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Linkage Projects
Round 1
Selection Report for Funding Commencing in 2007

Overview

The Linkage Projects scheme funds collaborative projects between University researchers and Partner Organisations. Proposals in Round 1 for projects commencing in January 2007 closed on 5 May 2006. This report outlines outcomes from the selection process for that round.

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Objectives

As indicated in the funding rules for this round, Linkage Projects aims to:

  • encourage and develop long-term strategic research alliances between higher education organisations and other organisations, including within industry, 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 Research Priorities;
  • 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, as well as:

  • Australian Postdoctoral Fellowships Industry (APDI) for researchers with less than three years' postdoctoral experience;
  • Australian Postgraduate Awards Industry (APAI, or as APAI-IT for those in the field of information technology and communications) for postgraduate research students studying towards a Master’s or PhD degree; 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 a proposal to one of the partner organisations on that proposal, or vice versa.

A single proposal to Linkage Projects may contain research project costs and one or more of the component costs above.

This report includes summary statistics and approvals for those Linkage Projects proposals that involve project, and/or APAI, and/or APDI, and/or LIF fellowship funding.

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Selection Process

The ARC and the College of Experts assessed proposals in the following ways depending on the level of support sought in the proposal.

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 the project life, the ARC and its College of Experts:

  • assigned independent readers/assessors to review proposals;
  • sought applicants' comments on assessors' reports;
  • ranked each proposal relative to the others on the basis of the proposal, the assessors' reports and applicant's response to these assessments; and
  • assessed and recommended budgets, and prepared funding recommendations.

For very large proposals the ARC may also convene a panel to interview applicants and associated researchers.  For this round the ARC did convene a panel. Panel findings serve as  inputs to the processes listed in the final two dot points above.

About 26% of proposals 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 proposal relative to all other proposals on the basis of the proposal and prepared funding recommendations.

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Selection Criteria

Selection criteria and corresponding weights for Linkage Projects proposals are:

  • investigator track record (20%)
  • significance and innovation (25%)
  • approach and training (20%)
  • national benefit (10%)
  • commitment from partner organisation (25%)

The CEO considered the recommendations of the ARC College of Experts before making recommendations to the Minister who, in accordance with the ARC Act, determined the funding outcomes.

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Funding Levels and Duration

Funding for Linkage Projects may be awarded for one to five years subject to parliamentary appropriation and the provisions of the ARC Act. APDIs are awarded for a standard duration of three years. APAI stipends may be awarded for two years (Master’s) or three years (PhD), with provision under certain conditions for an extension of an additional six months’ support for PhD students.Unless otherwise specified, funding amounts presented in this document do not include amounts covering any additional six months extensions for APAI stipends.

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National Research Priorities

The Australian Government has identified four National Research Priorities and, within these, 21 national research priority goals.

Of the 485 proposals considered in this round, 448 (92%) were identified by the applicants as addressing a National Research Priority. Of those 448, 192 (42.9%) are approved for funding, representing 92.3% of the total 208 proposals approved for funding and accounting for 92.9% of the total funding.

Table 1: Approved funding for Linkage Projects Round 1 2007 by National Research Priority

Priority Area Proposals received Proposals recommended Success rate Indicative funds over project life
None 37 16 43.2% $4,230,734
An Environmentally Sustainable Australia 138 58 42.0% $17,868,821
Promoting and Maintaining Good Health 144 64 44.4% $15,785,185
Frontier Technologies for Building and Transforming Australian Industries 129 51 39.5% $17,231,927
Safeguarding Australia 37 19 51.4% $4,318,277
Total priority proposals 448 192 42.9% $55,204,210
% within priority areas 92.4% 92.3%   92.9%

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Summary of Outcomes

In this round, the ARC received a total of 487 proposals, of which two were withdrawn after the closing date. Of the 485 remaining proposals, 62 primarily sought an APAI stipend (APAI-predominantly proposals) and 423 proposals sought substantial project support, and may include a request for funding of one or more APAI, APDI or LIF places. In the tables and text below, the following terms are used to distinguish components of the scheme:

LP - figures for the 423 project proposals
LA - figures for the 62 APAI-predominantly proposals
Linkage - figures for all 485 Linkage Projects proposals

Unless otherwise specified, the figures provided in this report do not include withdrawn proposals.

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Approved Funding

Of the 485 Linkage Projects proposals which were considered for funding commencing in 2007, 208 were approved for funding, 268 were not approved for funding and 9 were deemed ineligible (that is, they did not satisfy the eligibility criteria and/or other requirements for the submission of proposals).

A total of 208 (42.9%) proposals are approved for funding, with an overall ARC commitment over their lives of $61.2M if all APAI PhD students were to be extended for six months. The overall success rate of 42.9% represents a significant increase on the success rate of 35.7% in the previous round.

Of the 423 LP proposals considered, 191 (45.2 %) are funded and represent an ARC commitment of $57.9M. For the 62 APAI-predominantly proposals (LA), 17 (27.4 %) are funded and represent an ARC commitment of $1.53M over the life of these projects.

Table 2: Numbers of approved proposals and success rates for Linkage Projects Proposal Components Round 2 2006 and Round 1 2007

Component
 Round 2 2006 for proposals commencing in July 2006 Round 1 2007 for proposals commencing in January 2007
Received
Approved
Success Rate
Received
Approved
Success Rate
LP
483
186
38.5%
423
191
45.2%
LA
94
20
21.3%
62
17
27.4%
Linkage
577
206
35.7%
485
208
42.9%

Table 3: Numbers of approved proposals and success rates for Linkage Projects Round 1 2007 by discipline area

Discipline Group*
Proposals considered
Approved Proposals
Success rate
Requested funds over project life for considered proposals
Funds over project life for approved proposals
BSB
92
40
43.5%
$28,135,398
$12,403,269
EE
104
38
36.5%
$42,109,020
$14,095,675
HCA
44
19
43.2%
$13,913,695
$4,757,423
MIC
40
20
50.0%
$15,263,473
$5,192,674
PCG
42
21
50.0%
$27,670,000
$6,123,689
SBE
163
70
42.9%
$46,995,257
$16,862,214
Total
485
208
42.9%
$174,086,843
$59,434,944

*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

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Project Size

The average first-year (calendar year) funding per project for Round 1 2007 LP proposals is $102,035 (73.4% of average first-year request), and for LA proposals is $29,795 (98.1% of average first-year request). The overall average Linkage first-year funding per project in Round 1 2007 is $96,131 (73.9% of average first-year request). The average first-year project sizes have increased by 10.2% and the amount funded as a percentage of first-year request has decreased, largely due to a 16.4% increase in the average LP request in this round, when compared with corresponding figures for Round 2 2006.

Table 4: Comparison of approved first-year funding, Linkage Projects  Round 2 2006 and Round 1 2007

Component
First-year funding approved for Round 2 2006 proposals commencing in July 2006 First-year funding approved for Round 1 2007 proposals commencing in January 2007
Average funding for first year
% of average first-year request
Average approved funding for first year
Average amount approved for funding as % of requested funding for first year
LP
$93,644
78.4%
$102,035
73.4%
LA
$27,442
95.7%
$29,795
98.1%
Linkage
$87,217
78.8%
$96,131
73.9%

Table 5: Average approved funding over project life for Linkage Projects Round 2 2006 and Round 1 2007

Component
Round 2 2006 for approved proposals commencing in July 2006
Round 1 2007 for approved proposals commencing in January 2007
LP
$281,824
$303,176
LA
$78,056
$89,902
Linkage
$262,040
$285,745

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Components

The components that can be funded in Linkage Projects are APAIs, APAI‑ITs, APDIs, Linkage Industry Fellowships (LIF) and other collaborative research grant (CRG) funding. The following table shows numbers requested and success rates for these components.

Table 6: Numbers of and success rates for approved Linkage Projects Round 1 2007 by components

Component
Number requested
Number approved
Success rate
APAI
373
113
30.3%
APAI-IT
48
26
54.2%
APDI
35
15
42.9%
LIF
1
1
100.0%
CRG
432
189*
43.8%

*Of the 191 LP proposals approved, not all were funded the CRG component requested.

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APAI and APAI-IT

The 2007 Linkage Projects Funding Rules stipulate that, subject to an adequate number of requests of the requisite type and of sufficient quality being received, the ARC will allocate at least 50 APAI places in the field of information technology and communications in addition to other APAI funding. These APAI-IT places are to be filled over both selection rounds. For this round (Round 1 2007), 113 APAI and 26 APAI-IT places are approved for funding, representing a success rate of 30.3% and 54.2% respectively.

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APDI

The Linkage Projects Round 1 2007 proposals included requests for the award of 35 APDIs, of which 15 (42.9%) are approved for funding.

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LIF

The Linkage Projects Round 1 2007 proposals included one request for a Linkage Industry Fellowship (LIF). This fellowship is approved for funding.

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Outcomes by Organisation

Table 7. shows proposal numbers and total ARC funding by administering organisation for Linkage Projects Round 1 2007.

Table 7: Numbers of proposals and success rates for Linkage Projects  Round 1 2007 by Administering Organisation

Administering Organisation
Proposals considered
Proposals approved
Success rate
Approved funding over project life
Total Partner Organisation Contribution pledged over project life
Australian Catholic University
5
1
20%
$93,000
$106,237
Central Queensland University
3
0
0%
$0
$0
Charles Darwin University
1
1
100%
$190,000
$333,500
Charles Sturt University
3
2
67%
$530,000
$657,436
Curtin University of Technology
6
3
50%
$323,352
$586,235
Deakin University
14
3
21%
$539,112
$630,614
Edith Cowan University
5
1
20%
$75,354
$98,300
Griffith University
12
7
58%
$1,199,380
$1,705,753
James Cook University
2
0
0%
$0
$0
La Trobe University
7
4
57%
$925,183
$2,100,311
Macquarie University
10
7
70%
$1,341,256
$2,843,910
Monash University
38
18
47%
$4,685,524
$10,366,752
Murdoch University
5
2
40%
$875,354
$1,154,100
Queensland University of Technology
34
8
24%
$2,613,241
$5,058,238
RMIT University
17
5
29%
$750,446
$1,474,000
Southern Cross University
1
1
100%
$225,000
$273,750
Swinburne University of Technology
7
3
43%
$682,353
$1,143,110
The Australian National University
20
13
65%
$3,744,168
$5,995,187
The Flinders University of South Australia
10
3
30%
$648,000
$1,041,265
The University of Adelaide
25
11
44%
$2,089,641
$3,036,791
The University of Melbourne
36
12
33%
$3,213,812
$4,954,639
The University of New England
4
2
50%
$442,444
$614,364
The University of New South Wales
51
23
45%
$6,920,139
$13,305,445
The University of Newcastle
7
3
43%
$758,942
$967,125
The University of Queensland
40
25
63%
$10,588,779
$14,775,753
The University of Sydney
32
15
47%
$6,246,008
$15,886,781
The University of Western Australia
16
6
38%
$1,909,052
$2,794,100
University of Ballarat
4
0
0%
$0
$0
University of Canberra
4
2
50%
$487,117
$841,374
University of South Australia
9
6
67%
$1,353,396
$2,656,608
University of Southern Queensland
2
0
0%
$0
$0
University of Tasmania
15
6
40%
$2,239,625
$4,481,030
University of Technology, Sydney
18
9
50%
$2,544,434
$3,804,469
University of Western Sydney
8
2
25%
$398,124
$440,631
University of Wollongong
10
4
40%
$802,708
$1,353,407
Victoria University
4
0
0%
$0
$0
Total
485
208
42.90%
$59,434,944
$105,481,215

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Age and Gender

The total number of participants (Chief Investigators, APDIs and Partner Investigators) named on all proposals considered in this round is 1816. Of these 1289 are male and 527 are female. Success rates by age and gender are shown in Figure 1 below for the Round 1 2007 Linkage Projects proposals.

For LP proposals considered, 1162 investigators are male and 469 are female. The overall success rate for male investigators is 46% and for female investigators the success rate is 43%. For LA proposals considered, 127 investigators are male and 58 are female. The success rates for male and female investigators are 28% and 41% respectively.

Figure 1: Comparative success rates by participant* age and gender for Linkage Projects proposals Round 1 2007

Comparative success rates by participant age and gender for Linkage Projects proposals Round 1 2007

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