Selection report: Future Fellowships 2015
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Overview
The Future Fellowships scheme reflects the Australian Government’s commitment to promoting research in areas of critical national importance by enabling outstanding Australian and international mid-career researchers to conduct their research in Australia.
The objectives of the Future Fellowships scheme are to:
- attract and retain outstanding mid-career researchers
- ensure that outstanding mid-career researchers are recruited and retained, by Administering Organisations in continuing academic positions
- build collaboration across industry and/or research institutions and/or disciplines
- support research in national priorities across all disciplines that will result in economic, environmental, social, health and/or cultural benefits for Australia
- strengthen Australia’s research capacity by supporting innovative, internationally competitive research.
Selection Process
ARC Executive Directors, assisted by relevant ARC staff, prepared funding recommendations for submission to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO). The outcomes were based on advice from the ARC College of Experts which:
- assessed proposals and reviewed assessments made by independent readers
- reviewed applicants’ comments on assessors’ reports
- ranked each proposal relative to the others in discipline groups 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, members of the ARC College of Experts and other 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 Unless otherwise specified, figures presented in this report exclude withdrawn proposals.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 Future Fellowships proposals are:
- Future Fellowship Candidate (40%)
- Project Quality (35%)
- Strategic Alignment (15%)
- Collaboration / Outreach (10%).
The ARC assessment and subsequent reporting process for Future Fellowships 2015 was managed in the Research Management System (RMS), and used a total of 33 ARC College of Experts members on three discipline panels. A total of 924 independent assessor reports were submitted to the ARC for Future Fellowships 2015.
Summary of Outcomes
Future Fellowships commencing in 2015 will offer four-year fellowships ranging over three salary levels (of up to $206,888 a year) to 50 outstanding Australian and international researchers in the middle of their career.
In addition, each researcher’s Administering Organisation will receive up to $50,000 per year to support related infrastructure, equipment, travel and relocation costs.
The ARC received a total of 318 proposals for Future Fellowships for funding commencing in 2015, of which three proposals were withdrawn.
Table 1. Future Fellowships proposals approved for funding commencing in 2015
|
Salary Level |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Salary Level 1 |
110 |
22 |
20.00% |
$82,902,980 |
$16,636,329 |
$14,934,091 |
89.77% |
|
Salary Level 2 |
114 |
16 |
14.04% |
$100,132,100 |
$14,232,393 |
$12,759,611 |
89.65% |
|
Salary Level 3 |
91 |
12 |
13.19% |
$90,359,353 |
$12,074,412 |
$10,954,298 |
90.72% |
|
Total |
315 |
50 |
15.87% |
$273,394,433 |
$42,943,134 |
$38,648,000 |
90.00% |
Table 2. Indicative funds for Future Fellowships proposals approved for funding commencing in 2015
|
2015-16 |
2016-17 |
2017-18 |
2018-19 |
Total |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Indicative Funding |
$9,662,000 |
$9,662,000 |
$9,662,000 |
$9,662,000 |
$38,648,000 |
ARC Discipline Groups
Table 3. Numbers and success rates for Future Fellowships proposals approved for funding commencing in 2015, by Discipline Group
|
ARC Discipline Group ^ |
Proposals considered |
% of proposals considered |
Proposals approved |
Success rate |
Allocated funds (over project life) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
BEM |
83 |
26.35% |
14 |
16.87% |
$10,592,904 |
|
HSE |
93 |
29.52% |
14 |
15.05% |
$11,225,428 |
|
PME |
139 |
44.13% |
22 |
15.83% |
$16,829,668 |
|
Total |
315 |
100.0% |
50 |
15.87% |
$38,648,000 |
^ BEM – Biological Sciences, Biotechnology, Environmental, Medical and Health Sciences; HSE – Humanities and Creative Arts, Social, Behavioural and Economic Sciences; PME – Physical, Mathematical and Information Sciences and Engineering
Strategic Research Priorities*
Table 4. Numbers and success rates for Future Fellowships proposals approved for funding commencing in 2015, by Strategic Research Priority
|
Strategic Research Priority |
Proposals considered |
Proposals approved |
Success rate |
Allocated funds (over project life) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Lifting productivity and economic growth |
87 |
15 |
17.24% |
$11,715,928 |
|
Living in a changing environment |
60 |
8 |
13.33% |
$5,915,304 |
|
Managing our food and water assets |
10 |
2 |
20.00% |
$1,608,104 |
|
Promoting population health and wellbeing |
65 |
7 |
10.77% |
$5,453,452 |
|
Securing Australia’s place in a changing world |
38 |
6 |
15.79% |
$4,992,394 |
|
None selected |
55 |
12 |
21.81% |
$8,962,818 |
|
Total proposals |
315 |
50 |
15.87% |
$38,648,000 |
|
Total priority proposals |
260 |
38 |
14.62% |
$29,685,182 |
|
% within priority area |
82.54% |
76.00% |
|
76.81% |
* The Future Fellowships Funding Rules were aligned with the Funding Rules for schemes under the Discovery Program for the years 2015 and 2016—Australian Laureate Fellowships, Discovery Projects, Discovery Early Career Researcher Award and Discovery Indigenous which were finalised prior to the implementation of the new Science and Research Priorities. Please note that Strategic Research Priorities have now been replaced by the Science and Research Priorities.
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, with preference given to Australian Researchers.
Table 5. Citizenship/residency status of Future Fellowships candidates and approved Fellows for funding commencing in 2015
|
Citizenship/residency status |
Proposals considered |
% of proposals considered |
Proposals approved |
Success rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Returning Australians |
16 |
5.08% |
5 |
31.25% |
|
Resident Australians |
241 |
76.51% |
36 |
14.94% |
|
Foreign Nationals |
58 |
18.41% |
9 |
15.52% |
|
Total |
315 |
100.00% |
50 |
15.87% |
Time since PhD
At the closing time of submission of proposals, 289 of all Future Fellowship Candidates were between 5 and 15 years of the award of their PhD and 26 were more than 15 years of the award of their PhD. Of the approved Future Fellowship Candidates, 48 are between 5 and 15 years of the award of their PhD and 2 are more than 15 years of the award of their PhD.
Table 6. Years since the award of PhD (at time of submission) for Future Fellowships for funding commencing in 2015
|
Years since award of PhD |
No. of considered proposals |
% of considered proposals |
No. of approved proposals |
% of approved proposals |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
0–5 |
1 |
0.32 |
0 |
0.00 |
|
5–10 |
165 |
52.38 |
26 |
52.00 |
|
10–15 |
123 |
39.05 |
22 |
44.00 |
|
15–20 |
25 |
7.94 |
2 |
4.00 |
|
20–25 |
1 |
0.32 |
0 |
0.00 |
|
Total |
315 |
|
50 |
|
Administering Organisation
Table 7. Number of Future Fellowships proposals and success rates for funding commencing in 2015, by Administering Organisation
| Administering Organisation | Proposals considered | Proposals approved | Success rate % | Allocated funding |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Australian Capital Territory |
19 |
5 |
26.32 |
$3,751,315 |
|
The Australian National University |
18 |
5 |
27.78 |
$3,751,315 |
|
University of Canberra |
1 |
0 |
0.00 |
$0 |
|
New South Wales |
91 |
13 |
14.29 |
$10,385,527 |
|
Australian Catholic University |
1 |
0 |
0.00 |
$0 |
|
Charles Sturt University |
2 |
0 |
0.00 |
$0 |
|
Macquarie University |
13 |
5 |
38.46% |
$3,683,068 |
|
The University of New England |
1 |
0 |
0.00 |
$0 |
|
The University of New South Wales |
21 |
1 |
4.76 |
$903,625 |
|
The University of Newcastle |
11 |
1 |
9.09 |
$690,352 |
|
The University of Sydney |
27 |
3 |
11.11 |
$2,477,935 |
|
University of Technology, Sydney |
5 |
0 |
0.00 |
$0 |
|
University of Western Sydney |
1 |
0 |
0.00 |
$0 |
|
University of Wollongong |
9 |
3 |
33.33 |
$2,630,547 |
|
Northern Territory |
1 |
0 |
0.00 |
$0 |
|
Charles Darwin University |
1 |
0 |
0.00 |
$0 |
|
Queensland |
49 |
9 |
18.37 |
$7,129,434 |
|
Central Queensland University |
1 |
0 |
0.00 |
$0 |
|
Griffith University |
8 |
3 |
37.50 |
$2,144,131 |
|
James Cook University |
1 |
0 |
0.00 |
$0 |
|
Queensland University of Technology |
15 |
1 |
6.67 |
$812,460 |
|
The University of Queensland |
21 |
5 |
23.81 |
$4,172,843 |
|
University of Southern Queensland |
2 |
0 |
0.00 |
$0 |
|
University of the Sunshine Coast |
1 |
0 |
0.00 |
$0 |
|
South Australia |
20 |
2 |
10.00 |
$1,724,012 |
|
The Flinders University of South Australia |
3 |
1 |
33.33 |
$919,052 |
|
The University of Adelaide |
8 |
1 |
12.50 |
$804,960 |
|
University of South Australia |
9 |
0 |
0.00 |
$0 |
|
Tasmania |
3 |
1 |
33.33 |
$660,751 |
|
University of Tasmania |
3 |
1 |
33.33 |
$660,751 |
|
Victoria |
105 |
18 |
17.14 |
$13,390,272 |
|
Deakin University |
3 |
0 |
0.00 |
$0 |
|
La Trobe University |
8 |
2 |
25.00 |
$1,518,207 |
|
Monash University |
30 |
8 |
26.67 |
$6,065,659 |
|
RMIT University |
12 |
0 |
0.00 |
$0 |
|
Swinburne University of Technology |
10 |
2 |
20.00 |
$1,364,704 |
|
The University of Melbourne |
41 |
6 |
14.63 |
$4,441,702 |
|
Victoria University |
1 |
0 |
0.00 |
$0 |
|
Western Australia |
27 |
2 |
7.41 |
$1,606,689 |
|
Curtin University of Technology |
12 |
0 |
0.00 |
$0 |
|
Edith Cowan University |
1 |
0 |
0.00 |
$0 |
|
Murdoch University |
2 |
0 |
0.00 |
$0 |
|
The University of Western Australia |
12 |
2 |
16.67 |
$1,606,689 |
|
Total |
315 |
50 |
15.87 |
$38,648,000 |
Gender
The success rates for female and male Future Fellowship Candidates in this round of Future Fellowships is 19.09 per cent and 14.15 per cent respectively. The success rates for the Future Fellowships round for 2014 were 19.08 per cent for female candidates and 17.58 per cent for male candidates.
Table 8. Comparison of Future Fellowships success rates between male and female candidates from 2014 to 2015
|
|
Commencing in 2014 |
Commencing in 2015 |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fellowship Type | Gender |
Number of proposals |
Number of approved fellows |
Success rate |
Number of proposals |
Number of approved fellows |
Success rate |
|
Salary Level 1 |
male |
378 |
65 |
17.20% |
75 |
13 |
17.33% |
|
female |
155 |
30 |
19.35% |
35 |
9 |
25.71% |
|
|
Salary Level 2 |
male |
142 |
27 |
19.01% |
80 |
9 |
11.25% |
|
female |
85 |
15 |
17.65% |
34 |
7 |
20.59% |
|
|
Salary Level 3 |
male |
43 |
7 |
16.28% |
50 |
7 |
14.00% |
|
female |
22 |
5 |
22.73% |
41 |
5 |
12.20% |
|
|
All levels # |
male |
563 |
99 |
17.58% |
205 |
29 |
14.15% |
|
female |
262 |
50 |
19.08% |
110 |
21 |
19.09% |
|
# Five proposals did not specify gender in 2014.
Figure 1. Success rate by age and gender for Future Fellowships proposals approved for funding commencing 2015
Six proposals did not specify age.
International Collaboration
Applicants foreshadowed 747 instances of collaboration with researchers in 66 overseas locations on 289 proposals. Of the proposals approved for funding, 47 proposals foreshadowed 131 instances of collaboration with researchers in 33 overseas locations.
Figure 2. Instances of international collaboration on approved Future Fellowships proposals for funding commencing in 2015
