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Linkage Projects
Round 2
Selection Report for Funding Commencing in 2010

Overview

The Linkage Projects scheme funds collaborative projects between University researchers and Partner Organisations. Proposals in Round Two for projects commencing in July 2010 opened on 23 September 2009, and closed on 18 November 2009. This report outlines outcomes from the selection process for that round.

As indicated in the Funding Rules for this round, Linkage Projects aims to:

  1. encourage and develop long-term strategic research alliances between higher education organisations and other organisations, including within industry and end-users, in order to apply advanced knowledge to problems and/or to provide opportunities to obtain national economic, social or cultural benefits;
  2. support collaborative research on issues of benefit to rural and regional communities;
  3. enhance the scale and focus of research in National Research Priorities;
  4. 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;
  5. provide outcome-oriented research training to prepare high-calibre postgraduate research students; and
  6. produce a national pool of world-class researchers to meet the needs of the broader Australian innovation system.

Linkage Projects provides funding support for:

  • 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 Masters 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 Linkage Projects proposal may contain research project costs and/or one or more of the component costs above. This report provides summary statistics for Linkage Projects proposals that involve project, and/or APAI, and/or APDI, and/or LIF funding.

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Selection process

The closing date for Linkage Projects proposals was 18 November 2009. Assessment of proposals was undertaken by the Australian Research Council (ARC) College of Experts (CoE), which:

  • assess proposals and review assessments made by independent readers;
  • sought applicants’ comments on assessors’ reports;
  • identified eligibility issues;
  • ranked each proposal relative to the others on the basis of the proposal, the assessors’ reports and applicants’ responses to those assessments;
  • assessed and recommended budgets; and
  • prepared funding recommendations for submission to the ARC Chief Executive Officer (CEO).

This report reflects the outcomes from the recommendations of the ARC CEO to the Minister. Unless otherwise specified, figures presented in this report exclude withdrawn proposals.

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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 of partner organisation (25%).

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Approved funding

The ARC received a total of 514 proposals, of which two proposals were withdrawn.  The overall success rate of 42.6 per cent in this round represents a slight decrease on the success rate of 44.9 per cent in the previous round. The number of proposals and success rates are shown below in Table 1. Please note that within this selection report approved funding may include indicative funding amounts.

Table 1. Numbers of proposals and success rates for Linkage Projects Round Two by discipline panel

Panel † Proposals considered Proposals approved Success rate Requested funds over project life (all proposals considered) Approved funds over project life

BSB

113

46

40.7%

$44,272,569

$13,970,042

EMI

127

57

44.9%

$53,944,950

$15,454,639

HCA

60

26

43.3%

$20,658,521

$7,245,220

PCE

62

27

43.5%

$31,645,280

$11,211,546

SBE

150

62

41.3%

$54,054,697

$18,872,123

Total

512

218

42.6%

$204,723,687

$66,753,570

†BSB = Biological Sciences and Biotechnology; EMI = Engineering, Mathematics and Informatics; HCA = Humanities and Creative Arts; PCE = Physics, Chemistry and Earth Sciences; SBE = Social, Behavioural and Economic Sciences

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Project size

A comparison of the average first year funding allocation and the project life allocation from Round One, 2007 is shown below in Table 2.

Table 2. Comparison of the average first year funding allocation and the average funding allocation over the project life for approved Linkage Projects proposals from Round One 2007 to Round Two 2010

 

2007

2008

2009

2010

 

Rd 1

Rd 2

Rd 1

Rd 2

Rd 1

Rd 2

Rd 1

Rd 2

Average year 1 request

$130,161

$130,051

$129,088

$144,942

$154,573

$141,563

$145,626

$143,419

Average year 1 allocation

$96,131

$92,157

$103,942

$100,952

$110,082

$101,251

$104,265

$100,397

Percentage of allocation

73.9%

70.9%

80.5%

69.6%

71.2%

71.5%

71.6%

70.0%

Average project life request

$404,557

$417,241

$388,846

$449,110

$486,387

$438,181

$448,434

$451,464

Average project life allocation

$285,745

$277,940

$308,257

$306,332

$328,921

$300,656

$316,720

$306,209

Percentage of allocation

70.6%

66.6%

79.3%

68.2%

67.6%

68.6%

70.6%

67.8%

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Components

The components that can be funded in Linkage Projects are Australian Postgraduate Awards (Industry) (APAI), Australian Postgraduate Awards (Industry) – Information Technology (APAI‑IT), Australian Postdoctoral Fellowships (Industry) (APDI), and Linkage Industry Fellowships (LIF). The component type, number requested and success rate is shown below in Table 3.

Table 3.    Numbers of and success rates for Linkage Projects Round One and Two 2010 components

Component

Number requested

Number funded

Success rate

 

Rd 1 2010

Rd 2 2010

Rd 1 2010

Rd 2 2010

Rd 1 2010

Rd 2 2010

APAI

328

414

123

126

37.5%

30.4%

APAI-IT

48

43

22

15

45.8%

34.9%

APDI

41

43

15

15

36.6%

34.8%

LIF

0

2

0

1

-

50.0%

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Selection outcomes by Administering Organisation

Table 4. Numbers of proposals, success rates, approved funding and Partner Organisation contributions for Linkage Projects Round Two 2010 proposals by Administering Organisation

Administering Organisation Proposals considered Proposals approved Success rate Approved funding over project life Partner Organisation contributions (cash & in-kind) over project life (approved proposals)

Australian Capital Territory

The Australian National University

13

6

46.20%

$1,741,850

$2,362,771

University of Canberra

5

1

20.00%

$80,007

*

New South Wales

Charles Sturt University

5

0

0.00%

-

-

Macquarie University

8

1

12.50%

$430,000

*

Southern Cross University

4

1

25.00%

$303,000

*

The University of New England

3

1

33.30%

$92,673

*

The University of New South Wales

48

27

56.30%

$9,282,135

$21,166,150

The University of Newcastle

8

5

62.50%

$1,890,000

$2,263,466

The University of Sydney

32

13

40.60%

$3,986,073

$6,609,848

University of Technology, Sydney

14

5

35.70%

$1,483,000

$2,652,725

University of Western Sydney

7

2

28.60%

$400,931

$676,255

University of Wollongong

11

5

45.50%

$1,604,364

$2,706,913

Northern Territory

Charles Darwin University

5

1

20.00%

$80,007

*

Queensland

Bond University

1

0

0.00%

-

-

Griffith University

13

8

61.50%

$1,632,923

$2,665,818

James Cook University

3

2

66.70%

$431,653

$696,732

Queensland University of Technology

25

11

44.00%

$2,945,340

$5,156,429

The University of Queensland

33

20

60.60%

$5,707,115

$10,148,955

University of Southern Queensland

2

1

50.00%

$140,000

*

University of the Sunshine Coast

3

0

0.00%

-

-

South Australia

The Flinders University of South Australia

12

4

33.30%

$1,322,100

$3,591,055

The University of Adelaide

19

9

47.40%

$2,521,880

$4,780,044

University of South Australia

24

5

20.80%

$888,003

$3,353,165

Tasmania

University of Tasmania

7

2

28.60%

$1,425,000

$2,749,183

Western Australia

Curtin University of Technology

13

5

38.50%

$1,117,573

$2,279,280

Edith Cowan University

3

1

33.30%

$270,000

*

Murdoch University

15

5

33.30%

$933,476

$2,394,145

The University of Western Australia

22

13

59.10%

$8,048,457

$15,310,095

Victoria

Deakin University

18

3

16.70%

$801,959

$2,959,134

La Trobe University

11

6

54.50%

$1,414,357

$2,244,363

Monash University

38

16

42.10%

$4,848,650

$10,995,649

RMIT University

26

10

38.50%

$2,040,882

$3,115,939

Swinburne University of Technology

11

3

27.30%

$818,000

$1,181,583

The University of Melbourne

39

24

61.50%

$7,457,162

$12,133,375

University of Ballarat

2

0

0.00%

-

-

Victoria University

9

2

22.20%

$615,000

$1,043,580

Total

512

218

42.60%

$66,753,570

$128,210,626

*For confidentiality reasons, total contributions by Partner Organisations are not shown in instances in which Administering Organisations are associated with one approved proposal only. The total does, however, include the total contributions by Partner Organisations on approved Projects associated with those Administering Organisations.

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Partnerships

Linkage Projects proposals represent partnerships between university researchers, Administering Organisations and other organisations, as well as partnerships between Partner Organisations within projects. These partnerships form congruent and/or complementary linkages in Fields of Research (FOR). A total of 458 Partner Organisations are involved in Linkage Projects Round Two giving an average of 2.1 Partner Organisations involved in each proposal. A summary of the FOR categories identified by applicants is shown below in Table 5.

Table 5.    Proposal data by Field of Research category for Linkage Projects Round Two 2010

Field of Research category Number of proposals funded† Total funding from all sources*

Agricultural and Veterinary Sciences

8

$9,375,354

Biological Sciences

10

$12,985,883

Built Environment and Design

6

$6,636,541

Chemical Sciences

8

$12,314,835

Commerce, Management, Tourism and Service

3

$3,263,155

Earth Sciences

6

$8,996,325

Economics

5

$1,584,957

Education

10

$13,647,463

Engineering

55

$70,777,178

Environmental Sciences

10

$12,687,653

History and Archaeology

5

$5,377,018

Information and Computing Sciences

14

$15,803,162

Language, Communication and Culture

6

$4,943,365

Law and Legal Studies

3

$4,686,797

Mathematical Sciences

2

$622,767

Medical and Health Sciences

32

$43,058,123

Physical Sciences

4

$4,697,692

Psychology and Cognitive Sciences

6

$9,539,062

Studies in Creative Arts and Writing

4

$3,899,411

Studies in Human Society

18

$14,653,363

Technology

3

$3,807,412

Total

218

$263,357,516

† Based on the primary FoR
* All sources includes: Administering Organisation, eligible Partner Organisation/s, Collaborating
Organisation/s and ARC

Partner Organisations were identified by the applicants as either international or Australia-based, government, non-profit, private companies or overseas higher education organisations. The Partner Organisation contributions in these categories for Round Two 2010 proposals approved for funding are shown below in Table 6.

Table 6.    Partner Organisation contributions by sector for approved Linkage Projects proposals in Round Two 2010

Type   Cash In-kind Total

 

 

$M

%

$M

%

$M

%

Government

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Australian Government

 

1.50

17.7%

3.54

18.7%

5.04

18.4%

State, territory & local governments

 

6.96

82.0%

14.97

78.9%

21.93

79.9%

International governments

 

0.03

0.4%

0.46

2.4%

0.49

1.8%

 

Sub-total

8.49

21.8%

18.97

21.3%

27.46

21.4%

Non-profit

 

Australian

 

3.56

99.2%

14.07

99.2%

17.63

99.2%

International

 

0.03

0.8%

0.12

0.8%

0.15

0.8%

 

Sub-total

3.59

9.2%

14.19

15.9%

17.78

13.9%

Private companies

 

Australian

 

14.17

78.2%

28.47

77.0%

42.64

77.4%

International

 

3.96

21.8%

8.51

23.0%

12.47

22.6%

 

Sub-total

18.13

46.5%

36.98

41.5%

55.11

43.0%

Education

 

International

 

0.03

100.0%

0.62

100.0%

0.65

100.0%

 

Sub-total

0.03

0.1%

0.62

0.7%

0.65

0.5%

Other

 

8.78

22.5%

18.43

100.0%

27.21

100.0%

 

Sub-total

8.78

22.5%

18.43

20.7%

27.21

21.2%

 

Total

39.02

89.19

128.21

Note: All totals and percentages are calculated using rounded figures.

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Leverage of ARC funding

Of the 512 proposals considered, 218 were approved with the recommended funding, over the life of these projects, of $66.8 million. There are 458 Partner Organisations involved with these projects and they have pledged a total (cash and in-kind) of $128.2 million. This represents $1.90 from Partner Organisations for every dollar funded by the ARC.  This is an increase from the previous four rounds of $0.10 in every dollar.

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International collaboration

Table 7 below shows instances of international collaboration on proposals submitted in Round Two, 2010.

Table 7. Instances of international collaboration in Round Two 2010

Country 2010 Round Two
Proposals considered Proposals approved

Afghanistan

1

0

Argentina

1

0

Austria

1

1

Belgium

2

1

Brazil

1

1

Canada

27

15

China, People's Republic

17

8

Congo

1

0

Cook Islands

1

1

East Timor

1

0

Estonia

1

0

Finland

2

1

France

6

1

Germany

16

9

Hong Kong

4

2

India

3

2

Indonesia

1

0

Israel

3

0

Italy

6

3

Japan

11

7

Jordan

2

0

Kenya

1

1

Korea, Republic of

3

2

Luxembourg

2

1

Netherlands, The

3

1

New Zealand

7

4

Philippines, The

1

0

Portugal

1

1

Singapore

2

1

Solomon Islands

1

0

South Africa

1

1

Spain

5

2

Sudan

1

0

Sweden

1

1

Switzerland

4

3

Taiwan

1

1

Thailand

1

0

Turkey

1

0

United Kingdom

48

24

United States

65

39

Yugoslavia

1

0

Total

258

134

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Age and gender

The total of 2196 participants were named on all proposals considered in this round.  Of these, 641 are female, 1,552 are male and three did not specify a gender. The success rate for female and male participants in Round Two 2010 Linkage Projects proposals is 45.9 per cent and 45.4 per cent respectively. Gender success rates over the last eight Linkage Projects rounds are represented in Figure 1. Success rates by age and gender in the current Linkage Projects round are represented in Figure 2.

Figure 1. Comparison of Linkage Projects success rates between female and male participants from Round One 2007 to Round Two 2010

Figure 1. Comparison of Linkage Projects success rates between female and male participants from Round One 2007 to Round Two 2010

 

Figure 2. Comparative success rates by participants age and gender for Linkage Projects proposals Round Two 2010

Figure 2. Comparative success rates by participants age and gender for Linkage Projects proposals Round Two 2010

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National Research Priorities

The approved funding against the National Research Priorities is shown below in Table 8.

Table 8.    Approved funding for Linkage Projects Round Two 2010 by National Research Priority

Priority area Proposals considered Proposals approved Success rate Approved funds over project life

An Environmentally Sustainable Australia

159

64

40.25%

$22,233,373

Promoting and Maintaining Good Health

164

73

44.51%

$22,092,819

Frontier Technologies for Building and Transforming Australian Industries

138

60

43.48%

$17,416,794

Safeguarding Australia

35

14

40.00%

$2,841,726

None selected

16

7

43.75%

$2,168,858

Total proposals

512

218

42.58%

$66,753,570

Total priority proposals

496

211

42.54%

$64,584,712

Percentage within priority areas

96.88%

96.79%

 

96.75%

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Rural and regional

The Linkage Projects scheme identifies proposals that are of benefit to rural and regional areas.  The total requested funding and approved funding for rural and regional proposals is shown in Table 9.

Table 9.     Requested funding and approved allocations for rural and regional proposals by discipline panel for Round Two 2010 Linkage Projects proposals

Panel Funds requested Approved funds allocated
All proposals considered Rural and Regional proposals Percentage requested by Rural and Regional proposals Proposals Approved Rural and Regional proposals Approved Percentage allocated to Rural and Regional proposals

BSB

$44,272,569

$19,754,846

44.62%

$13,970,042

$7,161,921

51.27%

EMI

$53,944,950

$14,041,579

26.03%

$15,454,639

$4,805,000

31.09%

HCA

$20,658,521

$4,909,193

23.76%

$7,245,220

$2,939,640

40.57%

PCE

$31,645,280

$9,739,313

30.78%

$11,211,546

$3,830,000

34.16%

SBE

$53,974,690

$27,162,413

50.32%

$18,872,123

$9,648,644

51.13%

Total

$204,496,010

$75,607,344

36.97%

$66,753,570

$28,385,205

42.52%

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Summary of outcomes

Table 10.  Comparison of proposal numbers, success rates, requested and allocated funds for successful proposals from Linkage Projects Round One 2007 to Round Two 2010

Funding round and year Proposals considered Proposals approved Success rate Requested funds over project life (all proposals) Requested funds over project life (approved proposals) Funds allocated over project life Allocation as a percentage of request

Rd 1 2007

485

208

42.9%

$174,086,843

$84,147,797

$59,434,943

70.6%

Rd 2 2007

472

217

46.0%

$159,099,346

$90,541,315

$60,313,034

66.6%

Rd 1 2008

424

202

47.6%

$140,343,990

$78,546,893

$62,267,846

79.3%

Rd 2 2008

487

208

42.7%

$182,915,040

$93,414,877

$63,717,139

68.2%

Rd 1 2009

441

218

49.4%

$178,815,658

$106,032,303

$71,704,687

67.6%

Rd 2 2009

522

239

45.8%

$201,624,648

$105,186,071

$71,856,782

68.3%

Rd 1 2010

470

211

44.9%

$178,500,521

$94,619,567

$66,827,891

70.6%

Rd 22010

512

218

42.6%

$204,496,010

$98,419,105

$66,753,570

67.8%
Content Last Modified:

25/06/10


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