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The Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities scheme provides funding for research infrastructure, equipment and facilities to Eligible Organisations. It enables researchers to participate in cooperative initiatives so that expensive research infrastructure, equipment and facilities can be shared between higher education organisations and also with industry. The scheme also fosters collaboration through its support of the cooperative use of international or national research facilities.
The objectives of the Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities scheme are to:
Applications for funding commencing in 2024 opened on 25 January 2023 and closed on 29 March 2023. Applications were submitted through the Australian Research Council (ARC) Research Management System (RMS). This report outlines outcomes from the selection process for that round.
These outcomes are based on advice from the ARC Selection Advisory Committee (SAC) which:
and, advice from the ARC’s National Competitive Grants Program (NCGP) Eligibility Committee which:
This report reflects the outcomes approved by the Minister. Unless otherwise specified, data presented in this report exclude withdrawn applications.
All applications that meet the eligibility criteria for Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities 2024 were assessed and merit ranked using the following assessment criteria:
Describe the:
If the project involves research infrastructure pertaining to Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander communities describe:
The ARC assessment process for Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities 2024 involved 18 SAC members as a part of one multidisciplinary panel and was managed in the RMS. A total of 343 independent assessors’ reports were submitted to the ARC.
The minimum level of funding provided by the ARC under Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities 2024 is $150,000 per annum and the maximum level of funding cannot exceed 75 per cent of the total direct cost of the eligible budget item(s). Funding is provided for up to one year; or, up to 5 years for leasing infrastructure, equipment or facilities, the construction of research infrastructure, or subscription or coordinated access to international facilities and major national facilities.
The ARC received a total of 104 applications for Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities for funding commencing in 2024, of which one application was withdrawn.
The overall success rate for Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities for funding commencing in 2024 is 34.0 per cent.
Of the unsuccessful applications, one was found to not meet eligibility requirements.
A comparison of success rates and funding amounts is shown in Table 1.
Table 1. Comparison of application numbers, success rates, requested and allocated funds for approved Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities applications from 2023 and 2024.
Funding year
Applications considered
Applications approved
Success rate (%)
Requested funds over project life for all applications considered ($)
Requested funds over project life for approved applications ($)
Funds allocated over project life for approved applications*($)
Return rate for approved applications (%)
2023
133
45
33.8
$133,141,926
$42,942,422
$39,515,942
92.0
2024
103
35
34.0
$107,795,718
$31,632,111
$28,158,347
89.0
*May include indicative funds
A summary of outcomes by discipline is shown in Table 2.
Table 2. Application numbers, success rates and requested and allocated funds for approved Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities 2024 applications by discipline.
Discipline *
Funds over project life for approved applications ($)
Return Rate for approved applications (%)
BSB
18
7
38.9
$16,601,503
$4,389,069
$4,181,609
95.3
EIC
50
13
26.0
$49,070,161
$12,893,977
$11,421,718
88.6
HCA
2
0
$2,843,777
-
MPCE
29
14
48.3
$34,683,698
$13,745,008
$12,055,020
87.7
SBE
4
1
25.0
$4,596,579
$604,057
$500,000
82.8
Total
* 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
A summary of outcomes by Administering Organisation is shown in Table 3.
Table 3. Number of applications and success rates for approved Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities 2024 applications by Administering Organisation.
Administering Organisation
Australian Capital Territory
3
The Australian National University
New South Wales
31
58.1
$14,406,279
Macquarie University
100.0
$510,000
The University of New South Wales
8
61.5
$6,009,386
The University of Newcastle
50.0
$450,000
The University of Sydney
10
6
60.0
$5,965,943
University of Technology, Sydney
33.3
$539,000
University of Wollongong
Western Sydney University
$931,950
Northern Territory
Charles Darwin University
Queensland
16
37.5
$4,519,675
Griffith University
$193,125
James Cook University
$350,000
Queensland University of Technology
$638,853
The University of Queensland
$3,337,697
University of Southern Queensland
South Australia
5
$4,660,721
Flinders University
$2,050,000
The University of Adelaide
28.6
$2,080,000
University of South Australia
$530,721
Tasmania
66.7
$970,000
University of Tasmania
Victoria
32
9.4
$3,310,000
Deakin University
La Trobe University
Monash University
11
18.2
$2,570,000
RMIT University
12.5
$740,000
Swinburne University of Technology
The University of Melbourne
Western Australia
14.3
$291,672
Curtin University
The University of Western Australia
Of the 1103 Chief Investigators (CIs) in this round, 308 were female, 794 were male and one was unspecified. The success rate for female and male and unspecified CIs in Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities 2024 is 35.4 per cent, 32.4 per cent and 0 per cent respectively.
Success rates of CIs by career age and gender in Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities 2024 are presented in Figure 1. CIs who did not provide gender information (0.1 per cent) and CIs who did not specify the date of completion of their PhD or who do not hold a PhD (0.2 per cent) are not represented in the figure below.
Figure 1. Participation and success rate of Chief Investigators (CIs) in Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities 2024 by gender and career age*
*Career age is calculated as years since PhD (or equivalent). The earliest PhD award date was used where there was more than one PhD.
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities applications are expected to develop collaborative arrangements with Other Eligible Organisations and/or Partner Organisations and Other Organisations.
A summary of success rates by number of Eligible Organisations is shown in Table 4.
Table 4. Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities 2024 application success rates by number of Eligible Organisations.
Number of Eligible Organisations*
Number of applications considered
Number of applications approved
Success rate within band (%)
30.8
42.9
23
9
39.1
19
21.1
0.0
* An application with only one Eligible Organisation (the Administering Organisation) may or may not include Partner Organisations and/or Other Organisations.
A summary of application success rates by number of collaborating organisations is shown in Table 5.
Table 5. Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities 2024 application success rates by number of collaborating organisations.
Number of collaborating organisations*
16.7
42.1
35.7
17
23.5
36.4
20.0
12
* Collaborating organisations include the Administering Organisation, Other Eligible Organisations, Partner Organisations and Other Organisations.
In the 103 applications considered, applicants foreshadowed 199 instances of collaboration with researchers in 38 overseas locations. Of the applications approved for funding, 17 foreshadowed 90 instances of collaboration with researchers in 28 overseas locations (Figure 2).
Figure 2. International collaborations by location in approved Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities 2024 applications*.
*The top 12 international collaboration locations are listed in Figure 1 and the remaining locations are grouped in the ‘Other’ category.
On Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities 2024 applications approved for funding, for every dollar funded by the ARC the proposed dollar contribution of the collaborating organisations listed on these applications is $0.87. The leverage of ARC funds for approved applications is shown in Table 6.
Table 6. Leverage of ARC funds for approved applications.
Approved ARC funding
Number of unique collaborating organisations*
Incidence of involvement of collaborating organisations*
Collaborating organisation* Cash and In-kind contribution
Leverage (Collaborating organisation* contribution/ARC approved funding)
164
$24,599,156
$0.87
*Collaborating organisations include the Administering Organisation, Other Eligible Organisations, Partner Organisations and Other Organisations.
A summary of the Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities applications approved for funding commencing in 2024, by Administering Organisation is outlined in Table 7. The application titles indicate the variety of equipment, infrastructure and facilities supported in this scheme round.
Table 7. Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities applications approved for funding commencing in 2024.
Applications approved for funding
Lead CI
Compound specific isotopes of polar organic molecules in complex mixtures
Grice, Prof Kliti
Revitalising NMR facilities in South Australia - Stage 2
Johnston, A/Prof Martin
A femtosecond beamline for time-resolved momentum microscopy
Jones, Dr Darryl
Sediment Drilling Facility for environmental and genetic archives
Kemp, Dr Justine
Northern Australia Plant Biosecurity Facility
Cernusak, A/Prof Lucas
Integrated multimodal microscopy facility for single molecule analysis
Wang, Prof Yuling
Scanning Transmission Electron Microscope for Beam-Sensitive Materials
Bourgeois, A/Prof Laure
A multimodal infrared, Raman and fluorescence submicron imaging microscope
Wood, Prof Bayden
High speed multi modal in-situ Transmission Electron Microscopy platform
Golberg, Prof Dmitri
National Electron Beam Irradiation Facility
Gibson, Prof Brant
Facilities for Atmospheric Boundary Layer Evaluation and Testing
Arjomandi, Prof Maziar
An ion mobility-mass spectrometry based platform for structural proteomics
Pukala, Prof Tara
Cryogenic microwave characterization facility for quantum technologies
Cassidy, Dr Maja
Ultra-fast structure-property characterisation of materials
Gludovatz, A/Prof Bernd
Thermophysical Property Analysers for Materials under Extreme Environments
Li, Prof Sean
The National Cycling Data and Analysis Platform (NCDAP)
Pettit, Prof Christopher
An Open Access Native Mass Spectrometry Facility
Raftery, A/Prof Mark
Ultrafast Infrared Spectroscopy Facility
Schmidt, Prof Timothy
Quantum microscopy facility for ultrasensitive nanoscale magnetic imaging
Seidel, Prof Jan
Integrated Tip-Enabled Nanofabrication and Characterisation at Atomic Scale
Xia, Prof Zhenhai
Small Animal In Vivo Imaging Facility with microCT imaging capabilities
Hua, A/Prof Susan
Super-resolution platform to accelerate biological and molecular research
Fairlie, Prof David
Cryogenic Experimental Laboratory for Low-background Australian Research
Harris, Dr Glen
A national network for magnetic resonance spectroscopy
Mobli, Prof Mehdi
Australia’s fuel cells and electrolysers prototyping and testing facility
Aguey-Zinsou, Prof Kondo-Francois
Single-molecule Manipulation and Interaction Facility (SMIF)
Ju, A/Prof Lining (Arnold)
In-situ nanomechanical testing for materials under extreme environments
Liao, Prof Xiaozhou
Dedicated High-throughput 3D-Electron Diffractometer
Ling, Prof Chris
Deep imaging for understanding molecular processes in complex organisms
New, Prof Elizabeth
Powder Manufacturing Facility for Additive Manufacturing
Proust, Prof Gwenaelle
State-of-the-art atomic force microscopy facilities for South Australia
Blencowe, A/Prof Anton
Advanced HR-ICP-MS facility for marine, Antarctic and environmental samples
Bowie, Prof Andrew
Acquisition of an advanced Fluorescence-Activated Cell Sorter for Tasmania.
Taberlay, A/Prof Phillippa
Federated Omniverse Facilities for Smart Digital Futures
University of Technology Sydney
Cao, Prof Longbing
Australian Advanced Metabolic Signal Discovery, and Imaging Platform
McQuinn, Dr Ryan