ARC grant opportunities

The Australian Research Council (ARC) has 2 main schemes to fund research project and awards:

Discovery
Linkage.

We advise researchers to first go to the ARC website, which describes each scheme and has all application materials available for download.

Discovery

The objectives of Discovery are to:

support excellent fundamental research by individuals and teams
assist researchers to undertake their research in conditions most conducive to achieving best results
expand Australia's knowledge base and research capability
encourage research training in high quality research environments.

The sub-elements of the Discovery program include:

Discovery Projects (includes Fellowship Applications)
Discovery – Indigenous Researchers Development Scheme.

Discovery Projects (includes Fellowship Applications)

The Discovery Projects scheme provides funding for research projects that can be undertaken by individual researchers or research teams.

The Funding Rules, Draft Funding Contract, and Instructions to Applicants for Discovery Projects are available on the ARC website.

Discovery - Indigenous Researchers Development Scheme

The Discovery Indigenous Researchers Development scheme provides salary support to Indigenous Australian researchers and postgraduate research students to develop research expertise and experience to a level that is competitive with applicants for mainstream funding.

The scheme provides funding for research projects that may lead to an understanding of a particular subject or meet the requirements of higher research degrees.

The closing date for the next round of applications has yet to be announced.

More information

If you require more information regarding this scheme please email office.research@flinders.edu.au or visit the ARC website.

Linkage

The objectives of Linkage are to:

encourage excellent collaborative research within universities and across the innovation system
contribute to a strong knowledge economy
create opportunities for cooperation with related programmes across Commonwealth portfolios
facilitate international linkages both within universities and industry
encourage industry oriented research training.

Sub-elements of Linkage include:

Linkage projects
Linkage international
Linkage – infrastructure, equipment and facilities (LIEF).

Linkage Projects

The Linkage Projects scheme supports collaborative research and development projects between higher education organisations and other organisations, including within industry, to enable the application of advanced knowledge to problems. Typically, research projects funded under the scheme involve risk.

Proposals for funding under Linkage Projects must involve a collaborating organisation from outside the higher education sector. The collaborating organisation must make a significant contribution (equal to, or greater than, the ARC funding), in cash and/or in kind, to the project.

Guidelines are available at the ARC web site.

Linkage - International

ARC's Linkage International scheme encourages networks and collaborations between researchers, research teams and research centres of excellence in Australia and overseas.

The scheme provides three types of support:

Linkage International Awards are available for Australian-based researchers to participate in projects with overseas researchers.
ARC International Fellowships are available for outstanding postdoctoral, research and senior research fellows to work in Australian or overseas organisations for periods of up to 12 months.
Internationally Coordinated Initiatives funding is available occasionally from ARC, in association with one or more research funding agency(s) overseas, to research partners in international collaborative projects.

More information

Guidelines are available at the ARC web site.

Please contact the Office of Research prior to beginning your Linkage – International application so that an appropriate timeframe for the preparation for draft applications can be established.

Linkage – Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities (LIEF)

The LIEF scheme fosters collaboration through its support of the cooperative use of national and international research facilities.

Essentially, the scheme provides funding for large-scale cooperative initiatives so that expensive infrastructure, equipment and facilities can be shared by researchers in partnered organisations. However, ARC may fund single-organisation proposals in some circumstances.

Under the scheme, applicants may seek funding for:

infrastructure, equipment and facility purchases, construction and installation
major computing/data facilities, animal houses, herbaria and experimental farms
salaries directly associated with creating and installing infrastructure, equipment or facilities
consortium membership costs, travel to the facility and secretariat costs in the case of Australia's participation in the use of significant international-scale research facilities
library and research information infrastructure.

More information

Guidelines are available at the ARC web site.

ARC Special Research Initiatives (SRI)

The ARC takes a proactive approach, in consultation with research organisations, professional associations and peak higher education bodies, to identifying new or emerging areas of research and providing funding for them under the SRI scheme.

Specifically, funding is provided under the scheme to support:

cooperative activities among researchers
cooperative development of national and international linkages
cooperative development of innovative research areas
rapid response to unforeseen opportunities, such as conducting field-work at an erupting volcano
activities aimed at building the scale and focus of research and research training
other activities ARC judges to be consistent with the scheme's objectives.

Activities funded under this scheme may include, but are not restricted to, one-off conferences, workshops and seminars.

Funding may also be used to develop networks and initiate collaborations that would be unlikely otherwise to occur and, where appropriate, disseminate the outcomes of the collaborative activities funded under the scheme.

Applications for SRI funding

Applications for SRI funding are by means of occasional calls for proposals.

More information

Guidelines are available at the ARC web site.

Grant Application Management System (GAMS)

All ARC applications require completion of an online application form. A Grant Application Management System (GAMS) ID and password are required for access to the form.

To obtain your ID and password, contact Kim Graham on (08) 8201 3541, or email kim.graham@flinders.edu.au.

If you are new to GAMS, our list of Grants Application Management System (GAMS) FAQ (DOC 45KB) may be helpful.

You can also refer to the GAMS information link.

Certification Form

A completed certification form must accompany each grant application submitted to the Office of Research.

A completed certification form must accompany each grant application submitted to the Office of Research. This form must be signed by Chief (and/or Partner) Investigator(s), Head(s) of Department, and Faculty Research Representative(s), who are:

EHLT Professor Richard Maltby
Health Sciences Professor Roy Goldie
Science and Engineering Professor Mike Bull
Social Sciences Professor John Browett.

More information

For more information, contact Christine Maher on (08) 8201 2045 or email christine.maher@flinders.edu.au.