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Super Science Fellowships: An overview
The Super Science Fellowships scheme aims to attract and retain outstanding early-career researchers in three key areas: space and astronomy; marine and climate; and future industries.
Up to 50 fellowships in Round One may be awarded for funding commencing in July 2010. A further 50 fellowships in Round Two may be awarded for funding commencing in July 2011.
One call for Proposals for the Super Science Fellowships scheme will be made by the Australian Research Council. Proposals for both Round One and Round Two must be submitted within this call.
A Proposal may be submitted only by an Eligible Organisation linked to existing Super Science funding (for example, National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Scheme funding within a theme area); and/or be involved in an ARC Centre of Excellence, strategic priority of a Publicly Funded Research Agency and/or CRC within one or more of the key theme areas.
A Proposal may involve two or more organisations (an Administering Organisation and one or more Host Organisations) for the proposed project.
The Super Science Fellowships will be open to national and international candidates.
A maximum of three Super Science Fellowships may be requested by an Administering Organisation in a single Proposal for each targeted discipline and round.
The Super Science Fellowships scheme does not support Medical and Dental research.
Funding
Super Science Fellowships will be funded at AUD$72,500 per annum for three years plus 28 per cent on-costs.
The Administering Organisation and/or Host Organisation(s) must provide each Super Science Fellow with a minimum of AUD$20,000 cash for each of the three years of the fellowship, to support the research project.
Eligibility Requirements
A Proposal must nominate at least one Chief Investigator. A maximum of five Chief Investigators may be nominated per Proposal.
The first-named Chief Investigator on a Proposal must be a full-time employee of the Administering Organisation.
The Chief Investigator(s) must take significant intellectual responsibility for the proposed project, its conception, strategic decisions in its pursuit and the communication of results. The Chief Investigator(s) must have the capacity to make a serious commitment to the mentoring of fellowship recipients.
Selection of Fellows
Once successful proposals for the Super Science Fellowships scheme have been approved and announced, the successful Administering Organisations must immediately undertake a process of competitive national and international recruitment for Round One, Super Science Fellowships. Recruitment for Round Two, Super Science Fellowships must be undertaken prior to June 2011.
Eligibility of Super Science Fellows
Fellows must be outstanding early-career researchers who conduct high quality innovative research. They must have a record of significant research outputs relative to the opportunities of the current stage of their career, and evidence of work across industry and/or research institutions and/or disciplines.
Fellows must have been awarded a PhD at a recognised institution, in a targeted discipline not more than three years before the commencement date for the Super Science Fellowship.
Fellows must be an Australian citizen or have obtained permanent or temporary resident status from the Department of Immigration and Citizenship prior to the Fellowship commencing and Fellows must reside predominantly in Australia for the duration of the fellowship.
Proposed Timeframes
- Release of Funding Rules – October 2009
- Applications open – October 2009
- Applications close – 25 November 2009
- Outcomes announced – March 2010.
Eligible Organisations
New South Wales
Charles Sturt University
Macquarie University
Southern Cross University
The University of New England
The University of New South Wales
The University of Newcastle
The University of Sydney
University of Technology, Sydney
University of Western Sydney
University of Wollongong
Victoria
Deakin University
La Trobe University
Melbourne College of Divinity
Monash University
Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT University)
Swinburne University of Technology
The University of Melbourne
University of Ballarat
Victoria University
Queensland
Bond University
Central Queensland University
Griffith University
James Cook University
Queensland University of Technology
The University of Queensland
University of Southern Queensland
University of the Sunshine Coast
Western Australia
Curtin University of Technology
Edith Cowan University
Murdoch University
The University of Notre Dame Australia
The University of Western Australia
South Australia
Flinders University
The University of Adelaide
University of South Australia
Tasmania
University of Tasmania
Northern Territory
Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education
Charles Darwin University
Australian Capital Territory
Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS)
The Australian National University
University of Canberra
Multi-State
Australian Catholic University
Public research institutions may submit Proposals for Super Science Fellowships funding if, in the opinion of the ARC, the organisation provides an appropriate research training environment for the targeted disciplines and is predominantly funded by the Commonwealth or a State/Territory Government.
Examples of such organisations include, but are not limited to:
- Australian Antarctic Division (AAD);
- Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS);
- Anglo-Australian Observatory (AAO)
- Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO);
- Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO);
- Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO); and
- Geoscience Australia (GA)
