DPEI25 Selection Report for funding commencing in 2025

[TOC]

Overview

The Discovery Projects scheme reflects the Australian Government’s commitment to excellence in research by providing grant funding to support research projects that may be undertaken by individual researchers or research teams.

The objectives of the Discovery Projects scheme are to: 

• support excellent pure basic, strategic basic and applied research, and research training, across all disciplines excluding clinical and other medical research, that addresses a significant problem or gap in knowledge and represents value for money;
• expand research capacity in Australia by supporting excellent researchers and teams;
• foster national and international research collaboration;
• create new knowledge with economic, commercial, environmental, social and/or cultural benefits for Australia; and
• enhance the scale and focus of research in Australian Government priority areas.

Shortlisting and assessment process

Expression of Interest (EOI) applications for Discovery Projects commencing in 2025 opened on 22 January 2024 and closed on 27 February 2024. EOI applications were submitted through the Australian Research Council (ARC) Research Management System (RMS). This report outlines the outcomes from the EOI selection process for that round. 

The EOI outcomes are based on advice from the ARC College of Experts which: 

• assessed the Expression of Interest applications; and
• ranked each application relative to others. 

The ARC assessment process for Discovery Projects EOI 2025 involved 311 College of Experts members and was managed in RMS. A total of 12,441 assessments were submitted through RMS.

Each EOI was assessed by three members of the College. EOIs were assessed and weighted according to the two Assessment Criteria detailed below. The weighted and normalised assessments from each College member were averaged to produce an EOI Panel Rating and Rank. There are five discipline-based EOI Panels: Biological Sciences and Biotechnology (BSB), Engineering, Information and Computing Sciences (EIC), Humanities and Creative Arts (HCA), Maths, Physics, Chemistry and Earth Sciences (MPCE), Social, Behavioural and Economic Sciences (SBE). 

For the Discovery Projects EOI assessment, assessors from the entire College cohort were utilised. Expressions of Interest were assigned to the most suitable College members based on their individual expertise, regardless of the Expression of Interest Panel to which the EOI was assigned.

Within each of these EOI Panels, the most highly rated EOIs were shortlisted in rank order. Applications with equal Ratings and Rankings were treated equally. The number of EOIs shortlisted from each EOI Panel reflected the relative volume of submissions to that panel. 

EOIs with disparate scores – that is, a difference of more than two letter ratings between assessors – were identified. To ensure that no applicants were disadvantaged by outlier assessor scores, the mean and median assessor scores were compared in EOIs that fell below the shortlisted range. In the instance that the median score would have placed the application among the EOIs shortlisted in the EOI Panel, that EOI was shortlisted. An additional 46 EOIs were shortlisted as a result of this ‘disparate scores’ process.

Assessment criteria

Assessment criteria and corresponding weights for the EOI are:

1. Investigator(s)/Capability (30%)

• Taking into account research opportunity, 
• Record of high-quality research outputs appropriate to the discipline(s)
• evidence of excellence in research training, mentoring and supervision (where appropriate); and
• the capability of the investigator or team to build collaborations both within Australia and internationally. 

2. Project quality and innovation (70%)

• Contribution to an important gap in knowledge or a significant problem
• Novelty/originality and innovation of the proposed research 
• Appropriateness of the proposed research design
• Potential to create new knowledge and research capacity, and economic, commercial, environmental, social and/or cultural benefits for Australia. 

Summary of outcomes

The ARC received a total of 4,149 Discovery Projects EOI 2025 applications, of which two applications were withdrawn.

A total of 1,141 Discovery Projects EOI 2025 applications were shortlisted. A summary of outcomes by discipline is shown in Table 1. 

Table 1. EOI applications considered and shortlisted by discipline.

Discipline*	EOI Applications considered	EOI Applications shortlisted	Proportion shortlisted (%)
BSB	1088	298	27.4%
EIC	1119	281	25.1%
HCA	386	137	35.5%
MPCE	768	201	26.2%
SBE	786	224	28.5%
Total	4147	1141	27.5%

* BSB – Biological Sciences and Biotechnology; EIC – Engineering, Information and Computing Sciences, HCA – Humanities and Creative Arts; MPCE – Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry and Earth Sciences; SBE – Social, Behavioural and Economic Sciences.

The assessment process for the EOI stage is distinct from the assessment of full applications. The outcomes outlined in this report are specific to the EOI stage. A separate selection report has been produced for the DP25 full application stage.      

Outcomes by Administering Organisation

A summary of shortlisted outcomes by Administering Organisation is shown in Table 2. 

Table 2: EOI application numbers considered and shortlisted by Administering Organisation

Administering Organisation	EOI Applications Considered	EOI Applications Shortlisted	Proportion shortlisted (%)
Australian Capital Territory	200	72	36.0
The Australian National University	192	69	35.9
University of Canberra	8	3	37.5
New South Wales	1373	365	26.6
Australian Catholic University	26	10	38.5
Charles Sturt University	25	5	20.0
Macquarie University	142	29	20.4
Southern Cross University	6	1	16.7
The University of New England	9	2	22.2
The University of New South Wales	406	118	29.1
The University of Newcastle	83	16	19.3
The University of Sydney	419	117	27.9
University of Technology Sydney	139	38	27.3
University of Wollongong	70	15	21.4
Western Sydney University	48	14	29.2
Northern Territory	9	3	33.3
Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education	1	1	100.0
Charles Darwin University	8	2	25.0
Queensland	719	194	27.0
Bond University	6	Nil	Nil
Central Queensland University	15	4	26.7
Griffith University	108	27	25.0
James Cook University	22	7	31.8
Queensland University of Technology	126	34	27.0
The University of Queensland	395	111	28.1
University of Southern Queensland	31	6	19.4
University of the Sunshine Coast	16	5	31.3
South Australia	299	82	27.4
Flinders University	67	23	34.3
The University of Adelaide	163	42	25.8
Torrens University	1	1	100.0
University of South Australia	68	16	23.5
Tasmania	43	12	27.9
University of Tasmania	43	12	27.9
Victoria	1286	358	27.9
Deakin University	108	27	25.0
Federation University Australia	4	Nil	Nil
La Trobe University	86	23	26.7
Monash University	481	153	31.8
RMIT University	123	22	17.9
Swinburne University of Technology	46	11	23.9
The University of Melbourne	424	117	27.6
University of Divinity	1	Nil	Nil
Victoria University	13	5	38.5
Western Australia	220	55	25.0
Curtin University	72	16	22.2
Edith Cowan University	13	2	15.4
Murdoch University	15	1	6.7
The University of Western Australia	119	35	29.4
University of Notre Dame	1	1	100.0
Total	4147	1141	27.5

Career age and gender

Of the 10418 Chief Investigators (CIs) whose applications were considered in this round, 3761 (36.10%) were female, 6589 (63.25%) were male, 3 (0.03%) were indeterminate/intersex, and 65 (0.62%) were unspecified. The proportion of applications shortlisted for female, male, indeterminate/intersex, and unspecified CIs is 30.74% percent, 27.74 percent, 33.33 percent, and 32.31 percent respectively.

The proportion of shortlisted EOIs of CIs by career age and gender in the Discovery Projects EOI 2025 round are presented in Figure 1. CIs who did not specify the date of completion of their PhD (or equivalent) or who do not hold a PhD are not represented in the figure below.

Figure 1. Participation rate of CIs and proportion of EOIs shortlisted in Discovery Projects Expressions of Interest 2025 by gender and career age*^#

* Career age is calculated as years since PhD based on the relevant qualification as selected in the application.
^ Calculated career age does not take career interruptions into consideration.
# The corresponding data points (not visible in the Figure above) for the percentage of Indeterminate/Intersex as a proportion of all CIs at 5-10 years from PhD is 0.02% and 0.01% at 15-20 years post-PhD. The percentage of Unspecified CIs as a proportion of all CIs is 0.06% (0-5 years since PhD), 0.14% (5-10 years), 0.18% (10-15 years), 0.14% (15-20 years), 0.04% (20-25 years) and 0.08% (25+ years). The proportion of applications with Indeterminate/Intersex CIs that were shortlisted is 0% at 5-10 years since PhD and 100% at 15-20 years since PhD. 

Gender by Project Discipline

Table 3. Discovery Projects Expressions of Interest 2025: Gender by Project Discipline– submission numbers, applications shortlisted and shortlisted proportions

Project Discipline	Female considered	Female shortlisted	Female shortlisted proportion	Male considered	Male shortlisted	Male shortlisted proportion	Unsp* considered	Unsp* shortlisted	Unsp* shortlisted proportion	Ind/Int* considered	Ind/Int* shortlisted	Ind/Int* proportion
BSB	924	244	26.4%	1548	426	27.5%	23	6	26.1%	0	0	0.0%
EIC	615	159	25.9%	2170	557	25.7%	15	6	40.0%	0	0	0.0%
HCA	592	250	42.2%	421	169	40.1%	7	3	42.9%	2	0	0.0%
MPCE	410	125	30.5%	1301	367	28.2%	11	3	27.3%	0	0	0.0%
SBE	1220	378	31.0%	1149	309	26.9%	9	3	33.3%	1	1	100.0%
Total	3761	1156	30.7%	6589	1828	27.7%	65	21	32.3%	3	1	33.3%

*Ind/Int – Indeterminate/Intersex; Unsp - Unspecified

Note – The data provided in the above table is a representation of all Chief Investigators listed on applications considered in DPEI25. Project Discipline is determined by the primary FoR codes provided in the application.

Table 4. Discovery Projects Expressions of Interest 2025: Lead Chief Investigator Gender by Project Discipline – submission numbers, applications shortlisted and shortlisted proportions

Project Discipline	Female considered	Female shortlisted	Female shortlisted proportion	Male considered	Male shortlisted	Male shortlisted proportion	Unsp* considered	Unsp* shortlisted	Unsp* shortlisted proportion	Ind/Int* considered	Ind/Int* shortlisted	Ind/Int* proportion
BSB	385	91	23.6%	694	205	29.5%	9	2	22.2%	0	0	0.0%
EIC	197	55	27.9%	917	225	24.5%	5	1	20.0%	0	0	0.0%
HCA	214	83	38.8%	170	53	31.2%	2	1	50.0%	0	0	0.0%
MPCE	147	39	26.5%	614	159	25.9%	7	3	42.9%	0	0	0.0%
SBE	354	100	28.2%	429	123	28.7%	2	0	0.0%	1	1	100.0%
Total	1297	368	28.4%	2824	765	27.1%	25	7	28.0%	1	1	100.0%

*Ind/Int – Indeterminate/Intersex; Unsp - Unspecified

Figure 2. Discovery Projects Expressions of Interest 2025 Shortlisted Chief Investigators: Participation and proportion shortlisted by gender and project discipline 

Note - The data provided in the above table is a representation of all Chief Investigators listed on applications considered in DPEI25. Project Discipline is determined by the primary FoR codes provided in the application.