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Linkage Projects Round 1 Selection Report for Funding Commencing in 2006
Overview
The Linkage Projects scheme funds collaborative projects between University researchers and Collaborating Organisations. Applications in Round One for projects commencing in January 2006 closed on 4 May 2005. This report outlines outcomes from the selection process for that round.
Objectives
As indicated in the funding rules for this round (released in early 2005), Linkage Projects aims to:
- encourage and develop long-term strategic research alliances between higher education organisations and other organisations, in order to apply advanced knowledge to problems and/or to provide opportunities to obtain national economic, social or cultural benefits;
- support collaborative research on issues of benefit to regional and rural communities;
- enhance the scale and focus of research in National Priority Areas;
- foster opportunities for postdoctoral researchers to pursue internationally competitive research in collaboration with organisations outside the higher education sector, targeting those who have demonstrated a clear commitment to high-quality research;
- provide outcome-oriented research training to prepare high-calibre postgraduate research students; and
- produce a national pool of world-class researchers to meet the needs of the broader Australian innovation system.
Research project costs are supported under Linkage Projects scheme, as well as:
- Australian Postdoctoral Fellowships Industry (APDI) for researchers with less than three years’ postdoctoral experience;
- Australian Postgraduate Awards Industry (APAI, or known as APAI-IT for those in information technology) for postgraduate research students studying towards a Masters or PhD award; and
- Linkage Industry Fellowships (LIF) which provide support for costs involved in a temporary transfer from one of the eligible higher education organisations listed on an application to one of the collaborating organisations on that application or vice versa.
A single application to Linkage Projects may contain research project costs and one or more of the component costs above.
This report includes summary statistics for those Linkage Projects applications that involve project, APAI, and/or fellowship funding (LP applications), as well as those applications primarily seeking APAI stipends (so-called APAI-only, or LA applications).
Selection process
The College of Experts assessed applications in two ways depending on the level of support sought in the application.
Where an applicant sought funding from the ARC to support fellowships, project costs associated with personnel, equipment, maintenance and/or travel, of more than $150,000 over project life, the ARC and its College of Experts:
- assigned independent readers/assessors to review applications;
- sought applicants' comments on assessors' reports;
- ranked each application relative to the others on the basis of the application, the assessors reports and applicant's response to these assessments; and
- assessed and recommended budgets, and prepared funding recommendations.
About 37% of applications requested funding of less than $150,000 over the proposed project life. External assessment was not sought in these cases. The ARC and the College of Experts ranked each application relative to the others on the basis of the application and prepared funding recommendations.
Following receipt of the College of Experts report the ARC Board submitted recommendations to the Minister for his approval.
Selection criteria
Selection criteria and corresponding weights for Linkage Projects applications are:
Investigators' track record (20%)
Project content
- significance and innovation (25%)
- approach and training (20%)
- national benefit (10%)
- commitment from industry partner (25%)
National Research Priorities
Applicants in this round identified 477 out of a total of 529 applications (90%) as being in one of the national research priority areas. Within those approved for funding, applications in priority areas represented 92% by number, and are to receive 97% of total approved funding.
Table 1. Numbers and success rates by National Research Priority Areas
| Priority Area | Applications received | Applications approved | Success rate | Approved funds over project life |
| None | 52 | 15 | 28.8% | $1,942,541 |
| An Environmentally Sustainable Australia | 139 | 55 | 39.6% | $23,446,778 |
| Promoting and Maintaining Good Health | 151 | 49 | 32.5% | $11,397,601 |
| Frontier Technologies for Building and Transforming Australian Industries | 144 | 54 | 37.5% | $16,118,227 |
| Safeguarding Australia | 43 | 21 | 48.8% | $5,619,243 |
| Total priority applications | 477 | 179 | 37.5% | $56,581,849 |
| % within priority areas | 90% | 92% | - | 97% |
Summary of outcomes
In this round the ARC received a total of 535 applications, of which 6 were withdrawn after applications closed. Of the 529 remaining applications, 95 primarily sought an APAI stipend (APAI-only applications) and 434 were applications seeking substantial project support, as well as, in many cases, APAI, APDI or LIF places. In the tables and text below, the following labels are used to distinguish statistics:
LP - figures for the 434 applications seeking project support
LA - figures for the 95 APAI-only applications
Linkage - figures for entire Linkage Projects scheme
The number of APAI-only applications has been steadily declining in recent rounds of Linkage Projects – they represent only 18% of applications in this round, compared to 24% in the previous round, and figures approaching 30% or 40% in recent years. Most applicants are now requesting substantially higher (and increasing) levels of funding support in this scheme. The competitiveness of the remaining APAI-only applications in this round is low, with a historically low success rate (see below).
Approved Funding
A total of 194 (36.7%) applications are approved for funding, with an overall ARC commitment over their lives of $58.5M. The overall success rate of 36.7% represents a decrease on the success rate of 42.9% in the previous Round, primarily due to significant shift towards larger funding requests and approvals in this round.
For larger applications (LP), 177 of 434 (40.8 %) are approved for funding, representing an ARC commitment of $56.6M. For APAI-only applications (LA), 17 of 95 (17.9 %) are approved for funding, representing an ARC commitment of $1.9M over the life of these projects.
Table 2. Success rates for Linkage Projects Round One 2006
| No of applications | LP | LA | Linkage |
| Received | 434 | 95 | 529 |
| Approved | 177 | 17 | 194 |
| Success Rate | 40.8% | 17.9% | 36.7% |
Table 3. Success rates for Round Two 2005 and Round One 2006
| Component | Round Two 2005 for projects commencing in July 2005 | Round One for projects commencing in January 2006 |
| LP | 45.8% | 40.8% |
| LA | 33.8% | 17.9% |
| Linkage | 42.9% | 36.7% |
Table 4. Numbers and Success Rates for Linkage Round One 2006 by Discipline Area
| Discipline Group | Applications received | Applications approved | Success rate | Requested funds over project life | Approved funds over project life |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BSB | 108 | 38 | 35.2% | $34,454,378 | $10,877,900 |
| EE | 76 | 29 | 38.2% | $32,900,786 | $17,702,200 |
| HCA | 65 | 23 | 35.4% | $13,951,707 | $5,342,734 |
| MIC | 60 | 22 | 36.7% | $15,091,072 | $5,401,725 |
| PCG | 39 | 15 | 38.5% | $12,831,067 | $5,371,361 |
| SBE | 181 | 67 | 37.0% | $39,898,112 | $13,828,470 |
| Total | 529 | 194 | 36.7% | $149,127,122 | $58,524,390 |
BSB = Biological Sciences and Biotechnology; EE – Engineering and Environmental Sciences; HCA = Humanities and Creative Arts; MIC = Mathematics, Information and Communication Sciences; PCG = Physics, Chemistry and Geoscience; SBE = Social, Behavioural and Economic Sciences
Grant size
The average first-year funding per project for LP Round One is $100,964 (82.7% of average first-year request on funded applications), and for LA is $31,337 (95.8% of average first-year request on funded applications). The overall Linkage average first-year funding per project in Round One is $94,862 (83% of average first-year request on funded applications). This round shows significant increases in both first-year and whole-of-life funding, due both to increasing application requests in general, and the presence of a very large application received under the revised rules concerning maximum level of funding introduced in this round of Linkage Projects.
Table 5. First-year funding, Round Two 2005 and Round One 2006
| Component | Round Two 2005 for projects commencing in July 2005 | Round One for projects commencing in January 2006 | ||
| Average first year funding | Percentage of average first year request | Average first year funding | Percentage of average first year request | |
| LP | $91,342 | 79.4% | $100,964 | 82.7% |
| LA | $28,672 | 93.4% | $31,337 | 95.8% |
| Linkage | $79,358 | 80.2% | $94,862 | 83.0% |
Table 6. Average total funding for LP, LA and Linkage Projects Round One 2006
| Component | Round Two 2005 for projects commencing in July 2005 | Round One for projects commencing in January 2006 |
| LP | $274,056 | $320,105 |
| LA | $99,448 | $109,757 |
| Linkage | $240,665 | $301,672 |
These amounts include possible half-year APAI extensions in Year 4.
Outcomes by Organisation
The following table shows application numbers and funding, by Organisation for the Linkage Projects scheme.
Table 7. Outcomes by Organisation for Linkage Projects Round One 2006
| Administering organisation | Received | Approved | Success rate % | Approved funding over project life |
Total Partner Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australian Catholic University | 6 | 0 | 0 | $0 | $0 |
| Charles Darwin University | 9 | 5 | 56 | $1,582,101 | $2,735,472 |
| Charles Sturt University | 10 | 5 | 50 | $571,858 | $741,176 |
| Curtin University of Technology | 10 | 2 | 20 | $440,232 | $427,632 |
| Deakin University | 15 | 5 | 33 | $1,217,970 | $1,280,264 |
| Edith Cowan University | 4 | 2 | 50 | $264,600 | $401,888 |
| Griffith University | 17 | 4 | 24 | $1,245,927 | $3,021,152 |
| James Cook University | 5 | 1 | 20 | $102,775 | $106,000 |
| La Trobe University | 13 | 3 | 23 | $582,672 | $504,678 |
| Macquarie University | 5 | 2 | 40 | $330,600 | $397,186 |
| Monash University | 32 | 10 | 31 | $2,889,287 | $3,227,080 |
| Murdoch University | 9 | 2 | 22 | $816,525 | $870,292 |
| Queensland University of Technology | 28 | 8 | 29 | $2,105,891 | $2,648,848 |
| RMIT University | 22 | 9 | 41 | $2,436,398 | $2,738,460 |
| Southern Cross University | 6 | 1 | 17 | $231,000 | $432,340 |
| Swinburne University of Technology | 4 | 1 | 25 | $160,000 | $260,910 |
| The Australian National University | 23 | 13 | 57 | $3,745,402 | $5,042,527 |
| The Flinders University of South Australia | 11 | 2 | 18 | $363,000 | $543,538 |
| The University of Adelaide | 19 | 9 | 47 | $2,250,435 | $3,642,441 |
| The University of Melbourne | 45 | 19 | 42 | $4,512,415 | $6,283,986 |
| The University of New England | 5 | 1 | 20 | $168,325 | $179,565 |
| The University of New South Wales | 47 | 22 | 47 | $7,235,150 | $9,377,236 |
| The University of Newcastle | 10 | 3 | 30 | $661,551 | $777,500 |
| The University of Queensland | 37 | 16 | 43 | $4,439,000 | $8,222,279 |
| The University of Sydney | 37 | 14 | 38 | $3,710,263 | $5,462,140 |
| The University of Western Australia | 15 | 5 | 33 | $1,386,617 | $2,190,611 |
| University of Ballarat | 2 | 1 | 50 | $847,881 | $1,266,023 |
| University of Canberra | 3 | 1 | 33 | $383,474 | $586,607 |
| University of South Australia | 21 | 9 | 43 | $10,106,538 | $16,393,023 |
| University of Southern Queensland | 6 | 0 | 0 | $0 | $0 |
| University of Tasmania | 10 | 4 | 40 | $878,546 | $885,778 |
| University of Technology, Sydney | 18 | 7 | 39 | $1,044,103 | $1,655,062 |
| University of the Sunshine Coast | 2 | 0 | 0 | $0 | $0 |
| University of Western Sydney | 9 | 5 | 56 | $1,290,140 | $1,243,720 |
| University of Wollongong | 13 | 2 | 15 | $463,325 | $635,090 |
| Victoria University | 1 | 1 | 100 | $60,389 | $60,400 |
| Total | 529 | 194 | 37 | $58,524,390 | $84,240,904 |
Components
The major components that can be funded in Linkage Projects include APAIs, APAI‑ITs, APDIs, Linkage Industry Fellowships (LIF) and other collaborative research grant (CRG) funding. The following table shows overall numbers and funding for these components.
Table 8. Linkage Projects component numbers and funding Round One 2006
| Component | Number requested | Number funded | Success rate (%) |
| APAI | 392 | 137 | 34.9% |
| APAI-IT | 35 | 24 | 68.6% |
| APDI | 25 | 11 | 44.0% |
| LIF | 2 | 0 | 0.0% |
| CRG | 458 | 177 | 38.6% |
LIF
The application Round One applications included two requests for Linkage Industry Fellowships (LIF). Neither is funded.
APDI
The Linkage Projects Round One applications included requests for 25 APDI places, of which 11 (44.0%) are approved for funding.
APAI-IT
Within Linkage Projects, there is a requirement to fund at least 50 APAI places in the fields of Information Technology and Communications. This requirement needs to be met over both rounds for 2006 funding. In Linkage Projects Round One 24 places are approved for funding.
