ARC College of Experts

To support the advancement of knowledge and contribute to national innovation, the ARC College of Experts plays a key role in identifying research excellence.  Its members are experts of international standing drawn from the Australian research community which includes higher education, industry and public sector research organisations.

The ARC seeks nominations from suitably qualified and experienced individuals, including senior academics and end-users across the private, public and not-for-profit sectors, with peer review and research leadership experience.

The ARC Board is responsible for appointing members to the ARC College of Experts. 

ARC College of Experts nominations are called for annually. The ARC appoints the College members for a term of three years.

The College of Experts assists the ARC by:

  • assigning external assessors
  • assessing and ranking ARC grant applications that have been submitted under the National Competitive Grants Program (NCGP)
  • moderating external assessments
  • providing recommendations for fundable applications
  • assisting with recruiting through the nomination of new assessors
  • providing advice for peer review reforms, and
  • providing strategic advice to the ARC on emerging disciplines and cross-disciplinary developments.

The ARC is required to maintain a high standard of professionalism and ethical conduct in its operations. The ARC Conflict of Interest and Confidentiality Policy is designed to ensure that all members of the ARC College of Experts are aware of the confidentiality obligations associated with activities and that conflicts of interest are identified and addressed in a rigorous and transparent way. The ARC requires members of the ARC College of Experts to provide assurances to the ARC that they will abide by the ARC's confidentiality requirements and will disclose to it any conflicts of interest related to their official duties as members.

ARC College of Experts Nominations for 2027 are now open

The ARC is seeking nominations from suitably qualified and experienced individuals, including senior academics and end-users across the private, public and not-for-profit sectors, with peer review and research leadership experience. Researchers with multi-disciplinary and cross-disciplinary expertise in the specified targeted areas are strongly encouraged to apply. We especially welcome nominations from women, particularly those from the STEM disciplines, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Nominees should have strong institutional support to meet the commitment required of ARC College of Experts members. 

The ARC is committed to improving the diversity of membership on the ARC College of Experts and encourages qualified people from a broad range of groups to nominate. This includes but is not limited to:

  • Gender diversity
  • People of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander origin
  • Academia, Industry and Public sector organisations

The ARC is calling for nominations for the following fields only. Researchers must have demonstrable expertise in at least one of the following fields to be an eligible nominee in this round. 

3004 Crop and Pasture Production  4206 Public health
3009 Veterinary Sciences  4301 Archaeology
3101 Biochemistry and Cell Biology  4402 Criminology
3105 Genetics  4405 Gender Studies
3107 Microbiology  4406 Human geography
3108 Plant Biology  4407 Policy and administration
3109 Zoology  4408 Political science
3204 Immunology  4410 Sociology 
3209 Neuroscience 4501 Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander culture, language & history
3301 Architecture 4502 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education  
3407 Theoretical and computational chemistry  4503 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander environmental knowledges and management
3602 Creative and professional writing  4504 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health and wellbeing 
3604 Performing arts  4505 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, society and community 
3606 Visual arts 4506 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander sciences
3701 Atmospheric sciences  4513 Pacific Peoples culture, language and history
3702 Climate change Science  4514 Pacific Peoples education  
3704 Geoinformatics  4515 Pacific Peoples environmental knowledges  
3707 Hydrology  4516 Pacific Peoples health and wellbeing 
3708 Oceanography 4518 Pacific Peoples society and community  
3901 Curriculum and pedagogy  4519 Other Indigenous data, methodologies and global Indigenous studies
3902 Education policy, sociology and philosophy  4602 Artificial intelligence 
3903 Education systems  4603 Computer vision and multimedia computation 
3904 Specialist studies in education  4604 Cybersecurity and privacy 
3999 Other Education  4605 Data management and data science 
4001 Aerospace engineering  4606 Distributed computing and systems software 
4002 Automotive engineering  4608 Human-centred computing 
4003 Biomedical engineering  4610 Library and information studies 
4004 Chemical engineering  4611 Machine learning 
4005 Civil engineering  4612 Software engineering
4007 Control engineering, mechatronics and robotics  4806 Legal Systems 
4008 Electrical engineering  4807 Public Law
4009 Electronics, sensors and digital hardware  4901 Applied mathematics
4011 Environmental engineering  5101 Astronomical sciences 
4012 Fluid mechanics and thermal engineering  5103 Classical Physics 
4014 Manufacturing engineering  5106 Nuclear and plasma physics 
4016 Materials engineering  5107 Particle and high energy physics 
4017 Mechanical engineering  5109 Space sciences 
4018 Nanotechnology  5110 Synchrotrons and accelerators 
4101 Climate change impacts and adaptation 5201 Applied and developmental psychology 
4104 Environmental Management  5202 Biological psychology 
4106 Soil Science  5203 Clinical and health psychology 
4203 Health services and systems   5204  Cognitive and computational psychology 
5205 Social and personality psychology

Important Dates

Activity Date
Nominations Open 9 June 2026
Nominations Close 9 July 2026

Resources

Submission

Nominations must be certified by the nominee’s primary employer (for a list of approved nominators or delegates, see the table below) and submitted in RMS no later than 5pm (AEST), Thursday 9 July 2026. 

Nominations will not be accepted directly from nominees, except those submitting as self-employed. 

Nominees who hold an honorary or adjunct appointment with a higher education institution are eligible to apply through that institution.

Approved nominators:

Primary Employer Approved Nominators
Higher education institution Vice-Chancellor/Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) or equivalent
Industry or business Chief Executive Officer or equivalent
Government Agency Head / Deputy Secretary or equivalent
Self-employed Self-nominate

Please contact the ARC at college@arc.gov.au with any queries.

It is anticipated that outcomes will be announced in November 2026. 

ARC College of Experts 2026

A complete list of the ARC College of Experts membership can be found below.

There are currently 413 members on the ARC College of Experts.

Selection meeting panels will be drawn from the ARC College of Experts as necessary.

ARC College of Experts members