Selection Report: Mid-Career Industry Fellowships 2023

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Overview

The primary goal of the Industry Fellowship Program is to create a pathway to support academic researchers in establishing careers in industry, and industry-based researchers to work in university settings, with the aim of increased two-way mobility and skill-building in research collaboration, translation and commercialisation. The Schemes will also drive research collaboration, translation and commercialisation outcomes across a range of industry settings.

The objectives of the Mid-Career Industry Fellowship scheme are to:

• strengthen the industry collaboration skills of mid-career researchers,
• encourage uptake of a wider range of career options for established researchers,
• supervise and develop future research and nurture their development of collaboration, commercialisation and translation skills; and
• deliver significant, actionable outcomes for industry partners and end-users.

Selection process

Applications for funding commencing in 2023 opened on 8 September 2022 and closed on 20 October 2022. 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 recommendations are based on advice from the ARC Selection Advisory Committee (SAC) which:

• assessed applications and reviewed assessments made by independent assessors;
• ranked each application relative to the others on the basis of the application and the independent assessors’ reports; and
• assessed and recommended budgets.

Advice was also provided from the ARC’s National Competitive Grants Program (NCGP) Eligibility Committee which:

• considered eligibility issues identified by ARC staff, the members of the ARC SAC or independent assessors,
• where required, sought advice from the ARC’s Medical Research Advisory Group, and made recommendations to the CEO in respect of ineligible applications.

This report reflects the outcomes approved by the Minister. Unless otherwise specified, data represented in this report excludes withdrawn applications.

Assessment criteria

All applications that meet the eligibility criteria for the Mid-Career Industry Fellowships 2023 were assessed and merit ranked using the following assessment criteria:

• Impact (25%)
  • The significance of the industry challenge or opportunity being addressed in the research project and its relevance to industry partners;
  • The potential for short-, medium- or long-term outcomes, translation, adoption and/or commercialisation beyond the Fellowship completion;
  • The potential to build and expand sustainable relationships between industry partners and the research organisation and the wider research community; and
  • The appropriateness, completeness and effectiveness of proposed pathways to impact, and related activities to support research translation, adoption and/or commercialisation, including IP management.
• Commitment and Alignment (25%)
  • Demonstration of the mutual benefit to the Fellow and Key Industry Partner, including potential to lead to longer-term collaboration;
  • Strength of engagement between the Fellow and the Key Industry Partner, including previous projects (where applicable), and interactions to date on the proposed project; and
  • The extent to which all parties demonstrate a commitment to the success of the project and to expanding a collaborative relationship, including the industry partners’ financial and/or in-kind contributions.
• Candidate Capability (25%)
  • The extent to which the candidate’s skills and experience, relative to opportunity, enable them to deliver the goals of the research project;
  • The demonstrated capability of the candidate to lead research projects in collaboration with industry and/or other research end-user groups;
  • Evidence of the candidate’s capability to effectively supervise and mentor more junior staff (in industry and university) and students; and
  • The appropriateness and effectiveness of the proposed career development plans for the Fellow, including to enhance their research translation and/or commercialisation skills.
• Research Quality and Innovation (25%)
  • The clarity and novelty of the aim and conceptual framework and the innovativeness of the research method(s) to the industry challenge or opportunity;
  • The novelty of the research in the context of previous research in the area;
  • The involvement of the Key Industry Partner’s staff and resources in the design, method and delivery of the research; and
  • The feasibility of the proposed research in terms of the project’s design, participants, requested duration, required resources/facilities, risk management and appropriateness of the budget.

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 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.

Assessment process

The ARC assessment process for Mid-Career Industry Fellowships 2023 involved 24 SAC members comprising of members from the ARC College of Experts and experts from industry on one multi-discipline panel. The process was managed in RMS. In addition, independent assessors submitted a total of 837 reports to the ARC to support the assessment process.

Funding levels and duration

Mid-Career Industry Fellowship projects are funded for 2 to 4 years on a full-time basis, subject to sufficient scheme funding, the provisions of the Australian Research Council Act 2001 (the ARC Act) and continued satisfactory progress of the Mid-Career Industry Fellowship project.

It is a requirement of the Grant Guidelines for the Industry Fellowship Program (Variation No. 1, 2022 edition) for the Administering Organisation to employ the Mid-Career Industry Fellow at a minimum of Academic Level C (or equivalent) for the project activity period. The annual salary provided by the ARC of $199,824 (2022$) per year includes 30% on-costs.

In addition to the Mid-Career Industry Fellowship salary and salary-related (on-cost) support, the ARC will provide the Mid-Career Industry Fellows with project funding not exceeding $290,000 over the duration of the grant.

Summary of outcomes

The ARC received a total of 314 applications for Mid-Career Industry Fellowships for funding commencing in 2023.

25 Mid-Career Industry Fellows are approved for funding commencing in 2023, shown in Table 1. The overall success rate for Mid-Career Industry Fellowships for funding commencing in 2023 is 8.0%. The total indicative funding approved is $23.8 million over 4 financial years (Tables 2 and 3). A break-down of success rates and funding amounts is shown in Table 2.

Of the unsuccessful applications in 2023, 6 were found not to meet eligibility requirements.

Table 1.  Mid-Career Industry Fellows approved for funding commencing in 2023.

Fellowship candidate	Administering Organisation
Professor Svetlana Bogomolova	Flinders University
Dr Patrick Burr	The University of New South Wales
Dr Kok Chan	The University of New South Wales
Dr Zhaolin Chen	Monash University
Dr Yit-Heng Chooi	The University of Western Australia
Professor Dewei Chu	The University of New South Wales
Professor Luke Connal	The Australian National University
Dr Nicolas Francois	The Australian National University
Associate Professor Alice Gaby	Monash University
Associate Professor Myra Hamilton	The University of Sydney
Professor Luke Henderson	Deakin University
Associate Professor Shihu Hu	The University of Queensland
Professor Cameron Parsell	The University of Queensland
Dr Julie Pearce	The University of Queensland
Dr Melanie Roberts	Griffith University
Dr Tracey Sletten	Monash University
Associate Professor Carl Spandler	The University of Adelaide
Associate Professor Rico Tabor	Monash University
Dr Bojan Tamburic	The University of New South Wales
Dr Kate Umbers	Western Sydney University
Associate Professor Tony Velkov	Monash University
Associate Professor Dries Verstraete	The University of Sydney
Dr Ryan Whitford	The University of Adelaide
Dr Angela Van De Wouw	The University of Melbourne
Associate Professor Yunfei Xi	Queensland University of Technology

Table 2.   Application numbers, success rates, requested and allocated funds for approved Mid-Career Industry Fellowship 2023 applications.

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 (%)
2023	314	25	8.0	$303,334,206	$24,652,636	$23,840,576	96.7

Table 3.  Indicative funds for approved Mid-Career Industry Fellowship 2023 applications.

Budget item	2023–2024	2024–2025	2025–2026	2026-2027	TOTAL
Mid-Career Industry Salary including on-costs	$4,995,600	$4,995,600	$4,995,600	$2,997,360	$17,984,160
Project Funding	$1,716,631	$1,684,561	$1,687,324	$767,900	$5,856,416
TOTAL	$6,712,231	$6,680,161	$6,682,924	$3,765,260	$23,840,576

Outcomes by discipline

A summary of outcomes by discipline panel is shown in Table 4.

Table 4.   Application numbers, success rates, requested and allocated funds for approved Mid-Career Industry Fellowship 2023 applications.

Discipline *	Applications considered	Applications approved	Success rate (%)	Requested funds over project life for all applications considered ($)	Requested funds over project life for approved applications ($)	Requested funds over project life for approved applications ($)	Return Rate for approved applications (%)
BSB	77	5	6.5	$77,274,180	$4,854,710	$4,656,482	95.9
EIC	121	9	7.4	$117,130,855	$8,894,881	$8,641,004	97.1
HSE	68	5	7.4	$63,027,362	$5,015,935	$4,913,809	98.0
MPCE	48	6	12.5	$45,901,809	$5,887,110	$5,629,281	95.6
Total	314	25	8.0	$303,334,206	$24,652,636	$23,840,576	96.7

*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

In addition to the $23.8 million of ARC indicative funding approved, the 25 projects will also receive cash and in-kind contributions from their administering organisations and their Industry Partners. These participating organisations will contribute a total of $30.3 million.

Outcomes by Administering Organisation 

The Administering Organisations of the 25 applications approved for funding are:

Table 5.          Partner Organisation contributions for approved Mid-Career Industry Fellowship applications by Administering Organisation

Administering Organisation	Submitted applications	Approved applications	Success rate (%)	Total allocated funding amount	Participating organisation contributions (cash & in-kind for funded applications)
Australian Capital Territory	15	2	13.3	$1,841,618	$2,957,251
The Australian National University	10	2	20	$1,841,618	$2,957,251
University of Canberra	5	0	0	$0	$0
New South Wales	84	7	8.3	$6,686,568	$9,006,867
Australian Catholic University	2	0	0	$0	$0
Charles Sturt University	3	0	0	$0	$0
Macquarie University	5	0	0	$0	$0
Southern Cross University	1	0	0	$0	$0
The University of New England	4	0	0	$0	$0
The University of New South Wales	15	4	27.6	$3,702,671	$5,695,042
The University of Newcastle	6	0	0	$0	$0
The University of Sydney	21	2	9.5	$1,940,105	$2,695,485
University of Technology Sydney	12	0	0	$0	$0
University of Wollongong	10	0	0	$0	$0
Western Sydney University	5	1	20	$1,043,792	$616,340
Northern Territory	2	0	0	$0	$0
Charles Darwin University	2	0	0	$0	$0
Queensland	63	5	7.9	$4,875,846	$5,963,837
Central Queensland University	4	0	0	$0	$0
Griffith University	5	1	20	$1,034,832	$949,012
James Cook University	2	0	0	$0	$0
Queensland University of Technology	15	1	6.7	$1,060,944	$2,489,458
The University of Queensland	33	3	9.1	$2,780,070	$2,525,367
University of Southern Queensland	1	0	0	$0	$0
University of the Sunshine Coast	3	0	0	$0	$0
South Australia	33	3	9.1	$3,045,230	$4,756,203
Flinders University	8	1	12.5	$1,051,456	$1,150,326
The University of Adelaide	15	2	13.3	$1,993,774	$3,605,877
University of South Australia	10	0	0	$0	$0
Tasmania	7	0	0	$0	$0
University of Tasmania	7	0	0	$0	$0
Victoria	82	7	8.5	$6,341,410	$6,196,033
Deakin University	12	1	8.3	$1,052,296	$1,858,145
Federation University Australia	1	0	0	$0	$0
La Trobe University	1	0	0	$0	$0
Monash University	18	5	27.8	$4,541,988	$3,904,834
RMIT University	9	0	0	$0	$0
Swinburne University of Technology	10	0	0	$0	$0
The University of Melbourne	28	1	3.6	$747,126	$433,054
Victoria University	3	0	0	$0	$0
Western Australia	28	1	3.6	$1,049,904	$1,439,159
Curtin University	11	0	0	$0	$0
Edith Cowan University	1	0	0	$0	$0
Murdoch University	1	0	0	$0	$0
The University of Western Australia	15	1	6.7	$1,049,904	$1,439,159
Total	314	25	8.0	$23,840,576	$30,319,350

Industry Partners 

Australian companies, government entities and non-profit organisations will participate in the approved projects as Key Industry and Other Industry Partners. International organisations will also contribute as Other Industry Partners.

In total, there are 42 unique Key Industry Partners or Other Industry Partners involved with the 25 projects approved for funding, giving an average of 1.7 Industry Partners involved in each project.

Together, they have pledged a total (cash and in-kind) of $18.5 million. This represents 78 cents from Industry Partners for every dollar funded by the ARC.

Table 6.     Partner Organisation contributions by sector for approved Mid-Career Industry Fellowship 2023 applications.

Type		Cash		In-Kind		Total
		$	%	$	%	$	%
Government
Australian Federal		$0	0	$36,000	0.3	$36,000	0.2
Australian state, territory and local		$449,999	7.4	$1,079,200	8.7	$1,529,199	8.3
	Sub-total	$449,999	7.4	$1,115,200	9.0	$1,565,199	8.5
Industry Body
Australian		$4,468,061	73.6	$8,175,520	65.7	$12,643,581	68.3
International		$729,097	12.0	$630,994	5.1	$1,360,091	7.3
	Sub-total	$5,197,158	85.7	$8,806,514	70.8	$14,003,672	75.7
Non-profit
Australian		$0	0	$1,950,972	15.7	$1,950,972	10.5
International		$0	0	$12,600	0.1	$12,600	0.1
	Sub-total	$0	0.0	$1,963,572	15.8	$1,963,572	10.6
Higher Education
International		$0	0	$147,840	1.2	$147,840	0.8
	Sub-total	$0	0	$147,840	1.2	$147,840	0.8
Other
Other		$420,000	6.9	$410,000	3.3	$830,000	4.5
	Sub-total	$420,000	6.9	$410,000	3.3	$830,000	4.5
	Total	$6,067,157		$12,443,126	100	$18,510,283	100

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

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 Industry Partners contributions are shown below in Table 7.

Table 7.    Application data by Field of Research category for Mid-Career Industry Fellowship 2023.

Field of Research category	Number of applications approved*	Key and Other Industry Partner contributions (cash & in-kind) over project life (approved applications)
AGRICULTURAL, VETERINARY AND FOOD SCIENCES	1	$433,054
BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES	2	$3,422,970
BIOMEDICAL AND CLINICAL SCIENCES	0
BUILT ENVIRONMENT AND DESIGN	0
CHEMICAL SCIENCES	3	$3,214,651
COMMERCE, MANAGEMENT, TOURISM AND SERVICES	1	$1,150,326
CREATIVE ARTS AND WRITING	0
EARTH SCIENCES	1	$1,622,066
ECONOMICS	0
EDUCATION	0
ENGINEERING	9	$14,276,989
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES	2	$1,595,929
HEALTH SCIENCES	1	$976,932
HISTORY, HERITAGE AND ARCHAEOLOGY	0
HUMAN SOCIETY	1	$924,520
INDIGENOUS STUDIES	0
INFORMATION AND COMPUTING SCIENCES	0
LANGUAGE, COMMUNICATION AND CULTURE	1	$239,103
LAW AND LEGAL STUDIES	0
MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES	1	$949,012
PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGIOUS STUDIES	0
PHYSICAL SCIENCES	1	$703,797
PSYCHOLOGY	1	$810,001
TOTAL	25	$30,319,350

* Based on the primary FoR

Australia and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC)

A summary of the ANZSIC categories that best represent the proposed research of the approved applications are shown below in Table 8.

Table 8.          Application data by Australia and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC) category for Mid-Career Industry Fellowships 2023

ANZSIC category	Number of applications approved
101 - Exploration	1
114 - Fruit and Vegetable Processing	1
014 - Sheep, Beef Cattle and Grain Farming	2
151 - Pulp, Paper and Paperboard Manufacturing	1
181 - Basic Chemical Manufacturing	1
182 - Basic Polymer Manufacturing	1
184 - Pharmaceutical and Medicinal Product Manufacturing	2
203 - Cement, Lime, Plaster and Concrete Product Manufacturing	1
239 - Other Transport Equipment Manufacturing	1
241 - Professional and Scientific Equipment Manufacturing	1
242 - Computer and Electronic Equipment Manufacturing	1
261 - Electricity Generation	3
281 - Water Supply, Sewerage and Drainage Services	2
292 - Waste Treatment, Disposal and Remediation Services	1
691 - Scientific Research Services	2
80 - Metal Ore Mining	1
821 - Adult, Community and Other Education	1
879 - Other Social Assistance Services	2
Total	25

Career age and gender

Of the 314 Mid-Career Industry Fellowship candidates in this round, 92 were female, 220 were male and 2 chose not to specify gender. The success rate for female, male and unspecified candidates in this round is 8.7%, 7.7% and 0% respectively.

Success rates of Mid-Career Industry Fellowship candidates by career age and gender in the current Mid-Career Industry Fellowship round are presented in Figure 1. Candidates who did not provide gender information (0.6%) and candidates who did not specify the date of completion of their PhD or who do not hold a PhD* (0.6%), are not represented in the figure below.

*It was not a requirement for a Mid-Career Industry Fellowship candidate to hold a PhD.

Figure 1.         Participation and success rate of Mid-Career Industry Fellowship 2023 candidates by gender and career age*^

* Career age is calculated as years since PhD. The earliest PhD award date was used where there was more than one PhD.
^ Calculated career age does not take career interruptions into consideration.

Attracting and retaining outstanding researchers

Applications were open to Eligible Organisations to nominate candidates who are world-class researchers of international repute, residing either within Australia or overseas (Table 9).

Table 9. Citizenship/residency status of Mid-Career Industry Fellowship 2023 candidates and approved Awardees.

Citizenship/residency status	Applications considered	% Of Applications considered	Applications approved	Success rate (%)
Foreign Nationals	4	1.3	0	0
Resident Australians	305	97.1	25	8.2
Returning Australians	5	1.6	0	0
Total	314	100	25	8.0

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

Research Students

In the 25 applications approved for funding, a total of 37 research students will be filled as a result of the funded projects, with a total of 15 PhD student places, 9 Masters student places and 13 Honours student places.

International Collaboration

Among 314 of the applications considered, applicants foreshadowed 231 instances of collaboration with researchers in 41 overseas locations. Of the applications approved for funding, applicants foreshadowed 22 instances of collaboration with researchers in 9 overseas locations (Figure 2).

Figure 2.          International collaborations by location in approved Mid-Career Industry Fellowships 2023 applications