Selection Report: Linkage Projects 2019 (as at 21 May 2020)

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Linkage Projects 2019 Selection Report 
For applications submitted 21 December 2018 to 19 December 2019 (as at 21 May 2020)

Overview

The Linkage Projects scheme supports projects which initiate or develop long term strategic research alliances to apply advanced knowledge to problems, acquire new knowledge and as a basis for securing commercial and other benefits of research.

The objectives of the Linkage Projects scheme are to:

• support the development of long-term strategic research alliances between higher education organisations and industry and other research end-users, in order to apply advanced knowledge to problems;
• provide opportunities for internationally competitive research projects to be conducted in collaboration with organisations outside the higher education sector; and
• enhance the scale and focus of research in Australian Government priority areas.

Selection Process

This report outlines outcomes from the selection process for Linkage Projects 2019 applications, which used a continuous application process. Applications were submitted through the Australian Research Council (ARC) Research Management System (RMS). This report outlines outcomes from the selection process for that round. 

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 applications
• assessed applications and reviewed assessments made by independent assessors
• reviewed applicants’ comments on assessors’ reports
• ranked each application relative to the others on the basis of the application, the assessors’ reports and applicants’ 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 ARC SAC 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 Unless otherwise specified, data presented in this report exclude withdrawn applications.

Assessment Criteria

Assessment criteria and corresponding weightings for Linkage Projects 2019 applications are:

• Investigator(s) (25%)
• Project quality and innovation (25%)
• Feasibility (20%)
• Benefit (30%)

The ARC assessment process for Linkage Projects 2019 used a total of 79 SAC members across four discipline panels and was managed in the RMS. A total of 1643 independent assessors’ reports were submitted to the ARC.

Funding levels and duration 

Funding of between $50,000 and $300,000 per annum for up to five years may be awarded for each Linkage Projects application.

Summary of Outcomes

The ARC received a total of 435 applications for Linkage Projects 2019, three of which were withdrawn. 

The overall success rate for Linkage Projects for funding applied for in 2019 is 40.5 per cent. 

Of the unsuccessful applications, five 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 Projects applications from 2018 and 2019

Scheme Round	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 (%)
2018	448	140	31.3	$218,670,119	$72,558,642	$60,550,623	83.5
2019	432	175	40.5	$217,620,359	$92,200,635	$78,187,269	84.8

Outcomes by discipline

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 Projects 2019 applications by discipline 

Discipline*	Applications considered	Applications approved	Success rate (%)	Requested funds over project life for all applications considered ($)	Requested funds over project life for approved applications ($)	Funds over project life for approved applications ($)	Return Rate for approved applications (%)
BEM	78	30	38.5	$47,679,263	$17,893,301	$15,071,905	84.2
ET	116	49	42.2	$57,626,964	$27,822,926	$24,186,224	86.9
HSE	151	68	45.0	$68,691,724	$32,071,621	$26,831,855	83.7
PMI	87	28	32.2	$43,622,408	$14,412,787	$12,097,285	83.9
Total	432	175	40.5	$217,620,359	$92,200,635	$78,187,269	84.8

*BEM = Biological Sciences, Biotechnology, Environmental, Medical and Health Sciences; ET = Engineering and Technology; HSE = Humanities and Creative Arts, Social, Behavioural and Economic Sciences; PMI = Physical, Mathematical and Information 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 Linkage Projects 2019 applications by Science and Research Priority

Science and Research Priorities	Applications considered	Applications approved	Success rate (%)	Approved funds over project life
Advanced Manufacturing	63	27	42.9	$11,590,014
Cybersecurity	18	7	38.9	$3,001,163
Energy	23	6	26.1	$2,574,211
Environmental Change	61	18	29.5	$7,953,727
Food	33	14	42.4	$8,470,334
Health	69	29	42.0	$13,047,893
Resources	26	17	65.4	$9,177,426
Soil and Water	28	13	46.4	$6,333,915
Transport	16	7	43.8	$2,443,855
None selected	95	37	38.9	$13,594,731
Total Applications	432	175	40.5	$78,187,269
Total Applications within Science and Research Priorities	337	138	40.9	$64,592,538
Percentage within Science and Research Priorities (%)	78.0	78.9		82.6

Leverage of ARC Funding

Of the 432 applications considered, 175 were approved with a total approved funding, of $78.2 million over the life of these projects. There are 426 unique Partner Organisations involved with these projects and they have pledged a total (cash and in-kind) of $126.6 million. This represents $1.62 from Partner Organisations for every dollar funded by the ARC.

Outcomes by Administering Organisation

A summary of outcomes by Administering Organisation is shown in Table 4.

Table 4. Numbers of applications, success rates, ARC approved funding and Partner Organisation contributions for approved Linkage Projects 2019 applications by Administering Organisation

Administering Organisation	Applications considered	Applications approved	Success rate (%)	ARC approved funding over project life (approved applications)	Partner Organisation contributions (cash & in-kind) over project life (approved applications)
Australian Capital Territory	18	5	27.8	$1,977,531	$4,435,619
The Australian National University	15	4	26.7	$1,538,531	$2,434,569
University of Canberra	3	1	33.3	$439,000	*
New South Wales	128	53	41.4	$22,139,482	$35,712,198
Australian Catholic University	2	1	50.0	$556,000	*
Charles Sturt University	1	0	0	-	-
Macquarie University	13	8	61.5	$3,135,293	$4,735,152
Southern Cross University	4	2	50.0	$959,776	$1,917,500
The University of New England	1	0	0	-	-
The University of New South Wales	54	21	38.9	$9,382,284	$16,262,331
The University of Newcastle	5	3	60.0	$1,367,447	$2,238,716
The University of Sydney	24	10	41.7	$3,986,868	$5,326,858
University of Technology Sydney	5	1	20.0	$277,600	*
University of Wollongong	11	4	36.4	$1,549,799	$2,836,641
Western Sydney University	8	3	37.5	$924,415	$1,103,430
Northern Territory	3	1	33.3	$699,161	*
Charles Darwin University	3	1	33.3	$699,161	*
Queensland	87	39	44.8	$18,071,687	$31,721,606
Griffith University	17	6	35.3	$2,410,727	$3,672,659
James Cook University	4	3	75.0	$1,477,285	$2,033,596
Queensland University of Technology	10	4	40.0	$1,348,935	$1,899,661
The University of Queensland	50	26	52.0	$12,834,740	$24,115,690
The University of Southern Queensland	5	0	0	-	-
University of the Sunshine Coast	1	0	0	-	-
South Australia	32	13	40.6	$4,480,776	$7,749,097
Flinders University	10	4	40.0	$1,235,387	$2,407,840
The University of Adelaide	16	5	31.3	$1,787,028	$3,241,662
University of South Australia	6	4	66.7	$1,458,361	$2,099,595
Tasmania	7	2	28.6	$599,824	$756,066
University of Tasmania	7	2	28.6	$599,824	$756,066
Victoria	129	52	40.3	$22,365,098	$32,546,458
Deakin University	11	3	27.3	$1,109,557	$1,366,204
La Trobe University	10	3	30.0	$1,138,337	$1,240,149
Monash University	30	17	56.7	$7,602,125	$10,697,323
RMIT University	18	9	50.0	$4,088,267	$6,446,853
Swinburne University of Technology	13	3	23.1	$1,434,077	$2,155,567
The University of Melbourne	47	17	36.2	$6,992,735	$10,640,362
Western Australia	28	10	35.7	$7,853,710	$12,784,856
Curtin University	9	2	22.2	$898,035	$1,071,000
Murdoch University	3	0	0	-	-
The University of Notre Dame Australia	1	1	100	$1,342,000	*
The University of Western Australia	15	7	46.7	$5,613,675	$10,339,094
Total	432	175	40.5	$78,187,269	$126,646,998

*For confidentiality reasons, total contributions by Partner Organisations are not shown in instances in which Administering Organisations are associated with one approved application only. Table 4 total does, however, include the total contributions by Partner Organisations on approved Projects associated with those Administering Organisations.

Partner Organisations were identified as Australian, international, government, non-profit, industry or overseas higher education organisations. The Partner Organisation contributions in these categories for Linkage Projects 2019 applications approved for funding are shown below in Table 5.

Table 5. Partner Organisation contributions by sector for approved Linkage Projects 2019 applications 

Type		Cash		In-Kind		Total
		$	%	$	%	$	%
Government
Australian Federal		$750,948	1.7	$2,394,130	2.9	$3,145,078	2.5
Australian state, territory and local		$8,068,250	18.7	$11,252,306	13.5	$19,320,556	15.3
International		$224,999	0.5	$616,984	0.7	$841,983	0.7
	Sub-total	$9,044,197	21.0	$14,263,420	17.1	$23,307,617	18.4
Industry Body
Australian		$19,104,602	44.3	$33,338,494	39.9	$52,443,096	41.4
International		$9,685,322	22.4	$9,765,534	11.7	$19,450,856	15.4
	Sub-total	$28,789,924	66.7	$43,104,028	51.6	$71,893,952	56.8
Non-profit
Australian		$2,667,538	6.2	$17,723,833	21.2	$20,391,371	16.1
International		$82,000	0.2	$1,037,099	1.2	$1,119,099	0.9
	Sub-total	$2,749,538	6.4	$18,760,932	22.5	$21,510,470	17.0
Higher Education
International		$360,000	0.8	$1,201,285	1.4	$1,561,285	1.2
	Sub-total	$360,000	0.8	$1,201,285	1.4	$1,561,285	1.2
Other
Other		$2,220,599	5.1	$6,153,075	7.4	$8,373,674	6.6
	Sub-total	$2,220,599	5.1	$6,153,075	7.4	$8,373,674	6.6
	Total	$43,164,258	100	$83,482,740	100	$126,646,998	100

Note: All percentages are shown using rounded figures, and as such may not sum to 100%.

Partnerships 

Linkage Projects applications represent partnerships between researchers, higher education organisations and other organisations, as well as collaborations between Partner Organisations within projects. There are a total of 462 instances of collaboration with Partner Organisations (including multiple collaborations with a number of organisations) in Linkage Projects 2019 giving an average of 2.64 Partner Organisations involved in each application. These partnerships form congruent and/or complementary linkages in Fields of Research (FoR). A summary of the FoR categories identified by applicants of approved applications and the total Partner Organisation contributions are shown below in Table 6.

Table 6. Application data by Field of Research category for Linkage Projects 2019

Field of Research category	Number of applications approved#	Partner Organisation contributions (cash & in-kind) over project life (approved applications)
Physical Sciences	5	$2,525,122
Chemical Sciences	6	$3,818,089
Earth Sciences	9	$9,055,482
Environmental Sciences	13	$10,218,790
Biological Sciences	7	$5,664,610
Agricultural and Veterinary Sciences	9	$7,898,927
Information and Computing Sciences	8	$5,402,754
Engineering	41	$33,054,377
Technology	7	$5,228,455
Medical and Health Sciences	6	$5,369,038
Built Environment and Design	4	$3,048,570
Education	4	$2,101,393
Economics	6	$2,859,766
Commerce, Management, Tourism and Services	6	$2,248,292
Studies in Human Society	20	$10,177,069
Psychology and Cognitive Sciences	5	$3,582,972
Law and Legal Studies	1	*
Studies in Creative Arts and Writing	5	$3,585,916
Language, Communication and Culture	5	$2,625,946
History and Archaeology	5	$6,470,706
Philosophy and Religious Studies	3	$1,610,724
Total	175	$126,646,998

# Based on the primary FoR

*For confidentiality reasons, total contributions by Partner Organisations are not shown in instances in which FoR codes are associated with one approved application only. The Table 6 total does, however, include the total contributions by Partner Organisations on approved Projects associated with those FoR codes.

Age and Gender

A total of 2,427 participants were named on all applications considered in this round. Of these, 813 were female, 1605 were male and nine have chosen to not specify their gender. Figure 1 shows the number and success rate of participants in the round by age and gender. The success rate for female and male participants in this round of Linkage Projects applications is 41.8 per cent and 39.3 per cent respectively. A total of 288 of the applications approved had a male lead CI, of which 117 were successful, representing a 40.6 per cent success rate. A total of 143 of the applications considered had a female lead CI, of which 57 were successful, representing a 39.9 per cent success rate.

Figure 1.    Participation and success rates by age and gender for Linkage Projects 2019

International Collaboration

Among 432 of the applications considered, applicants foreshadowed 419 instances of collaboration with researchers in 52 overseas locations. Of the applications approved for funding, 104 foreshadowed 182 instances of collaboration with researchers in 33 overseas locations (Figure 2).

Figure 2. International collaborations by location on approved Linkage Projects 2019 applications*

*The top 10 international collaboration locations are listed in Figure 1 and the remaining locations are grouped in the ‘Other’ category.