Selection Report: Discovery Early Career Researcher Award 2016
[TOC]
Overview
The Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA) scheme is one element of the Discovery Programme. It aims to provide more focused support for researchers and create more opportunities for early-career researchers in both teaching and research, and research-only positions. It supports research in areas of critical national importance by enabling outstanding Australian and international early-career researchers to conduct their research in Australia.
The objectives of the DECRA scheme are to:
- support and advance promising early career researchers
- promote enhanced opportunities for diverse career pathways
- focus research effort in the Strategic Research Priority areas to improve research capacity and policy outcomes
- enable research and research training in high quality and supportive environments.
Selection Process
The closing date for proposals was 25 March 2015. Proposals were submitted through the Australian Research Council (ARC) Research Management System (RMS).
ARC Executive Directors, assisted by relevant ARC staff, prepared funding recommendations for submission to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO). The recommendations were based on advice from the ARC College of Experts which:
- assigned independent assessors to review the proposals
- assessed proposals and reviewed assessments made by independent assessors
- reviewed applicants’ comments on assessors’ reports
- ranked each proposal relative to the others on the basis of the proposal, the assessors’ reports and the applicant’s responses to those assessments
- assessed and recommended budgets
and, advice from the ARC Eligibility Committee which:
- considered eligibility issues identified by ARC staff, the ARC College of Experts or independent assessors
- sought advice from institutions with respect to issues raised
- made recommendations to the CEO in respect of ineligible proposals.
This report reflects the recommendations of the ARC CEO to the Minister. Unless otherwise specified, figures presented in this report exclude withdrawn proposals.
Selection Criteria
Selection criteria and corresponding weightings for DECRA proposals are:
- Project Quality and Innovation (40%)
- DECRA Candidate (35%)
- Research Environment (15%)
- Feasibility and Benefit (10%).
The ARC assessment and subsequent reporting process for DECRA 2016 was managed in the Research Management System (RMS), and used a total of 79 ARC College of Experts members on five discipline panels. In addition, a total of 4170 independent assessor reports were submitted to the ARC for DECRA 2016.
Summary of Outcomes
DECRA projects are funded for three consecutive years on a full-time basis. In addition to the annual salary contribution of $94 512 (2014$), including 28 per cent on-costs, the ARC may provide up to $40 000 in project costs per annum.
The ARC received a total of 1234 DECRA proposals for funding commencing in 2016, of which 14 were subsequently withdrawn by the Administering Organisations. This is a decrease from the 1404 proposals received for DECRA for funding commencing in 2015. Of the unsuccessful proposals, all met the eligibility requirements.
Table 1. Comparison of DECRA proposal numbers, success rates, requested and approved funding for successful proposals from 2012 to 2016
Funding Year |
Proposals considered |
Proposals approved |
Success rate |
Total requested funds (over project life) |
Requested funds (over project life) of approved proposals |
Funds allocated (over project life) |
Allocation as a percentage of request |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2012 |
2159 |
277 |
12.8% |
$809,625,000 |
$103,875,000 |
$103,875,000 |
100.0% |
2013 |
1281 |
200 |
15.6% |
$459,934,037 |
$72,406,078 |
$72,321,876 |
99.9% |
2014 |
1468 |
200 |
13.6% |
$554,880,909 |
$75,869,611 |
$75,789,232 |
99.9% |
2015 |
1394 |
200 |
14.3% |
$534,829,398 |
$77,458,306 |
$70,567,494 |
91.1% |
2016 |
1220 |
200 |
16.4% |
$465,496,683 |
$77,377,579 |
$70,736,647 |
91.4% |
Table 2. Indicative funds for DECRA proposals approved for funding commencing in 2016
2015–16 |
2016–17 |
2017–18 |
2018–19 |
Total |
|
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Indicative Funding |
$11,904,628.00 |
$23,725,409.00 |
$23,463,695.50 |
$11,642,914.50 |
$70,736,647.00 |
ARC Discipline Groups
Table 3. Numbers and success rates for DECRA proposals approved for funding commencing in 2016, by Discipline Group
Panel* |
Proposals considered |
% of proposals considered |
Proposals approved |
Success rate |
Allocated funds (over project life) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
BSB |
252 |
20.7% |
42 |
16.7% |
$15,300,571 |
EIC |
274 |
22.5% |
45 |
16.4% |
$15,357,033 |
HCA |
177 |
14.5% |
29 |
16.4% |
$10,074,940 |
MPCE |
283 |
23.2% |
46 |
16.3% |
$16,260,723 |
SBE |
234 |
19.2% |
38 |
16.2% |
$13,743,380 |
Total |
1220 |
100.0% |
200 |
16.4% |
$70,736,647 |
*(BSB – Biological Sciences and Biotechnology; EIC – Engineering, Information and Computing Sciences; MPCE – Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry and Earth Sciences; SBE – Social, Behavioural and Economic Sciences; HCA – Humanities and Creative Arts)
Strategic Research Priorities
Table 4. Numbers and success rates for DECRA proposals approved for funding commencing in 2016, by Strategic Research Priority
Strategic Research Priority |
Proposals considered |
Proposals approved |
Success rate |
Allocated funds (over project life) |
---|---|---|---|---|
Lifting productivity and economic growth |
356 |
58 |
16.3% |
$20,270,179 |
Living in a changing environment |
278 |
40 |
14.4% |
$14,376,943 |
Managing our food and water assets |
58 |
9 |
15.5% |
$3,270,242 |
Promoting population health and wellbeing |
219 |
32 |
14.6% |
$11,338,022 |
Securing Australia’s place in a changing world |
152 |
23 |
15.1% |
$7,975,189 |
None selected |
157 |
38 |
24.2% |
$13,506,072 |
Total proposals |
1220 |
200 |
16.4% |
$70,736,647 |
Total priority proposals |
1063 |
162 |
15.2% |
$57,230,575 |
% within priority area |
87.1% |
81.0% |
|
80.9% |
Attracting and retaining outstanding researchers
Proposals were open to Eligible Organisations to nominate candidates who are promising early career researchers, resident either within Australia or overseas.
Table 5. Citizenship/residency status of DECRA Candidates and approved awardees for funding commencing in 2016
Citizenship/residency status |
Proposals considered |
% of proposals considered |
Proposals approved |
Success rate |
---|---|---|---|---|
Foreign Nationals |
399 |
32.7% |
62 |
15.5% |
Resident Australians |
752 |
61.6% |
128 |
17.0% |
Returning Australians |
57 |
4.7% |
9 |
15.8% |
Unspecified |
12 |
1% |
1 |
8.3% |
Total |
1220 |
100.00% |
200 |
16.4% |
Time since PhD
At the closing time of submission of proposals, 1082 of all DECRA Candidates were within 5 years of the award of their PhD and 138 were within 5 to 9 years of the award of their PhD. Of the approved DECRA, 168 are within 5 years of the award of their PhD and 32 are within 5 to 9 years of the award of their PhD.
Table 6. Years since the award of PhD (at time of submission) for DECRA for funding commencing in 2016
Years since award of PhD |
No. of considered proposals |
% of considered proposals |
No. of approved proposals |
% of approved proposals |
---|---|---|---|---|
0–1 |
112 |
9.2% |
20 |
10.0% |
1–2 |
149 |
12.2% |
29 |
14.5% |
2–3 |
176 |
14.4% |
26 |
13.0% |
3–4 |
267 |
21.9% |
31 |
15.5% |
4–5 |
378 |
31% |
62 |
31.0% |
5–6 |
96 |
7.9% |
23 |
11.5% |
6–7 |
20 |
1.6% |
4 |
2.0% |
7–8 |
13 |
1.1% |
4 |
2.0% |
8–9 |
9 |
0.7% |
1 |
0.5% |
Total |
1220 |
|
200 |
|
Gender of Candidates
Table 7. Numbers and success rates by gender for DECRA for funding commencing in 2016
Panel* |
Number of female candidates |
Number of approved female candidates |
Female success rate |
Number of male candidates |
Number of approved male candidates |
Male success rate |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
BSB |
93 |
16 |
17.2% |
158 |
26 |
16.5% |
EIC |
34 |
7 |
20.6% |
240 |
38 |
15.8% |
HCA |
92 |
18 |
19.6% |
84 |
11 |
13.1% |
MPCE |
75 |
12 |
16.0% |
205 |
34 |
16.6% |
SBE |
108 |
18 |
16.7% |
126 |
20 |
15.9% |
Total |
402 |
71 |
17.7% |
813 |
129 |
15.9% |
*(BSB – Biological Sciences and Biotechnology; EIC – Engineering, Information and Computing Sciences; MPCE – Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry and Earth Sciences; SBE – Social, Behavioural and Economic Sciences; HCA – Humanities and Creative Arts)
Please note that five proposal participants’ gender was either indeterminate/intersex or they did not provide gender information and are not included in the above table.
Administering Organisation
Table 8. Number of approved DECRA proposals and success rates for funding commencing in 2016, by Administering Organisation
Administering Organisation |
Proposals considered |
Proposals approved |
Success rate % |
Allocated funding |
---|---|---|---|---|
Australian Capital Territory |
93 |
21 |
22.6 |
$7,568,237 |
Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies |
2 |
0 |
0.0 |
$0 |
The Australian National University |
88 |
21 |
23.9 |
$7,568,237 |
University of Canberra |
3 |
0 |
0.0 |
$0 |
New South Wales |
376 |
62 |
16.5 |
$21,640,529 |
Australian Catholic University |
8 |
0 |
0.0 |
$0 |
Charles Sturt University |
2 |
0 |
0.0 |
$0 |
Macquarie University |
37 |
5 |
13.5 |
$1,802,463 |
Southern Cross University |
9 |
1 |
11.1 |
$393,434 |
The University of New England |
6 |
1 |
16.7 |
$372,000 |
The University of New South Wales |
124 |
19 |
15.3 |
$6,567,157 |
The University of Newcastle |
27 |
4 |
14.8 |
$1,346,623 |
The University of Sydney |
78 |
16 |
20.5 |
$5,531,410 |
University of Technology, Sydney |
21 |
4 |
19.0 |
$1,396,500 |
University of Western Sydney |
22 |
3 |
13.6 |
1,099,470 |
University of Wollongong |
42 |
9 |
21.4 |
$3,131,472 |
Northern Territory |
4 |
0 |
0.0 |
$0 |
Charles Darwin University |
4 |
0 |
0.0 |
$0 |
Queensland |
221 |
40 |
18.1 |
$14,332,970 |
Central Queensland University |
6 |
2 |
33.3 |
$733,536 |
Griffith University |
19 |
1 |
5.3 |
$334,000 |
James Cook University |
9 |
1 |
11.1 |
$366,000 |
Queensland University of Technology |
49 |
8 |
16.3 |
$2,827,345 |
The University of Queensland |
131 |
27 |
20.6 |
$9,698,553 |
University of the Sunshine Coast |
7 |
1 |
14.3 |
$373,536 |
South Australia |
78 |
15 |
19.2 |
$5,504,012 |
The Flinders University of South Australia |
13 |
1 |
7.7 |
$353,706 |
The University of Adelaide |
55 |
14 |
25.5 |
$5,150,306 |
University of South Australia |
10 |
0 |
0.0 |
$0 |
Tasmania |
14 |
0 |
0.0 |
$0 |
University of Tasmania |
14 |
0 |
0.0 |
$0 |
Victoria |
337 |
49 |
14.5 |
$17,071,513 |
Deakin University |
29 |
5 |
17.2 |
$1,824,269 |
La Trobe University |
26 |
3 |
11.5 |
$1,031,118 |
Monash University |
84 |
15 |
17.9 |
$5,287,349 |
RMIT University |
43 |
7 |
16.3 |
$2,323,018 |
Swinburne University of Technology |
15 |
1 |
6.7 |
$373,500 |
The University of Melbourne |
133 |
17 |
12.8 |
$5,860,041 |
Victoria University |
7 |
1 |
14.3 |
$372,218 |
Western Australia |
97 |
13 |
13.4 |
$4,619,386 |
Curtin University of Technology |
43 |
6 |
14.0 |
$2,093,839 |
Edith Cowan University |
5 |
0 |
0.0 |
$0 |
Murdoch University |
2 |
1 |
50.0 |
$372,000 |
The University of Western Australia |
47 |
6 |
12.8 |
$2,153,547 |
Total |
1220 |
200 |
16.4% |
$70,736,647 |