Selection Report: Australian Laureate Fellowships 2016

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Overview

The Australian Laureate Fellowships scheme reflects the Commonwealth’s commitment to support excellence in research by attracting world-class researchers and research leaders to key positions in Australia.

The objectives of the Australian Laureate Fellowships scheme are to:

• attract and retain outstanding researchers and research leaders of international reputation
• support ground-breaking, internationally competitive research
• provide an excellent research training environment and exemplary mentorship to nurture early-career researchers
• forge strong links among researchers, the international research community and/or industry
• expand Australia’s knowledge base and research capability
• enhance the scale and focus of research in the Science and Research Priorities.

Selection Process

Proposals for projects commencing in 2016 opened on 29 September 2015 and closed on 17 November 2015. Proposals were submitted through the Australian Research Council (ARC) Research Management System (RMS). This report outlines recommendations from the selection process for that round.

The ARC has prepared funding recommendations for submission to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO). The outcomes were based on advice from an ARC Selection Advisory Committee (SAC) which:

• assessed proposals and reviewed assessments made by independent readers
• reviewed applicants’ comments on assessors’ reports
• ranked each proposal relative to the others on the basis of the proposal and the assessors’ reports and applicants’ responses to those assessments
• assessed and recommended budgets

and, advice from the ARC Eligibility Committee which:

• considered eligibility issues identified by ARC staff or the members of the ARC SAC
• sought advice from institutions with respect to issues raised
• made recommendations to the CEO in respect of ineligible proposals.

The ARC assessment and subsequent reporting process for Australian Laureate Fellowships 2016 was managed in the Research Management System (RMS), and used a total of 15 Selection Advisory Committee members on one multi-discipline panel. A total of 495 independent assessor reports were submitted to the ARC for Australian Laureate Fellowships 2016.

This report reflects the approved recommendations by the Minister. Unless otherwise specified, figures presented in this report exclude withdrawn proposals.

Selection Criteria

Selection criteria and corresponding weightings for Australian Laureate Fellowships proposals are:

• Investigator (40%)
• Project/Program of Research Activity (30%)
• Mentoring/Capacity Building (30%)

Summary of Outcomes

The ARC received a total of 124 proposals for Australian Laureate Fellowships for funding commencing in 2016, of which none were withdrawn. This is an increase from the 115 proposals received for Australian Laureate Fellowships for funding commencing in 2015. All Proposals met eligibility requirements.

The overall success rate for the Australian Laureate Fellowships scheme for funding commencing in 2016 is 12.9%.

Funding Levels and Duration

Australian Laureate Fellowships projects are funded for five years on a full-time basis, subject to sufficient funding being available for the Australian Laureate Fellowships scheme, the provisions of the Australian Research Council Act 2001 (the ARC Act), and continued satisfactory progress of the Australian Laureate Fellowships project.

In addition to the Australian Laureate Fellowship salary supplement and salary-related (on-cost) support, the ARC may provide Australian Laureate Fellows with:

1. additional funding for up to two postdoctoral research associates for five years each and up to two postgraduate researchers for four years each
2. project funding of up to $300,000 per annum (for up to five years).

Of the 16 approved Australian Laureate Fellows, the average amount of approved funding is $2,757,716 in total over five years. In addition to the total Australian Laureate Fellowship salary support of $12,451,520, a total of $18,600,288 is approved for postdoctoral research associates and postgraduate researchers and a further $13,071,644 for general project funding.

While funding is awarded for Australian Laureate Fellowships proposals for five years, the ARC Act applies limits in relation to the amount and years for which the Minister may approve funding. At the time of award, funding is approved only up to and including the 2018-2019 financial year. Subsequent years and associated funding limits are added by amendment to the Act, following which funding for the additional years may be made available. Accordingly, the term "indicative funding" is used throughout this report to denote the total level of funding which it is proposed to be made available, once all years to which funding proposals relate have been legislated.

It is a requirement of the Funding Rules for schemes under the Discovery Program (2015 edition) for the Administering Organisation to provide a salary of Level E professorial appointment (or equivalent) to the successful candidate, with the ARC providing the salary supplement of $119,726 per annum plus 30 per cent on-costs.

Table 1. Indicative funds for approved Australian Laureate Fellowships proposals for funding commencing in 2016

Budget item	2016–17 $	2017–18 $	2018–19 $	2019–20 $	2020–21 $	TOTAL $
Laureate Salary support + on-costs	2,490,304	2,490,304	2,490,304	2,490,304	2,490,304	12,451,250
ARC Postdoctoral Researchers	3,058,016	3,058,016	3,058,016	3,058,016	3,058,016	15,290,080
ARC Postgraduate Researchers	594,803	827,552	827,552	827,552	232,749	3,310,208
Project Funding	2,850,809	2,617,549	2,623,352	2,566,731	2,413,203	13,071,644
TOTAL	8,993,932	8,993,421	8,999,224	8,942,603	8,194,272,	44,123,452

Approved Australian Laureate Fellows:

Table 2: Australian Laureate Fellows Approved for funding

Fellowship candidate	Administering Organisation
Prof A Bebbington	The University of Melbourne
Prof P Boyd	University of Tasmania
Prof B Brook	University of Tasmania
Prof P Burn	The University of Queensland
Prof P Cawood	Monash University
Prof D Golberg	Queensland University of Technology
Prof D McAlpine	Macquarie University
Prof S Parker (Kathleen Fitzpatrick Award)	The University of Western Australia
Prof J Rossjohn	Monash University
Prof A Rowan	The University of Queensland
Prof A Stone (Kathleen Fitzpatrick Award)	The University of Melbourne
Prof P Tacon	Griffith University
Prof M Tyers	The University of Melbourne
Prof B Vucetic (Georgina Sweet Award)	The University of Sydney
Prof P Waterhouse	Queensland University of Technology
Prof J Woodhead	The University of Melbourne

_{* Biographies for the 16 Australian Laureate Fellows are available on the ARC Website}

Stage in Career and Gender

As shown in Table 3, at the time of application, 7 of the Australian Laureate Fellowship Candidates in this round are within 15 years of the award of their PhD. Of the approved Australian Laureate Fellows, one is within 15 years of the award of their PhD.

Table 3: Years since the award of PhD (at time of submission)

Years since award of PhD	No. of considered proposals	% of considered proposals	No. of approved proposals	% of approved proposals
0-15 years	7	5.65	1	6.25
More than 15 years and up to 20 years	24	19.35	1	6.25
More than 20 years	93	75.00	14	87.5
No PhD	0	0	0	0.00
TOTAL	124	100	16	100

^{*As several of the FL16 applicants have multiple qualifications, for the purposes of this table we have used the date of their earliest qualification.}

Twenty (16.13%) of all Australian Laureate Fellowship Candidates in this round are female. Of the approved Australian Laureate Fellows, three (18.75%) are female.

Kathleen Fitzpatrick Australian Laureate Fellowship and Georgina Sweet Australian Laureate Fellowship

Of the 20 female Australian Laureate Fellowship Candidates, 19 applied for a Kathleen Fitzpatrick Australian Laureate Fellowship or a Georgina Sweet Australian Laureate Fellowship. The recipients of the Kathleen Fitzpatrick Australian Laureate Fellowship (awarded to a candidate from the Humanities, Arts and Social Science disciplines) and Georgina Sweet Australian Laureate Fellowship (awarded to candidates from the Science and Technology disciplines) are shown in Table 4 below. Recipients are provided with additional funding to undertake an ambassadorial role to promote women in research and to mentor early career researchers, particularly women, to encourage them to enter and establish careers in research in Australia.

Table 4: Kathleen Fitzpatrick Australian Laureate Fellowship and Georgina Sweet Australian Laureate Fellowship

Fellowship Type	Fellowship Candidate	Administering Organisation
Kathleen Fitzpatrick Australian Laureate Fellowship	Prof S Parker	The University of Western Australia
Kathleen Fitzpatrick Australian Laureate Fellowship	Prof A Stone	The University of Melbourne
Georgina Sweet Australian Laureate Fellowship	Prof B Vucetic	The University of Sydney

Attracting and Retaining Outstanding Researchers

Proposals were open to Eligible Organisations to nominate candidates who are outstanding researchers of international repute, resident either within Australia or overseas. The Australian Laureate Fellowships scheme encourages proposals involving Australian or non-Australian researchers.

Of the 124 proposals considered, five were for Australian citizens intending to return to Australia – of these, two are approved for funding. 12 proposals were for foreign nationals who were not permanent residents – of these, four are approved for funding. One hundred and seven proposals were for Australian citizens or permanent residents – of these, ten are approved for funding.

Table 5: Foreign nationals and Returning Australians approved for funding – ARC Discipline Grouping, Foreign National / Returning Australian and Administering Organisation

Fellowship candidate	ARC Discipline Grouping*	Foreign National / Returning Australian	Administering Organisation
Prof A Bebbington	SBE	Foreign National	The University of Melbourne
Prof P Cawood	MPCE	Returning Australian	Monash University
Prof D Golberg	EIC	Returning Australian	Queensland University of Technology
Prof D McAlpine	SBE	Foreign National	Macquarie University
Prof A Rowan	MPCE	Foreign National	The University of Queensland
Prof M Tyers	BSB	Foreign National	The University of Melbourne

_{*BSB = Biological Sciences and Biotechnology; EIC = Engineering, Information and Computing Sciences; MPCE = Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry and Earth Sciences; SBE = Social, Behavioural and Economic Sciences}

Administering Organisation

The Administering Organisations of the 16 proposals approved for funding are:

• Griffith University (1)
• Macquarie University (1)
• Monash University (2)
• Queensland University of Technology (2)
• The University of Melbourne (4)
• The University of Queensland (2)
• The University of Sydney (1)
• The University of Western Australia (1)
• The University of Tasmania (2)

Science and Research Priorities

Of the 124 Australian Laureate Fellowship proposals submitted 74 (59.67%) of the proposals fall within one of the Science and Research Priorities while of the 16 approved proposals, 13 (81.25%) fall under an associated Practical Research Challenge, with total funding approved over five years of $35,954,582.

Table 6: Numbers and success rates for Australian Laureate Fellowships proposals for funding commencing in 2016, by Science and Research Priorities

Science and Research Priorities	Proposals considered	Proposals funded	Success rate (%)	Allocated funds (over project life)
Advanced Manufacturing	16	3	18.75	$8,741,117
Cybersecurity	4	0	0	0
Energy	3	2	66.66	$5,128,271
Environmental Change	18	4	22.22	$11,048,826
Food	5	1	20.0	$2,715,383
Health	17	2	11.76	$5,469,428
Resources	9	1	11.11	$2,851,557
Soil and Water	2	0	0	0
Transport	0	0	0	0
None Selected	50	3	6.0	$8,168,870
Total	124	16	12.90	$44,123,452

 

ABS fields of Research

Table 7: Field of Research division details of proposals for the Scheme Round

FoR Code	Classification Name	Submitted	Approved	Allocated Funding
01	Mathematical Sciences	8	0
02	Physical Sciences	15	0
03	Chemical Sciences	2	1	$2,965,538
04	Earth Sciences	7	2	$5,699,232
05	Environmental Sciences	7	1	$2,864,368
06	Biological Sciences	17	3	$8,299,920
07	Agricultural and Veterinary Sciences	1	1	$2,715,383
08	Information and Computing Sciences	5	0
09	Engineering	15	2	$5,488,844
10	Technology	2	1	$2,527,475
11	Medical and Health Sciences	4	0
12	Built Environment and Design	2	0
13	Education	4	0
14	Economics	3	0
15	Commerce, Management, Tourism and Services	2	1	$2,917,224
16	Studies in Human Society	7	1	$2,840,132
17	Psychology and Cognitive Sciences	6	1	$2,409,738
18	Law and Legal Studies	3	1	$2,841,908
19	Studies in Creative Arts and Writing	2	0
20	Language, Communication and Culture	4	0
21	History and Archaeology	5	1	$2,553,690
22	Philosophy and Religious Studies	3	0
Total		124	16	$44,123,452