Selection Report: Linkage Projects 2023 Round 1

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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 internationally competitive research projects and teams on challenges or opportunities of relevance to research end-users;
foster the establishment and strengthening of research alliances between higher education organisations and research end-users;
enhance the scale and focus of research, including in Australian Government priority areas.

Selection Process

Applications for Linkage Projects 2023 Assessment Round 1 opened on 14 December 2022 and closed on 10 May 2023. Applications were submitted using a continuous application process; this is the first of the two assessment rounds for this scheme. Applications were submitted through the Australian Research Council (ARC) Research Management System (RMS). This report outlines recommendations from the ARC Chief Executive Officer (CEO) to the Minister.

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 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 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 funding outcomes approved by the Minister. Unless otherwise specified, data presented in this report exclude withdrawn applications.

Assessment Criteria

All applications that meet the eligibility criteria for Linkage Projects 2023 (Round 1) were assessed and merit ranked using the following assessment criteria:

Project quality and innovation (30%)

significance and innovativeness of the research in the context of previous research in the area;
robustness and appropriateness of the conceptual framework, design, methods and analyses;
the adequacy and appropriateness of the budget, including cash and in-kind contributions pledged by the participating organisations, and value for money considerations.

If the project involves Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander research, additional criteria include:

The project’s level of collaboration, engagement, relationship building and benefit sharing with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, and First Nations Organisations and Communities;
The project’s strategy and mechanisms for Indigenous research capacity building within the project;
The project’s level of internal leadership of Indigenous research;
The project’s adherence to the Australian Indigenous Data Sovereignty Principles; and
The project’s understanding of, and proposed strategies to adhere to, the AIATSIS Code of Ethics for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Research and NHMRC’s guidelines on Ethical conduct in research with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples and communities.

Impact (20%)

demonstration of the mutual benefit for participating organisations now and into the future;
evidence of how the research will advance/address Partner Organisation(s)’s core strategy;
potential contribution to Australian Government priority areas;
potential economic, commercial, environmental, social and/or cultural benefits for Australia; and
appropriateness of strategies for adoption, commercialisation, promotion, and/or dissemination of research outcomes, including IP management arrangements.

Investigator(s’) capability and quality of team (20%)

quality of the named participant(s)’ skills and experience, relative to opportunity, including evidence of potential to engage in collaborative research;
experience in research training, mentoring and supervision;
capability and capacity of the team to undertake and manage the project; and
evidence of previous history of successful collaboration between the named participant(s) and this or other Partner Organisation(s).

Strength of the proposed research alliance (30%)

extent and nature of commitment to the project, including provision of research environment, facilities and personnel (where relevant), relative to the scale of the project and the capacity of the participating organisations;
extent and appropriateness of proposed governance, structures and processes to support the project;
capacity and intent of Partner Organisations to use the outcomes of the research; and
potential of partnership to lead to long-term collaborations.

Assessment process

The ARC assessment process for Linkage Projects 2023 (Round 1) involved 17 SAC members as part of one multidisciplinary panel and was managed in RMS. A total of 566 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 171 applications for Linkage Projects 2023 (Round 1), none of which was withdrawn.

The overall success rate for Linkage Projects for funding applied for in 2023 (Round 1) is 29.2 per cent.

Of the unsuccessful applications, 2 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 2022 (Rounds 1 and 2) and 2023 (Round 1)

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 (%)
2022 (Round 1)	193	81	42.0	$100,220,423	$43,807,006	$40,083,565	91.5
2022 (Round 2)	208	57	27.4	$109,986,809	$30,981,425	$28,045,518	90.5
2023 (Round 1)	171	50	29.2	$90,737,777	$29,606,708	$26,077,989	88.1

*May include indicative funds

Outcomes by discipline

A summary of outcome by discipline is shown in Table 2.

Table 2. Application numbers, success rates and requested and allocated funds for approved Linkage Projects 2023 (Round 1) 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 (%)
BSB	32	15	46.9	$19,053,140	$10,448,652	$8,980,189	85.9
EIC	75	17	22.7	$39,398,877	$8,616,355	$7,901,327	91.7
HSE	44	10	22.7	$22,440,429	$6,343,968	$5,253,521	82.8
MPCE	20	8	40.0	$9,845,331	$4,197,733	$3,942,952	93.9
Total	171	50	29.2	$90,737,777	$29,606,708	$26,077,989	88.1

* BSB – Biological Sciences and Biotechnology; EIC – Engineering, Information and Computing Sciences; HSE – Humanities and Creative Arts, Social, Behavioural and Economic Sciences; MPCE – Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry and Earth Sciences

Leverage of ARC Funding

Of the 171 applications considered, 50 were approved with a total approved funding of $26.1 million over the life of these projects. There are 128 unique Partner Organisations involved with these projects, and they have pledged a total (cash and in-kind) of $39.9 million. This represents $1.53 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 3.

Table 3. Numbers of applications, success rates, ARC approved funding and Partner Organisation contributions for approved Linkage Projects 2023 (Round 1) 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	6	3	50.0	$1,593,587	$3,361,230
The Australian National University	3	1	33.3	$778,209	*
University of Canberra	3	2	66.7	$815,378	$1,620,948
New South Wales	70	19	27.1	$9,489,628	$15,597,805
Australian Catholic University	2	0	0	-	-
Macquarie University	3	2	66.7	$1,199,167	$3,602,916
The University of New South Wales	21	5	23.8	$2,892,481	$4,850,431
The University of Newcastle	7	1	14.3	$443,095	*
The University of Sydney	15	4	26.7	$1,768,461	$2,504,848
University of Technology Sydney	15	5	33.3	$2,294,239	$3,058,915
University of Wollongong	5	1	20.0	$445,009	*
Western Sydney University	2	1	50.0	$447,176	*
Northern Territory	1	1	100.0	$564,072	*
Charles Darwin University	1	1	100.0	$564,072	*
Queensland	31	8	25.8	$4,581,999	$6,572,734
Bond University	1	0	0	-	-
Griffith University	2	0	0	-	-
Queensland University of Technology	6	0	0	-	-
The University of Queensland	21	7	33.3	$3,783,539	$4,721,030
University of the Sunshine Coast	1	1	100.0	$798,460	*
South Australia	10	5	50.0	$2,404,272	$3,061,245
Flinders University	1	1	100.0	$359,977	*
The University of Adelaide	5	2	40.0	$1,181,414	$1,453,245
University of South Australia	4	2	50.0	$862,881	$1,091,000
Victoria	42	11	26.2	$5,679,739	$7,892,150
Deakin University	6	1	16.7	$508,098	*
La Trobe University	3	1	33.3	$510,063	*
Monash University	12	2	16.7	$1,577,480	$2,790,000
RMIT University	9	4	44.4	$1,895,168	$2,468,331
Swinburne University of Technology	2	0	0	-	-
The University of Melbourne	10	3	30.0	$1,188,930	$1,560,386
Western Australia	11	3	27.3	$1,764,692	$2,546,500
Curtin University	6	0	0	-	-
Murdoch University	1	1	100.0	$622,891	*
The University of Western Australia	4	2	50.0	$1,141,801	$1,756,500
Total	171	50	29.2	$26,077,989	$39,878,886

* For confidentiality reasons, total contributions by Partner Organisations are not shown in instances in which Administering Organisations are associated with one approved application only. The Table 3 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 2023 (Round 1) applications approved for funding are shown below in Table 4.

Table 4. Partner Organisation contributions by sector for approved Linkage Projects 2023 (Round 1) applications

Type	Cash		In-Kind		Total
	$	%	$	%	$	%
Government
Australian Federal	$183,000	1.5	$1,244,315	4.5	$1,427,315	3.6
Australian state, territory and local	$3,032,901	25.2	$7,935,243	28.5	$10,968,144	27.5
Sub-total	$3,215,901	26.7	$9,179,558	33.0	$12,395,459	31.1
Industry Body
Australian	$5,692,809	47.3	$11,981,329	43.0	$17,674,138	44.3
International	$1,187,339	9.9	$1,692,898	6.1	$2,880,237	7.2
Sub-total	$6,880,148	57.2	$13,674,227	49.1	$20,554,375	51.5
Non-profit
Australian	$1,162,000	9.7	$3,657,010	13.1	$4,819,010	12.1
International	$0	0.0	$275,630	1.0	$275,630	0.7
Sub-total	$1,162,000	9.7	$3,932,640	14.1	$5,094,640	12.8
Higher Education
International	$0	0.0	$229,370	0.8	$229,370	0.6
Sub-total	$0	0.0	$229,370	0.8	$229,370	0.6
Other
Other	$779,155	6.5	$825,887	3.0	$1,605,042	4.0
Sub-total	$779,155	6.5	$825,887	3.0	$1,605,042	4.0
Total	$12,037,204	100	$27,841,682	100	$39,878,886	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 136 instances of collaboration with Partner Organisations (including multiple collaborations with a number of organisations) in Linkage Projects 2023 (Round 1) applications approved for funding, giving an average of 2.72 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 5.

Table 5. Application data by Field of Research category for Linkage Projects 2023 (Round 1)

Field of Research category	Number of applications approved#	Partner Organisation contributions (cash & in-kind) over project life (approved applications)
Agricultural, Veterinary and Food Sciences	2	$1,682,650
Biological Sciences	4	$3,728,675
Biomedical and Clinical Sciences	1	*
Chemical Sciences	4	$2,422,548
Commerce, Management, Tourism and Services	1	*
Earth Sciences	3	$2,585,842
Economics	1	*
Engineering	12	$7,135,915
Environmental Sciences	8	$8,353,418
History, Heritage and Archaeology	1	*
Human Society	3	$1,136,162
Indigenous Studies	1	*
Information and Computing Sciences	5	$4,313,337
Language, Communication and Culture	1	*
Physical Sciences	1	*
Psychology	2	$1,328,152
Total	50	$39,878,886

# 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.

Career age and gender

Of the 574 Chief Investigators (CIs) in this round, 189 were female, 384 were male and one was unspecified. The success rate for female, male and unspecified CIs in Linkage Projects 2023 (Round 1) is 33.9 per cent, 29.2 per cent and 100 per cent respectively.

Success rates of CIs by career age and gender in Linkage Projects 2023 (Round 1) 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 (0.7 per cent) are not represented in the figure below.

Figure 1. Participation and success rate of Chief Investigators (CIs) in Linkage Projects 2023 (Round 1) 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.

International Collaboration

In the 171 applications considered, applicants foreshadowed 127 instances of collaboration with researchers in 44 overseas locations. Of the applications approved for funding, 26 foreshadowed 34 instances of collaboration with researchers in 22 overseas locations (Figure 2).

Figure 2. International collaborations by location on approved Linkage Projects 2023 (Round 1) applications*

*The top 4 international collaboration locations are listed in Figure 2 and the remaining locations are grouped in the ‘Other’ category.