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Linkage Projects
Round 1
Selection Report for Funding Commencing in 2011
- Overview
- Selection Process
- Selection Criteria
- Summary of Outcomes
- Approved Funding by Discipline Panel
- Project Size
- Components
- Leverage of ARC Funding
- Selection Outcomes by Administering Organisation
- Partnerships
- International Collaboration
- Age and gender
- National Research Priorities
Overview
The Linkage Projects scheme funds collaborative projects between University researchers and Partner Organisations. Proposals in Round One for projects commencing in January 2011 opened on 17 March 2010, and closed on 12 May 2010. This report outlines outcomes from the selection process for that round.
Linkage Projects aims to:
- encourage and develop long-term strategic research alliances between higher education organisations and other organisations, including 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;
- 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.
Linkage Projects supports:
- Australian Postdoctoral Fellowships Industry (APDI) for researchers with less than three years postdoctoral experience;
- Australian Postgraduate Awards Industry (APAI) 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.
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Selection process
ARC Executive Directors, assisted by relevant ARC staff, prepared funding recommendations for submission to the CEO. The recommendations were based on advice from the College of Experts which:
- assessed proposals and reviewed assessments made by independent readers;
- reviewed applicants’ comments on assessors’ reports;
- 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, advice from the ARC Eligibility Committee which:
- considered eligibility issues identified by ARC staff or the College of Experts
- sought advice from institutions with respect to issues raised; and
- made recommendations to the CEO in respect of ineligible proposals.
This report reflects the outcomes 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(s) research opportunity and performance evidence (20%)
- significance and innovation (25%)
- approach and training (20%)
- national benefit (10%)
- commitment of partner organisation (25%).
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Summary of Outcomes
The ARC received a total of 399 proposals for Linkage Projects Round One 2011, of which one proposal was withdrawn. The overall success rate of 46.7 per cent in this round represents a slight increase on the success rate of 42.6 per cent in the previous round. Please note that within this selection report approved funding may include indicative funding amounts.
Table 1. Comparison of proposal numbers, success rates, requested and allocated funds for successful proposals from Linkage Projects Round One 2008 to Round One 2011
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 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 2 2010 | 512 | 218 | 42.6% | $204,496,010 | $98,419,105 | $66,753,570 | 67.8% |
| Rd 1 2011 | 398 | 186 | 46.7% | $157,139,769 | $82,443,432 | $56,235,992 | 68.2% |
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Approved funding by discipline panel
Table 2. Numbers of proposals and success rates for Linkage Projects Round One by discipline panel
Panel † |
Proposals considered |
Proposals approved |
Success rate |
Requested funds over project life (all proposals considered) |
Approved funds over project life (approved proposals) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BSB | 96 | 43 | 44.8% | $37,930,125 | $13,726,594 |
| EMI | 121 | 57 | 47.1% | $45,732,898 | $17,040,520 |
| HCA | 45 | 20 | 44.4% | $17,782,360 | $5,997,367 |
| PCE | 35 | 18 | 51.4% | $17,679,022 | $7,502,200 |
| SBE | 101 | 48 | 47.5% | $38,015,364 | $11,969,311 |
| Total | 398 | 186 | 46.7% | $157,139,769 | $56,235,992 |
†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, 2008 is shown below in Table 3.
Table 3. 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 2008 to Round One 2011
| 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | ||||
| Rd 1 | Rd 2 | Rd 1 | Rd 2 | Rd 1 | Rd 2 | Rd 1 | |
| Average year 1 request | $129,088 | $144,942 | $154,573 | $141,563 | $145,626 | $143,419 | $146,706 |
| Average year 1 allocation | $103,942 | $100,952 | $110,082 | $101,251 | $104,265 | $100,397 | $113,419 |
| Allocation as a percentage of request | 80.5% | 69.6% | 71.2% | 71.5% | 71.6% | 70.0% | 77.3% |
| Average project life request | $388,846 | $449,110 | $486,387 | $438,181 | $448,434 | $451,464 | $443,244 |
| Average project life allocation | $308,257 | $306,332 | $328,921 | $300,656 | $316,720 | $306,209 | $302,344 |
| Allocation as a percentage of request | 79.3% | 68.2% | 67.6% | 68.6% | 70.6% | 67.8% | 68.2% |
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Components
The components that can be funded in Linkage Projects are Australian Postdoctoral Fellowships (Industry) (APDI) and Linkage Industry Fellowships (LIF). The component types, number requested and success rates are shown below in Table 4. Please note: In Linkage Projects Round One 2011 APAI stipends are requested as a personnel item and not as a remunerated participant.
Table 4. Numbers and success rates for Linkage Projects Round One 2011 components
Component
| Number requested
| Number approved
| Success rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| APDI | 35 | 12 | 34.3% |
| LIF | 4 | 3 | 75.0% |
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Leverage of ARC funding
Of the 398 proposals considered, 186 were approved with a total approved funding, over the life of these projects, of $56.2 million. There are 407 Partner Organisations involved with these projects and they have pledged a total (cash and in-kind) of $117.2 million. This represents $2.1 from Partner Organisations for every dollar funded by the ARC. This is an increase of $0.20 in every dollar over the previous round.
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Selection outcomes by Administering Organisation
Table 5.Numbers of proposals, success rates, ARC approved funding and Partner Organisation contributions for Linkage Projects Round One 2011 proposals by Administering Organisation
Administering Organisation |
Proposals considered |
Proposals approved |
Success rate |
ARC approved funding over project life (approved proposals) |
Partner Organisation contributions (cash & in-kind) over project life (approved proposals) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australian Capital Territory | |||||
| The Australian National University | 18 | 12 | 66.7% | $4,611,926 | $9,594,889 |
| University of Canberra | 4 | 2 | 50.0% | $301,692 | $301,704 |
| New South Wales | |||||
| Charles Sturt University | 6 | 1 | 16.7% | $254,682 | $380,000 |
| Macquarie University | 11 | 3 | 27.3% | $756,852 | $1,069,888 |
| Southern Cross University | 6 | 2 | 33.3% | $990,000 | $1,419,920 |
| The University of New England | 1 | 1 | 100.0% | $277,455 | $277,455 |
| The University of New South Wales | 50 | 30 | 60.0% | $8,343,201 | $17,805,772 |
| The University of Newcastle | 13 | 5 | 38.5% | $1,998,949 | $2,939,417 |
| The University of Sydney | 23 | 9 | 39.1% | $2,292,474 | $4,986,490 |
| University of Technology, Sydney | 10 | 2 | 20.0% | $956,244 | $2,361,000 |
| University of Western Sydney | 2 | 0 | 0.0% | - | - |
| University of Wollongong | 10 | 3 | 30.0% | $1,204,000 | $2,855,747 |
| Northern Territory | |||||
| Charles Darwin University | 1 | 1 | 100.0% | $260,000 | * |
| Queensland | |||||
| Griffith University | 12 | 1 | 8.3% | $600,000 | * |
| James Cook University | 5 | 2 | 40.0% | $479,451 | $526,600 |
| Queensland University of Technology | 16 | 7 | 43.8% | $1,739,958 | $2,750,907 |
| The University of Queensland | 29 | 16 | 55.2% | $3,583,424 | $6,329,303 |
| University of Southern Queensland | 5 | 0 | 0.0% | - | - |
| University of the Sunshine Coast | 1 | 0 | 0.0% | - | - |
| South Australia | |||||
| The Flinders University of South Australia | 6 | 3 | 50.0% | $385,332 | $483,973 |
| The University of Adelaide | 12 | 7 | 58.3% | $2,136,406 | $3,783,464 |
| University of South Australia | 17 | 7 | 41.2% | $2,318,222 | $3,945,160 |
| Tasmania | |||||
| University of Tasmania | 4 | 1 | 25.0% | $260,200 | * |
| Victoria | |||||
| Australian Catholic University | 2 | 0 | 0.0% | - | - |
| Deakin University | 10 | 4 | 40.0% | $766,500 | $2,136,100 |
| La Trobe University | 6 | 4 | 66.7% | $993,601 | $1,637,830 |
| Monash University | 18 | 12 | 66.7% | $4,330,273 | $8,024,433 |
| RMIT University | 20 | 6 | 30.0% | $1,249,870 | $2,093,157 |
| Swinburne University of Technology | 5 | 4 | 80.0% | $949,530 | $1,370,943 |
| The University of Melbourne | 31 | 14 | 45.2% | $5,272,125 | $21,834,850 |
| University of Ballarat | 2 | 1 | 50.0% | $102,506 | * |
| Victoria University | 2 | 0 | 0.0% | - | - |
| Western Australia | |||||
| Curtin University of Technology | 13 | 8 | 61.5% | $1,803,302 | $4,017,398 |
| Edith Cowan University | 3 | 1 | 33.3% | $90,000 | * |
| Murdoch University | 7 | 4 | 57.1% | $958,246 | $1,340,000 |
| The University of Western Australia | 17 | 13 | 76.5% | $5,969,571 | $10,424,997 |
| Total | 398 | 186 | 46.7% | $56,235,992 | $117,215,887 |
*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.
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 One 2011 proposals approved for funding are shown below in Table 6.
Table 6. Partner Organisation contributions by sector for approved Linkage Projects proposals in Round One 2011
Type |
Cash |
In-kind |
Total |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
$M | % | $M | % | $M | % |
| Government | |||||||
| Australian Government | 2.83 | 7.7% | 3.52 | 4.4% | 6.36 | 5.4% | |
| State, territory & local governments | 9.16 | 24.8% | 17.87 | 22.2% | 27.03 | 23.1% | |
| International governments | 0.02 | 0.0% | 0.21 | 0.3% | 0.23 | 0.2% | |
| Sub-total | 12.01 | 32.6% | 21.60 | 26.9% | 33.61 | 28.7% | |
| Non-profit | |||||||
| Australian | 1.07 | 2.9% | 3.02 | 3.8% | 4.10 | 3.5% | |
| International | 0.08 | 0.2% | 0.27 | 0.3% | 0.36 | 0.3% | |
| Sub-total | 1.16 | 3.1% | 3.30 | 4.1% | 4.45 | 3.8% | |
| Private companies | |||||||
| Australian | 11.76 | 31.9% | 22.62 | 28.1% | 34.37 | 29.3% | |
| International | 3.13 | 8.5% | 6.24 | 7.8% | 9.37 | 8.0% | |
| Sub-total | 14.88 | 40.4% | 28.85 | 35.9% | 43.74 | 37.3% | |
| Education | |||||||
| International | 0.29 | 0.8% | 1.13 | 1.4% | 1.42 | 1.2% | |
| Sub-total | 0.29 | 0.8% | 1.13 | 1.4% | 1.42 | 1.2% | |
| Other | 8.53 | 23.1% | 25.46 | 31.7% | 33.99 | 29.0% | |
|
Sub-total | 8.53 | 23.1% | 25.46 | 31.7% | 33.99 | 29.0% |
| Total | 36.88 | 80.34 | 117.22 | ||||
Note: All totals and percentages are shown using rounded figures, and as such do not sum.
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Partnerships
Linkage Projects proposals represent partnerships between researchers, Higher Education Organisations and other organisations, as well as collaborations between Partner Organisations within projects. These partnerships form congruent and/or complementary linkages in Fields of Research (FOR). A total of 407 Partner Organisations are involved in Linkage Projects Round One 2011 giving an average of 1.02 Partner Organisations involved in each proposal. A summary of the FOR categories identified by applicants of funded proposals and the total Partner Organisation contributions are shown below in Table 7.
Table 7. Proposal data by Field of Research category for Linkage Projects Round One 2011
Field of Research category |
Number of proposals funded† |
Partner Organisation contributions (cash & in-kind) over project life (approved proposals) |
|---|---|---|
| Agricultural and Veterinary Sciences | 11 | $4,614,377 |
| Biological Sciences | 12 | $20,155,804 |
| Built Environment and Design | 3 | $1,816,300 |
| Chemical Sciences | 6 | $6,090,513 |
| Commerce, Management, Tourism and Service | 7 | $3,877,806 |
| Earth Sciences | 6 | $6,948,061 |
| Economics | 4 | $1,035,695 |
| Education | 9 | $4,260,778 |
| Engineering | 38 | $20,366,326 |
| Environmental Sciences | 10 | $6,897,642 |
| History and Archaeology | 5 | $3,029,999 |
| Information and Computing Sciences | 14 | $7,402,958 |
| Language, Communication and Culture | 2 | $689,270 |
| Law and Legal Studies | 3 | $1,143,603 |
| Mathematical Sciences | 2 | $1,494,165 |
| Medical and Health Sciences | 21 | $14,233,160 |
| Physical Sciences | 5 | $2,915,157 |
| Psychology and Cognitive Sciences | 9 | $3,862,127 |
| Studies in Creative Arts and Writing | 3 | $522,655 |
| Studies in Human Society | 10 | $3,820,756 |
| Technology | 6 | $2,038,735 |
| Total | 186 | $117,215,887 |
† Based on the primary FoR
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International collaboration
Table 8. Instances of international collaboration in Linkage Projects Round One 2011
Country |
2011 Round One |
|
|---|---|---|
Proposals considered |
Proposals approved |
|
| Austria | 3 | 1 |
| Belgium | 8 | 5 |
| Brazil | 1 | 1 |
| Burkina Faso | 1 | 1 |
| Cambodia | 1 | |
| Canada | 10 | 6 |
| China, People's Republic | 21 | 11 |
| Denmark | 2 | 1 |
| East Timor | 2 | 1 |
| Egypt | 1 | |
| Ethiopia | 1 | 1 |
| Fiji | 1 | |
| Finland | 1 | 1 |
| France | 8 | 5 |
| Germany | 19 | 13 |
| Ghana | 2 | 2 |
| Greece | 1 | 1 |
| Guinea Republic | 1 | 1 |
| Hong Kong | 1 | |
| Iceland | 1 | 1 |
| Indonesia | 4 | 1 |
| Iran | 1 | |
| Iraq | 1 | |
| Ireland, Republic of | 2 | |
| Israel | 1 | 1 |
| Italy | 4 | 1 |
| Ivory Coast | 1 | 1 |
| Japan | 7 | 2 |
| Korea, Republic of | 3 | 1 |
| Laos | 1 | |
| Lebanon | 1 | |
| Malaysia | 2 | 1 |
| Mali | 1 | 1 |
| Netherlands, The | 7 | 4 |
| New Zealand | 13 | 6 |
| Papua New Guinea | 3 | 1 |
| Philippines, The | 2 | 1 |
| Russian Federation, The | 1 | |
| Saudia Arabia | 1 | |
| Senegal | 1 | 1 |
| Singapore | 9 | 5 |
| Solomon Islands | 1 | |
| South Africa | 3 | 1 |
| Sweden | 3 | 1 |
| Switzerland | 2 | 2 |
| Syria | 1 | |
| Taiwan | 1 | 1 |
| Thailand | 3 | 1 |
| Turkey | 2 | 1 |
| United Kingdom | 40 | 23 |
| United States | 44 | 25 |
| Vietnam | 2 | 1 |
| Total | 254 | 135 |
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Age and gender
A total of 1674 participants were named on all proposals considered in this round. Of these, 534 are female, 1135 are male and 5 did not specify a gender. The success rate for female and male participants in Round One 2011 Linkage Projects proposals is 46.3 per cent and 51.5 per cent respectively. Gender success rates over the last seven 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 2008 to Round One 2011
Figure 2. Comparative success rates by participants age and gender for Linkage Projects proposals Round One 2011
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National Research Priorities
Table 9. Approved funding for Linkage Projects Round One 2011 by National Research Priority
Priority area |
Proposals considered |
Proposals approved |
Success rate |
Approved funds over project life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| An Environmentally Sustainable Australia< | 116 | 52 | 44.8% | $17,238,929 |
| Frontier Technologies for Building and Transforming Australian Industries | 114 | 53 | 46.5% | $15,851,646 |
| Promoting and Maintaining Good Health | 118 | 54 | 45.8% | $13,873,774 |
| Safeguarding Australia | 29 | 15 | 51.7% | $4,964,201 |
| None Selected | 21 | 12 | 57.1% | $4,307,442 |
| Total Proposals | 398 | 186 | 46.7% | $56,235,992 |
| Total priority proposals | 377 | 174 | 46.2% | $51,928,550 |
| Percentage within priority areas | 94.7% | 93.5% | 92.3% |
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