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 Unless otherwise specified, data represented in this report excludes withdrawn applications.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.

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

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

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.

*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

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.

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.

* 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

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.

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