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The Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities scheme provides funding for research infrastructure, equipment and facilities to Eligible Organisations. It enables researchers to participate in cooperative initiatives so that expensive research infrastructure, equipment and facilities can be shared between higher education organisations and also with industry. The scheme also fosters collaboration through its support of the cooperative use of international or national research facilities.
The objectives of the Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities scheme are to:
Applications for funding commencing in 2022 opened on 27 January 2021, and closed on 31 March 2021. 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:
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 Unless otherwise specified, data presented in this report exclude withdrawn applications.
All applications that meet the eligibility criteria for Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities 2022 were assessed and merit ranked using the following assessment criteria:
Investigator(s)/Capability (20%)
Describe the:
Project quality and innovation (25%)
Feasibility and strategic alignment (25%)
Benefit (10%)
Suitability/Need (20%)
The ARC assessment process for Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities 2022 involved 16 SAC members as a part of one multidisciplinary panel and was managed in the RMS. A total of 454 independent assessors’ reports were submitted to the ARC.
The minimum level of funding provided by the ARC under Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities 2022 is $150,000 per annum and the maximum level of funding cannot exceed 75 per cent of the total direct cost of the eligible budget item(s). Funding is provided for up to one year; or, up to five years for leasing infrastructure, equipment or facilities, the construction of research infrastructure, or subscription or coordinated access to international facilities and major national facilities.
The ARC received a total of 139 applications for Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities for funding commencing in 2022, one of which was withdrawn.
The overall success rate for Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities for funding commencing in 2022 is 33.3 per cent.
Of the unsuccessful applications, three were found to not meet eligibility requirements.
A comparison of success rates and funding amounts is shown in Table 1.
Table 1. Comparison of application numbers, success rates, requested and allocated funds for approved Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities applications from 2021 and 2022.
Funding year
Applications considered
Applications approved
Success rate (%)
Requested funds over project life for all applications considered ($)
Requested funds over project life for approved applications ($)
Funds allocated over project life for approved applications*($)
Return rate for approved applications (%)
2021
138
47
34.1
$112,226,899
$41,171,620
$38,827,812
94.3
2022
46
33.3
$127,970,814
$34,910,236
$32,611,772
93.4
*May include indicative funds
A summary of outcomes by discipline is shown in Table 2.
Table 2. Application numbers, success rates and requested and allocated funds for approved Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities 2022 applications by discipline.
Discipline *
Funds over project life for approved applications ($)
Return Rate for approved applications (%)
BSB
20
5
25.0
$14,347,643
$2,775,950
$2,593,950
EIC
55
19
34.5
$49,495,707
$18,172,122
$16,588,944
91.3
HCA
7
2
28.6
$4,287,955
$1,389,515
$1,371,723
98.7
MPCE
51
18
35.3
$57,196,137
$11,678,815
$11,182,131
95.7
SBE
40.0
$2,643,372
$893,834
$875,024
97.9
Total
* BSB – Biological Sciences and Biotechnology; EIC – Engineering, Information and Computing Sciences; HCA – Humanities and Creative Arts; MPCE – Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry and Earth Sciences; SBE – Social, Behavioural and Economic Sciences
A summary of outcomes by Science and Research Priorities is shown in Table 3.
Table 3. Approved funding and success rate for Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities 2022 applications by Science and Research Priorities.
Science and Research Priorities
Approved funds over project life ($)
Advanced manufacturing
50
21
42.0
$14,697,394
Cybersecurity
6
0
-
Energy
13
15.4
$1,407,000
Environmental change
8
3
37.5
$2,126,791
Food
1
14.3
$675,000
Health
4
50.0
Resources
10
$4,482,745
Soil and water
$487,234
Transport
$548,940
Unspecified
29
$7,311,644
Total within Science and Research Priorities
109
36
33.0
$25,300,128
Percentage within Science and Research Priorities (%)
79.0
78.3
77.6
A summary of outcomes by Administering Organisation is shown in Table 4.
Table 4. Number of applications and success rates for approved Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities 2022 applications by Administering Organisation.
Administering Organisation
Australian Capital Territory
12
$1,599,888
The Australian National University
11
27.3
$1,284,864
University of Canberra
100.0
$315,024
New South Wales
54
$14,964,174
Charles Sturt University
Macquarie University
$2,046,279
Southern Cross University
The University of New South Wales
17
$6,024,373
The University of Newcastle
20.0
$420,347
The University of Sydney
15
$3,679,658
University of Technology, Sydney
$1,058,350
University of Wollongong
$521,816
Western Sydney University
$1,213,351
Queensland
$4,849,892
James Cook University
Queensland University of Technology
60.0
$1,997,296
The University of Queensland
30.0
$2,852,596
University of Southern Queensland
South Australia
9
44.4
$1,715,929
Flinders University
$405,049
The University of Adelaide
42.9
$1,310,880
Tasmania
$552,086
University of Tasmania
Victoria
35
34.3
$8,544,803
Deakin University
La Trobe University
Monash University
$3,519,691
RMIT University
Swinburne University of Technology
66.7
$1,071,723
The University of Melbourne
14
$3,278,389
Western Australia
11.1
$385,000
Curtin University
The University of Western Australia
Of the 1396 Chief Investigators (CIs) in this round, 332 were female, 1057 were male and seven chose not to specify their gender. The success rate for female and male and unspecified CIs in Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities 2022 is 33.4 per cent, 32.5 per cent and 71.4 per cent respectively.
Success rates of CIs by career age and gender in Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities 2022 are presented in Figure 1. CIs who did not provide gender information (0.5 per cent) and CIs who did not specify the date of completion of their PhD or who do not hold a PhD (0.9 per cent) are not represented in the figure below.
Figure 1. Participation and success rate of Chief Investigators (CIs) in Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities 2022 by gender and career age*
*Career age is calculated as years since PhD (or equivalent). The earliest PhD award date was used where there was more than one PhD.
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities applications are expected to develop collaborative arrangements with Other Eligible Organisations and/or Partner Organisations and Other Organisations.
A summary of success rates by number of Eligible Organisations is shown in Table 5.
Table 5. Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities 2022 application success rates by number of Eligible Organisations
Number of Eligible Organisations*
Number of applications considered
Number of applications approved
Success rate within band (%)
34
38.2
28
39.3
13.3
* An application with only one Eligible Organisation (the Administering Organisation) may or may not include Partner Organisations and/or Other Organisations. There were no applications with 12 Eligible Organisations.
A summary of application success rates by number of collaborating organisations is shown in Table 6.
Table 6. Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities 2022 application success rates by number of collaborating organisations.
Number of collaborating organisations*
27
25.9
22
36.4
53.3
16.7
16
* Collaborating organisations include the Administering Organisation, Other Eligible Organisations, Partner Organisations and Other Organisations. There were no applications with 13,14,17-20,22-26 collaborating organisations.
In the 138 applications considered, applicants foreshadowed 247 instances of collaboration with researchers in 38 overseas locations. Of the applications approved for funding, 33 foreshadowed 115 instances of collaboration with researchers in 28 overseas locations (Figure 2).
Figure 2. International collaborations by location in approved Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities 2022 applications*.
*The top 13 international collaboration locations are listed in Figure 1 and the remaining locations are grouped in the ‘Other’ category.
On Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities 2022 applications approved for funding, for every dollar funded by the ARC the proposed dollar contribution of the collaborating organisations listed on these applications is $1.20. The leverage of ARC funds for approved applications is shown in Table 7.
Table 7. Leverage of ARC funds for approved applications.
Approved ARC funding
Number of unique collaborating organisations*
Incidence of involvement of collaborating organisations*
Collaborating organisation* Cash and In-kind contribution
Leverage (Collaborating organisation* contribution/ARC approved funding)
76
259
$39,109,326
$1.20
*Collaborating organisations include the Administering Organisation, Other Eligible Organisations, Partner Organisations and Other Organisations.
A summary of the Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities applications approved for funding commencing in 2022, by Administering Organisation is outlined in Table 8. The application titles indicate the variety of equipment, infrastructure and facilities supported in this scheme round.
Table 8. Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities applications approved for funding commencing in 2022.
Applications approved for funding
Lead CI
SA Spectromicroscopy Facility: From Band Mapping to Atomic Scale Imaging
Harmer, Prof Sarah
A flow cytometry suite for multiscale biosorting
Humbert, Prof Patrick
MAVIS: A Revolutionary New Instrument for the European Southern Observatory
McDermid, A/Prof Richard
The MARVEL exoplanet facility
Advanced lattice light sheet microscope optimised for biological imaging
Lieschke, Prof Graham
An in-situ and multiscale scanning electron microscopy suite
Near Infrared Fluorescence and Photoacoustic Imaging Facility
A cyclic ion-mobility mass spectrometer for resolving molecular isomers
Blanksby, Prof Stephen
A platform for upscaled demonstration of emerging photovoltaic materials
DynaMix-FM, dynamic mixed reality environment for future mobility
The Australian Emulation Network: Born Digital Cultural Collections Access
Swalwell, Prof Melanie
Transportable high-power blue laser for processing of reflective materials
Enhanced high-field nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy
Otting, Prof Gottfried
Integrated volatile-mineral-isotope micro-analysis of Earth environments
The milli-arcsecond cosmos: astrophysical imaging with Heimdallr
Enhancing the SA Regional Facility for Molecular Ecology & Evolution
Sanders, A/Prof Kate
Mass spectrometry for mass geochronology
The Australian Rental Monitor: A Data Infrastructure
A facility to produce and quantify accelerated flow mixing at high fidelity
Klewicki, Prof Joseph
A geotechnical centrifuge to underpin Australia's energy and construction
An autonomous sea state monitoring system for Australia's research fleet
MATRIX: enhancing access to global research in the mathematical sciences
Modularised cultural heritage archives – future-proofing PARADISEC
X-LAB beamline: accelerating applied research with tunable electron beams
Atomic Scale Control over Quantum Materials
Rogge, Prof Sven
Australian Participation in the Legacy Survey of Space and Time
Facility for enabling low thermal budget Si/SiGe technologiestt
Nano-IR Facility for the Search of New Multifunctional Materials
National groundwater recharge observing system
Space Resources Environmental Analogue Facility
BioSHeM: A High-Resolution Imaging and Spectroscopic Helium Atom Microscope
Dastoor, Prof Paul
An integrated analytical network for protein characterisation
Schulz, A/Prof Benjamin
Microanalytical Facility Supporting Resources Development and Manufacturing
Solar Photovoltaics forecasting for efficient power management
Advanced materials synthesis and environmental characterisation facility
Bilek, Prof Marcela
Australian Peptide Display Facility
Investigating biological processes in tissues by spatial profiling
Metallurgical Facility for Solid-State Additive Manufacturing
Versatile laser processing system for multi-disciplinary research
Equipment for research on future gravitational wave detectors
Zhao, Dr Chunnong
A national eInfrastructure for high-resolution population spatial modelling
Coffee, A/Prof Neil
HydroBox: A containerised hydrochemistry lab for Australian oceanography
Chase, Prof Zanna
A Secure Smart Sensing and Industry Analytics Facility for Industry 4.0
University of Technology Sydney
Xu, Prof Guandong
Australian 3D Beam Measurement Platform from Radio Waves to Terahertz Waves
Scoping the world of ultra-thin film and ultra-high pressure environments
Wang, Prof Xiaolin
National Facility for Physical Fire Simulation
Tao, Prof Zhong