Selection Report: Discovery Early Career Researcher Award 2023

Overview

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:

• support excellent basic and applied research by early career researchers;
• support national and international research collaboration;
• enhance the scale and focus of research in Australian Government priority areas;
• advance promising early career researchers and promote enhanced opportunities for diverse career pathways; and
• enable research and research training in high quality and supportive environments.

Selection process

Applications for funding commencing in 2023 opened on 4 November 2021 and closed on 2 February 2022. 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:

• assigned independent assessors to review the applications
• assessed applications and reviewed assessments made by independent assessors
• reviewed candidates’ comments on assessors’ reports
• ranked each application relative to the others on the basis of the application, the assessors’ reports and candidates’ responses to those assessments
• assessed and recommended budgets;

and, advice from the ARC’s National Competitive Grants Program (NCGP) Eligibility Committee which:

• considered eligibility issues identified by ARC staff, the members of the ARC College of Experts or independent assessors
• where required, sought advice from the ARC’s Medical Research Advisory Group
• made recommendations to the CEO in respect of ineligible applications.

This report reflects the outcomes approved by the Minister. Unless otherwise specified, data represented in this report exclude withdrawn applications.

Assessment criteria

All applications that meet the eligibility criteria for the Discovery Early Career Researcher Award 2023 were assessed and merit ranked using the following assessment criteria:

1. Investigator/Capability (50%)

Describe the:

• Research Opportunity and Performance Evidence (ROPE) including record of high quality research outputs appropriate to the discipline/s.
• capability of candidate to build collaborations both within Australia and internationally.

2. Project quality and innovation (25%)

Describe the:

• contribution to an important gap in knowledge or significant problem;
• novelty/originality and innovation of the proposed research (including any new methods, technologies, theories or ideas that will be developed);
• clarity of the hypothesis, theories and research questions;
• cohesiveness of the project design and implementation plan (including the appropriateness of the aim, conceptual framework, method, data and/or analyses); and
• extent to which the research has the potential to enhance international collaboration.

3. Benefit (15%)

Describe the potential benefits including the:

• new or advanced knowledge resulting from outcomes of the research;
• economic, commercial, environmental, social and/or cultural benefits for Australia and international communities; and
• potential contribution to capacity in the Australian Government priority areas.

4. Feasibility (10%)

Describe the:

• cost-effectiveness of the research and its value for money;
• feasibility of the research (including contribution of the project’s design, participants and resources to the timely completion of the project);
• supportive environment for the DECRA candidate and their project, and for HDR students where appropriate; and
• availability of the necessary facilities to complete the project.

If the project involves Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander research describe:

• the strategies for enabling collaboration with Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander communities (for example, dialogue/collaboration with an Indigenous cultural mentor);
• any existing or developing, supportive and high quality relationships with Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander communities; and
• any personal affiliations with local Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander communities that can facilitate the proposed research.

Assessment process

The ARC assessment process for Discovery Early Career Researcher Award 2023 involved 68 College of Experts members across five discipline panels and was managed in RMS. A total of 3175 independent assessors’ reports were submitted to the ARC.

Funding levels and duration

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 $108,106 (2021$), including 30 per cent on-costs. In addition, the ARC may provide up to $50,000 in project costs per annum.

Summary of outcomes

The ARC received a total of 1340 applications for Discovery Early Career Researcher Award for funding commencing in 2023, of which five applications were withdrawn.

Two hundred Discovery Early Career Researcher Awards are approved for funding commencing in 2023, shown in Table 1. The overall success rate for Discovery Early Career Researcher Award for funding commencing in 2023 is 15.0 per cent. A comparison of success rates and funding amounts is shown in Table 1.

Of the unsuccessful applications in 2023, 11 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 2022 to 2023

*May include indicative funding amounts

Outcomes by discipline

A summary of outcomes by discipline panel is shown in Table 2.

Table 2.     Application numbers, success rates and requested and allocated funds for approved Discovery Early Career Researcher Award 2023 applications by discipline

*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

Outcomes by Science and Research Priorities

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 2023 applications by Science and Research Priorities

Outcomes by Administering Organisation

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 2023 applications by Administering Organisation

Career age and gender

Of the 1335 Discovery Early Career Researcher Award candidates in this round, 539 were female, 785 were male, and 11 chose not to specify their gender. The success rate for female, male and unspecified candidates is 16.0 per cent, 14.4 per cent and 9.1 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. Candidates who did not provide gender information (0.8 per cent) are not represented in the figure below.

At the closing time of submission of applications, of the 1335 candidates, 822 were within five years of the award of their PhD and 513 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, 120 candidates were within five years of the award of their PhD and 80 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 2023 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.

Attracting and retaining outstanding researchers

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 2023 candidates and approved Awardees

Note: All totals and percentages are shown using rounded figures, and as such may not sum.

International collaboration

Among 1335 of the applications considered, applicants foreshadowed 2713 instances of collaboration with researchers in 102 overseas locations. Of the applications approved for funding, 181 foreshadowed 488 instances of collaboration with researchers in 56 overseas locations (Figure 2).

Figure 2.    International collaborations by location in approved Discovery Early Career Researcher Award 2023 applications*

*The top 10 international collaboration locations are listed in Figure 2 and the remaining are grouped in the ‘Other’ category