-year, 100% Fellowship at $78,591 (including on costs) or a 4-year, 75% from ARC/25% from Monash Fellowship at $58,943 (including on-costs). In this instance you can use the 25% of your time for other activities such as teaching. You should discuss the feasibility of this option with the ADR.

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 ARFs provide opportunities for established researchers to undertake research of national and international significance and encourage research in Australia by postdoctoral graduates of exceptional promise and proven capacity for original work.

You are eligible to apply, if:

• You have no more than 8 years’ professional experience since you were awarded your PhD if you have not previously been awarded an ARF.
• You have no more than 13 years professional experience since you were awarded your PhD if you have previously been awarded an ARF.
• You have completed any subsequent ARFs or are in the fourth or fifth year of an existing ARF. If the current proposal is successful, you must agree to give back any salary-related funding associated with the existing ARF on or after 1 January 2009.

Preference may be given for the award of ARFs to Australian citizens and permanent residents and candidates who have not previously been awarded an ARF.

ARFs are awarded on a full-time basis only for a period of five years. If you have not previously been awarded an ARF you can apply for $98,570 (including on-costs) per year. Otherwise you can apply for a 50/50 ARF with $49,285 (including on-costs) per year funded by the ARC and the same amount by your organisation.

APFs provide opportunities for outstanding researchers with proven international reputations to undertake research that is both of major importance in its field and of significant benefit to Australia .

You are eligible to apply, if:

• You have a PhD or equivalent qualification or experience. There is no restriction on the date of award of the PhD.
• You have completed any subsequent ARFs or are in the fourth or fifth year of an existing ARF. If the current proposal is successful, you must agree to give back any salary-related funding associated with the existing ARF on or after 1 January 2009.
• You do not hold a continuing research-only position at a professorial level.

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ARFs are awarded on a full-time basis only for a period of five years. If you have not previously been awarded an APF you can apply for $135,867 (Step 1) or $157,180 (Step 2) (both including on-costs) per year. Otherwise you can apply for a 50/50 APF with $67,933 (Step 1) or $78,590 (Step 2) (both including on-costs) per year funded by the ARC and the same amount by your organisation.

Preference may be given for the award of APFs to Australian citizens and permanent residents and candidates who have not previously been awarded an APF.

 Yes, the ARC Eligibility Ruling Request Form is available from: http://www.arc.gov.au. All requests must be submitted to the ARC by the University’s Research Office (via the Faculty Research Office) by 18 th January 2008 .

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The application consists of two parts:

1. On-line form (GAMS) which must be completed and submitted via the ARC website at: https://gams.arc.gov.au/. To obtain a GAMS login and password contact the University’s Research Office. This should be started as early as possible as it allows the University to track your application and identify those requiring assistance. The GAMS application can be printed out and the following additional text added in.
2. Sections B10, C2, C3, D2 and Part E. The print out from GAMS will tell you where to add these sections to the application.

Yes, all documents must comply strictly with the following requirements:

• All pages of additional text (sections B10, C2, C3, D2 and Part E) should be in black font, using a single column and 12-point font size on white A4 paper, be printed on one side only and unbound, with at least 2cm margins on each side.
• A highly legible font type must be used, such as Arial, Courier, Palatino, Times New Roman or Helvetica.
• References should be in 10-point font size.
• Colour graphs or photographs may be included but they will be reproduced in black and white, so check that are still legible.
• Do not number pages, the University’s Research Office will do this.

Yes, all Chief Investigators and Partner Investigators need to sign the coversheet which accompanies the application. Each application also has to be read and signed off by the Associate Dean Research and Dean. This is why it’s important to be aware of the Faculty deadlines and university requirements. If your application has not been submitted to the ARC by the University’s Research Office the ARC will not approve it for funding.

You should submit the original application plus one copy.

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All Discovery Projects proposals will be assessed and merit ranked using the following criteria:

• Investigators (40%)
• Track record relative to opportunities
• Capacity to undertake the proposed research

• Significance and innovation (30%)
• Does the research address an important problem?
• How will the anticipated outcomes advance the knowledge base of the discipline?
• Is the research principally focussed upon a topic or outcome that falls within one of the National Research Priorities and associated Priority Goals, and if so how does it address the National Research Priority?
• Are the projects aims and concepts novel and innovative?
• Will new methods or technologies be developed?

• Approach (20%)
• Are the conceptual framework, design, methods and analyses adequately developed, well integrated and appropriate to the aims of the proposal?
• How appropriate is the proposed budget?

• National Benefit (10%)
• What is the potential of the research project to result in economic and/or social benefits for Australia from the expected results and outcomes of the project?
• What is the potential for the research to contribute to the National Research Priorities?

The ARC College of Experts assists with the assessment of proposals. In addition, the proposal may be assessed by one or a number of external assessors. Assessors are drawn from a range of organisations to reduce the potential for conflicts of interest. Proposals are assessed against the selection criteria above and the reports by the assessors.

Yes, applicants are given the opportunity to respond to any assessor comments by writing a ‘Rejoinder’. A period of two weeks is given to submit a rejoinder to the ARC and this is done using GAMS, the ARC’s on-line grants management system.

The ARC releases results of awarded Discovery grants on its website (www.arc.gov.au) in late October/early November in the year you applied. Results will also be announced on the University Research Office pages and by the Faculty Research Office at the same time. The University’s Research Office will also forward copies of official letters from the Arc to all successful and unsuccessful applicants during the week following the release of the results.

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Budgets

Details on hotel costs, domestic and international airfares can be found at the Monash Travel Advisory Office

Yes, we are now required to view the ATO Tax rulings, for further information on the amounts claimable see the ATO website:
http://law.ato.gov.au/atolaw/view.htm?docid=TXD/TD200532/NAT/ATO/00001

Yes, the ARC states that salaries must include a 28% loading to contribute to salary-related on-costs. Monash maximum on-costs for 2006 are actually 34.53%. The difference (34.53%-28% = 6.53%)should be included in column 3 of section C in the application.

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