Selection Report: Discovery Projects for Funding Commencing in 2019 (as at 27 November 2018)
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Overview
The Discovery Projects scheme provides funding for excellent fundamental research projects that can be undertaken by individual researchers or research teams.
The objectives of Discovery Projects are to:
- support excellent basic and applied research by individuals and teams
- encourage high-quality research and research training
- enhance international collaboration in research
- 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 funding commencing in 2019 opened on 13 November 2017, and closed on 21 February 2018. Proposals were submitted through the Australian Research Council (ARC) Research Management System (RMS).
The ARC Chief Executive Officer (CEO) provided recommendations to the Minister based on advice from the ARC Selection Advisory Committees (SAC) 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 applicants responses to those assessments
- assessed and approved budgets
and advice from the NCGP Eligibility Committee which:
- considered eligibility issues identified by ARC staff, 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 proposals.
This report reflects the outcomes approved by the Minister. Unless otherwise specified, data presented in this report exclude withdrawn proposals.
Selection Criteria
Selection criteria and corresponding weightings for 2019 Discovery Project proposals are:
Investigator(s) | 35% |
Proposed Project Quality and Innovation | 40% |
Feasibility | 10% |
Benefit | 15% |
The ARC assessment process for 2019 used 80 SAC members across five discipline panels and was managed in RMS. A total of 9,384 independent assessors’ reports were submitted to the ARC.
Funding levels and duration
Funding of between $30,000 and $500,000 per annum for up to five years may be awarded for each Discovery Project proposal.
Summary of Outcomes
The ARC received 2,924 proposals for Discovery Projects for funding commencing in 2019, of which three proposals were withdrawn. This represents a 7 per cent decrease from the 3,136 Discovery Projects proposals received for funding commencing in 2018. Of the unsuccessful proposals, 58 did not meet eligibility requirements.
The overall success rate for Discovery Projects for funding commencing in 2019 is 22.4 per cent, with a higher percentage of allocation of requested funds compared to funding that commenced in 2018. A comparison of success rates and funding amounts is shown in Table 1.
Table 1. Comparison of proposal numbers, success rates, requested and allocated funds for approved Discovery Project proposals from 2018 to 2019
Funding year |
Proposals considered |
Proposals approved |
Success rate (%) |
Requested funds over project life for all proposals considered |
Requested funds over project life for approved proposals |
Funds allocated over project life for approved proposals |
Return rate for approved proposals (%) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2018 |
3,136 |
594 |
18.9 |
$1,657,932,048 |
$331,144,352 |
$225,661,033 |
68.1 |
2019 |
2,921 |
653 |
22.4 |
$1,621,899,946 |
$370,665,250 |
$262,180,367 |
70.7 |
Outcomes by discipline panel
A summary of outcomes by discipline panel is shown in Table 2.
Table 2. Proposal numbers, success rates and requested and allocated funds for approved Discovery Projects 2019 proposals by discipline panel
Panel † |
Proposals considered |
Proposals approved |
Success rate (%) |
Requested funds over project life for all proposals considered |
Requested funds over project life for approved proposals |
Funds over project |
Return |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
BSB |
738 |
159 |
21.5 |
$471,093,339 |
$100,565,916 |
$73,338,915 |
72.9 |
EIC |
725 |
159 |
21.9 |
$400,394,231 |
$94,117,458 |
$64,775,263 |
68.8 |
HCA |
303 |
75 |
24.8 |
$136,380,209 |
$34,210,172 |
$23,305,852 |
68.1 |
MPCE |
624 |
145 |
23.2 |
$349,208,359 |
$85,945,204 |
$60,209,074 |
70.1 |
SBE |
531 |
115 |
21.7 |
$264,823,808 |
$55,826,500 |
$40,551,263 |
72.6 |
Total |
2921 |
653 |
22.4 |
$1,621,899,946 |
$370,665,250 |
$262,180,367 |
70.7 |
† 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 Projects 2019 proposals by Science and Research Priorities
Science and Research Priorities |
Proposals considered |
Proposals approved |
Success rate (%) |
Approved funds over project life |
---|---|---|---|---|
Advanced manufacturing |
427 |
93 |
21.8 |
$39,028,078 |
Cybersecurity |
100 |
24 |
24.0 |
$10,105,999 |
Energy |
142 |
26 |
18.3 |
$11,055,709 |
Environmental change |
361 |
84 |
23.3 |
$35,845,966 |
Food |
125 |
25 |
20.0 |
$11,181,712 |
Health |
328 |
63 |
19.2 |
$25,471,056 |
Resources |
91 |
21 |
23.1 |
$7,965,411 |
Soil and water |
77 |
20 |
26.0 |
$7,858,576 |
Transport |
66 |
15 |
22.7 |
|
Unspecified |
1204 |
282 |
23.4 |
$107,705,450 |
Total |
2,921 |
653 |
22.4 |
$262,180,367 |
Total within Science and Research Priorities |
1,717 |
371 |
21.6 |
$154,474,917 |
Percentage within Science and Research Priorities (%) |
58.8 |
56.8 |
|
58.9 |
Outcomes by Administering Organisation
A summary of outcomes by Administering Organisation is shown in Table 4.
Table 4. Numbers of proposals and success rates for approved Discovery Projects 2019 proposals by Administering Organisation
Administering Organisation |
Proposals considered |
Proposals approved |
Success rate (%) |
Funds over project life for approved proposals |
---|---|---|---|---|
Australian Capital Territory |
207 |
59 |
28.5 |
$24,018,720 |
The Australian National University |
199 |
56 |
28.1 |
$23,066,855 |
The University of Canberra |
8 |
3 |
37.5 |
$951,865 |
New South Wales |
997 |
229 |
23.0 |
$91,477,417 |
Australian Catholic University |
17 |
2 |
11.8 |
$807,214 |
Charles Sturt University |
8 |
0 |
0.0 |
$0 |
Macquarie University |
117 |
25 |
21.4 |
$9,051,915 |
Southern Cross University |
10 |
0 |
0.0 |
$0 |
The University of New England |
16 |
3 |
18.8 |
$1,065,731 |
The University of New South Wales |
317 |
88 |
27.8 |
$34,864,756 |
The University of Newcastle |
84 |
17 |
20.2 |
$7,084,471 |
The University of Sydney |
250 |
62 |
24.8 |
$26,777,612 |
University of Technology Sydney |
85 |
12 |
14.1 |
$4,353,367 |
University of Wollongong |
58 |
10 |
17.2 |
$4,105,030 |
Western Sydney University |
35 |
10 |
28.6 |
$3,367,321 |
Northern Territory |
10 |
1 |
10.0 |
$322,500 |
Charles Darwin University |
10 |
1 |
10.0 |
$322,500 |
Queensland |
447 |
101 |
22.6 |
$41,561,056 |
Bond University |
6 |
0 |
0.0 |
$0 |
Central Queensland University |
10 |
1 |
10.0 |
$626,825 |
Griffith University |
61 |
12 |
19.7 |
$4,006,600 |
James Cook University |
9 |
3 |
33.3 |
$1,355,000 |
Queensland University of Technology |
85 |
15 |
17.6 |
$6,637,981 |
The University of Queensland |
258 |
67 |
26.0 |
$27,616,903 |
University of Southern Queensland |
8 |
3 |
37.5 |
$1,317,747 |
University of the Sunshine Coast |
10 |
0 |
0.0 |
$0 |
South Australia |
203 |
51 |
25.1 |
$19,981,880 |
Flinders University |
52 |
15 |
28.8 |
$6,196,991 |
The University of Adelaide |
120 |
29 |
24.2 |
$10,845,889 |
The University of South Australia |
31 |
7 |
22.6 |
$2,939,000 |
Tasmania |
58 |
13 |
22.4 |
$5,336,757 |
University of Tasmania |
58 |
13 |
22.4 |
$5,336,757 |
Victoria |
771 |
160 |
20.8 |
$63,910,203 |
Deakin University |
48 |
15 |
31.3 |
$5,406,833 |
Federation University Australia |
5 |
1 |
20.0 |
$330,000 |
La Trobe University |
49 |
6 |
12.2 |
$2,340,700 |
Monash University |
274 |
65 |
23.7 |
$26,309,266 |
RMIT |
61 |
9 |
14.8 |
$3,300,000 |
Swinburne University |
54 |
6 |
11.1 |
$2,458,401 |
The University of Melbourne |
272 |
57 |
21.0 |
$23,462,503 |
Victoria University |
8 |
1 |
12.5 |
$302,500 |
Western Australia |
228 |
39 |
17.1 |
$15,571,834 |
Curtin University |
95 |
13 |
13.7 |
$4,936,580 |
Edith Cowan University |
12 |
1 |
8.3 |
$375,000 |
Murdoch University |
6 |
0 |
0.0 |
$0 |
The University of Notre Dame |
2 |
0 |
0.0 |
$0 |
The University of Western Australia |
113 |
25 |
22.1 |
$10,260,254 |
Total |
2,921 |
653 |
22.4 |
$262,180,367 |
Career age and gender
Of the 6,585 Chief Investigators (CIs) in this round, 1,885 were female CIs, 4,686 were male CIs and 14 were unspecified. The success rate for female, male and unspecified CIs in this round of Discovery Projects is 23.6 per cent, 22.0 per cent and 28.6 per cent respectively.
Success rates of CIs by career age and gender in the current Discovery Projects round are presented in Figure 1. CIs who did not provide gender information (0.2 per cent) and CIs who did not specify the date of completion of their PhD or who do not hold a PhD (1.4 per cent) are not represented in the figure below.
Figure 1. Participation and success rate of Chief Investigators (CIs) in Discovery Projects 2019 by gender and career age*
* Career age is calculated as years since PhD.
International Collaboration
Among 2,921 of the proposals considered, applicants foreshadowed 4,501 instances of collaboration with researchers in 116 overseas locations. Of the proposals approved for funding, 555 foreshadowed 1,137 instances of collaboration with researchers in 69 overseas locations (Figure 2).
Figure 2. International collaborations by location in approved Discovery Projects 2019 proposals*
*The Top 12 international collaboration locations are listed in Figure 2 and the remaining locations are grouped in the ‘other category.
- United States of America, 280
- England, 157
- Germany, 104
- China (excludes SARs and Taiwan), 79
- Canada, 56
- France, 56
- Japan, 38
- Italy, 26
- Netherlands, 25
- Denmark, 20
- Scotland, 20
- Singapore, 20
- Others, 256
Discovery International Awards
Discovery International Awards (DIAs) aim to enhance opportunities for collaboration among researchers, research teams and/or research centres in Australia and overseas, and to build Australia’s international research capability. A summary of the outcomes for DIA requests is shown in Table 5.
Table 5. Number of Discovery Projects 2019 proposals approved for one or more Discovery International Awards (DIAs)
Funding year |
Number of submitted Proposals requesting one or more DIAs |
Number of Proposals approved with one or more DIAs |
---|---|---|
2018 |
591 |
101 |
2019 |
609 |
115 |