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The Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA) scheme provides focused research support for early career researchers in both teaching and research, and research-only positions.
The objectives of the Discovery Early Career Researcher Award scheme are to:
Applications for funding commencing in 2022 opened on 16 September 2020 and closed on 25 November 2020. Applications were submitted through the Australian Research Council (ARC) Research Management System (RMS). This report outlines outcomes from the ARC Chief Executive Officer (CEO) to the Minister.
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 Unless otherwise specified, data represented in this report exclude withdrawn applications.
All applications that meet the eligibility criteria for the Discovery Early Career Researcher Award 2022 applications were assessed and merit ranked using the following assessment criteria:
Investigator/Capability (50%)
Describe the:
Project quality and innovation (25%)
Benefit (15%)
Describe the potential benefits including the:
Feasibility (10%)
If the project involves Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander research describe:
The ARC assessment process for Discovery Early Career Researcher Award 2022 involved 64 College of Experts members across five discipline panels and was managed in RMS. A total of 3104 independent assessors’ reports were submitted to the ARC.
Discovery Early Career Researcher Awards are funded for three consecutive years on a full-time basis. The annual salary contribution that may be awarded is fixed at $106,194 (2020$), including 30 per cent on-costs. In addition, the ARC may provide up to $50,000 in project costs per annum.
The ARC received a total of 997 applications for Discovery Early Career Researcher Award for funding commencing in 2022, of which one application was withdrawn.
One hundred and ninety-six Discovery Early Career Researcher Awards are approved for funding commencing in 2022, shown in Table 1. The overall success rate for Discovery Early Career Researcher Award for funding commencing in 2022 is 19.7%. A comparison of success rates and funding amounts is shown in Table 1.
Of the unsuccessful applications in 2022, 25 were found not to meet eligibility requirements.
Table 1. Comparison of application numbers, success rates, requested and allocated funds for approved Discovery Early Career Researcher Award applications from 2021 to 2022
Funding year
Applications considered
Applications approved
Success rate (%)
Requested funds over project life for all applications considered ($)
Requested funds over project life for approved applications ($)
Funds allocated over project life for approved applications ($)
Return rate for approved applications (%)
2021
1173
200
17.1
$506,629,691
$87,483,735
$84,041,533
96.0
2022
996
196
19.7
$439,916,659
$87,547,551
$83,014,284
94.8
*May include indicative funding amounts
A summary of outcomes by discipline panel is shown in Table 2.
Table 2. Application numbers, success rates and requested and allocated funds for Discovery Early Career Researcher Award 2022 by discipline
Discipline *
Funds over project life for approved applications ($)
Return Rate for approved applications (%)
BSB
195
38
19.5
$88,364,436
$17,500,092
$16,587,378
EIC
271
52
19.2
$120,847,185
$23,260,469
$21,964,034
94.4
HCA
152
33
21.7
$65,036,852
$14,519,674
$13,576,959
93.5
MPCE
193
36
18.7
$83,856,843
$15,943,107
$15,224,291
95.5
SBE
185
37
20.0
$81,811,343
$16,324,209
$15,661,622
95.9
Total
*BSB – Biological Sciences and Biotechnology; EIC – Engineering, Information and Computing Sciences, HCA – Humanities and Creative Arts; MPCE – Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry and Earth Sciences; SBE – Social, Behavioural and Economic Sciences
A summary of outcomes by Science and Research Priorities is shown in Table 3.
Table 3. Approved funding and success rate for Discovery Early Career Researcher Award 2022 applications by Science and Research Priorities
Science and Research Priorities
Applications
approved
Approved funds over project life ($)
Advanced manufacturing
145
35
24.1
$14,964,962
Cybersecurity
7
$2,844,626
Energy
90
13
14.4
$5,621,985
Environmental change
127
25
$10,576,247
Food
3
8.3
$1,311,939
Health
34
23.4
$14,629,486
Resources
6
18.2
$2,571,296
Soil and water
26
23.1
$2,616,037
Transport
8
30.8
$3,315,777
Unspecified
333
59
17.7
$24,561,929
Total within Science and Research Priorities
663
137
20.7
$58,452,355
Percentage within Science and Research Priorities (%)
66.6
69.9
70.4
A summary of outcomes by Administering Organisation is shown in Table 4.
Table 4. Numbers of applications and success rates for approved Discovery Early Career Researcher Award 2022 applications by Administering Organisation
Administering Organisation
Australian Capital Territory
76
14
18.4
$6,057,335
The Australian National University
70
University of Canberra
0
0.0
$0
New South Wales
311
73
23.5
$30,547,508
Australian Catholic University
11
2
$765,227
Charles Sturt University
1
50.0
$410,523
Macquarie University
40
9
22.5
$3,761,114
Southern Cross University
The University of New England
10
$799,368
The University of New South Wales
79
17
21.5
$7,238,735
The University of Newcastle
18
5
27.8
$2,031,108
The University of Sydney
88
22
25.0
$9,163,921
University of Technology Sydney
28
32.1
$3,791,740
University of Wollongong
16.7
$1,281,816
Western Sydney University
21.4
$1,303,956
Northern Territory
100.0
$455,766
Charles Darwin University
Queensland
176
32
$13,760,655
Central Queensland University
Griffith University
27
22.2
$2,652,739
James Cook University
Queensland University of Technology
39
4
10.3
$1,697,823
The University of Queensland
100
21
21.0
$8,956,511
University of Southern Queensland
33.3
$453,582
University of the Sunshine Coast
South Australia
16.9
$4,268,178
Flinders University
30.0
$1,344,637
The University of Adelaide
13.9
$2,050,541
University of South Australia
15.4
$873,000
Tasmania
15
$1,324,711
University of Tasmania
Victoria
300
$25,002,816
Deakin University
$3,724,275
Federation University Australia
La Trobe University
12
$880,948
Monash University
81
18.5
$6,252,740
RMIT University
$2,473,264
Swinburne University of Technology
16
12.5
$888,958
The University of Melbourne
116
21.6
$10,782,631
Victoria University
Western Australia
58
6.9
$1,597,315
Curtin University
Edith Cowan University
$413,482
Murdoch University
$386,708
The University of Notre Dame Australia
The University of Western Australia
5.9
$797,125
Of the 996 Discovery Early Career Researcher Award candidates in this round, 413 were female, 574 were male and nine chose not to specify their gender. The success rate for female, male and unspecified candidates is 19.4 per cent, 19.5 per cent and 44.4 per cent respectively.
Success rates of Discovery Early Career Researcher Award candidates by career age and gender in the current Discovery Early Career Researcher Award round are presented in Figure 1. Discovery Early Career Researcher Award candidates who did not provide gender information (0.90%) are not represented in the figure below.
At the closing time of submission of applications, of the 996 candidates, 842 were within five years of the award of their PhD and 154 candidates were beyond five years of the award of their PhD. To be eligible to apply for a Discovery Early Career Researcher Award, the latter group of researchers had their significant career interruptions certified by their Administering Organisation.
Of the approved Discovery Early Career Researcher Awards, 161 candidates were within five years of the award of their PhD and 35 candidates were beyond five years of the award of their PhD.
Figure 1. Participation and success rate of candidates in Discovery Early Career Researcher Award 2022 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.
Applications were open to Eligible Organisations to nominate candidates who are promising early career researchers, resident either within Australia or overseas. (Table 5).
Table 5. Citizenship/residency status of Discovery Early Career Researcher Award 2022 candidates and approved Awardees
Citizenship/residency status
% of Applications considered
Foreign Nationals
252
25.3
50
19.8
Resident Australians
675
67.8
130
19.3
Returning Australians
69
23.2
Note: All totals and percentages are shown using rounded figures, and as such may not sum.
Among 996 of the applications considered, applicants foreshadowed 2045 instances of collaboration with researchers in 91 overseas locations. Of the applications approved for funding, 180 foreshadowed 447 instances of collaboration with researchers in 52 overseas locations (Figure 2).
Figure 2. International collaborations by location in approved Discovery Early Career Researcher Award 2022 applications*
*The top 11 international collaboration locations are listed in Figure 2 and the remaining are grouped in the ‘Other’ category