Discovery Indigenous

For information on recently announced grant outcomes under the Discovery Indigenous scheme please visit the following pages:

• Selection Report: Discovery Indigenous 2022
• Announcement kit: Discovery Indigenous 2022 Announcement

The Discovery Indigenous scheme provides grant funding to support research projects led by an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander researcher.

The Discovery Indigenous scheme objectives are to: 

• support excellent basic and applied research and research training by Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander researchers as individuals and as teams;
• support national and international research collaboration;
• enhance the scale and focus of research in Australian Government priority areas; and
• support and retain established Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander researchers in higher education institutions.

The intended outcomes of the Discovery Indigenous scheme are:

• expanded knowledge base and research capacity in Australia; and
• economic, commercial, environmental, social and/or cultural benefits for Australia.

The Discovery Indigenous scheme was previously named the Discovery Indigenous Researcher Development scheme. Documents relating to the Discovery Indigenous Researcher Development scheme are now located at Previous Schemes.

Grants from the ARC are made to organisations, not individual researchers or research teams. 

See also, ARC Statement of Support and Action Plan for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Researchers.

All accountable authorities and officials must use GrantConnect to publish all Grant Opportunities, all Grant Opportunity Guidelines and all addenda/alterations.

The ARC will no longer publish Grant Opportunity Guidelines (formerly known as Funding Rules) on our website.

The Grant Guidelines for Discovery Indigenous 2023 are now available on GrantConnect.

While the Grant Guidelines are available to view, you will need to sign in or create a User Registration account  in GrantConnect to access all relevant documentation for Grant Opportunities.

For further information on GrantConnect, please refer to the ARC GrantConnect information page or the GrantConnect website. 

Key Documents and Information for the Discovery Indigenous 2023

• Discovery Indigenous Grant Guidelines Forecast Opportunity View—2023
• Documentation available via: Discovery Indigenous 2023 Current Grant Opportunity View—GO5268
• Important dates for Discovery Indigenous 2023 grant application process