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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 2021 opened on 29 January 2020, and closed on 29 April 2020. 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 Unless otherwise specified, data presented in this report exclude withdrawn applications.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 2021 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%)
Sustainability/Need (20%)
The ARC assessment process for Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities 2021 involved 16 SAC members as a part of one multidisciplinary panel and was managed in the RMS. A total of 430 independent assessors’ reports were submitted to the ARC.
The minimum level of funding provided by the ARC under Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities 2021 is $150,000 per annum and the maximum level of funding cannot exceed 75 per cent of the total direct cost of the eligible budget item(s). Funding is provided for up to one year; or, up to five years for leasing infrastructure, equipment or facilities, the construction of research infrastructure, or subscription or coordinated access to international facilities and major national facilities
The ARC received a total of 139 applications for Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities for funding commencing in 2021, one of which was withdrawn.
The overall success rate for Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities for funding commencing in 2021 is 34.1 per cent.
Of the unsuccessful applications, five were found to not meet eligibility requirements.
A comparison of success rates and funding amounts is shown in Table 1.
Funding year
Applications considered
Applications approved
Success rate (%)
Requested funds over project life for all applications considered ($)
Requested funds over project life for approved applications ($)
Funds allocated over project life for approved applications*($)
Return rate for approved applications (%)
2020
164
47
28.7
$116,305,596
$33,144,068
$30,672,752
92.5
2021
138
34.1
$112,226,899
$41,171,620
$38,827,812
94.3
*May include indicative funds
A summary of outcomes by discipline is shown in Table 2.
Discipline *
Funds over project life for approved applications ($)
Return Rate for approved applications (%)
BSB
23
7
30.4
$18,674,616
$5,736,338
$5,530,397
96.4
EIC
46
13
28.3
$30,977,542
$7,693,072
$7,216,439
93.8
HCA
9
5
55.6
$5,305,603
$2,787,595
$2,425,114
87.0
MPCE
52
21
40.4
$49,663,116
$24,056,857
$22,774,104
94.7
SBE
8
1
12.5
$7,606,022
$897,758
$881,758
98.2
Total
* BSB – Biological Sciences and Biotechnology; EIC – Engineering, Information and Computing Sciences; HCA – Humanities and Creative Arts; MPCE – Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry and Earth Sciences; SBE – Social, Behavioural and Economic Sciences
A summary of outcomes by Science and Research Priorities is shown in Table 3.
Science and Research Priorities
Approved funds over project life ($)
Advanced manufacturing
64
22
34.4
$20,099,669
Cybersecurity
6
0
-
Energy
3
42.9
$1,039,418
Environmental change
10
4
40.0
$5,065,837
Food
Health
Resources
2
66.7
$1,620,654
Soil and water
28.6
$1,484,728
Transport
Unspecified
28
14
50.0
$9,517,506
Total within Science and Research Priorities
110
33
30.0
$29,310,306
Percentage within Science and Research Priorities (%)
79.7
70.2
75.5
A summary of outcomes by Administering Organisation is shown in Table 4.
Administering Organisation
Australian Capital Territory
23.1
$6,269,020
The Australian National University
New South Wales
41
31.7
$7,950,651
Macquarie University
Southern Cross University
The University of Newcastle
25.0
$183,437
The University of New South Wales
$2,668,250
The University of Sydney
46.2
$4,232,164
University of Technology, Sydney
University of Wollongong
$866,800
Western Sydney University
Northern Territory
Charles Darwin University
Queensland
15
26.7
$3,720,348
Queensland University of Technology
The University of Queensland
44.4
University of Southern Queensland
South Australia
80.0
$6,747,822
Flinders University
$846,114
The University of Adelaide
83.3
$5,186,708
University of South Australia
100.0
$715,000
Tasmania
$275,000
University of Tasmania
Victoria
44
31.8
$10,821,196
Deakin University
La Trobe University
Monash University
10.0
$664,580
RMIT University
20.0
$975,934
Swinburne University of Technology
16.7
$672,000
The University of Melbourne
18
11
61.1
$8,508,682
Western Australia
12
33.3
$3,043,775
Curtin University
Edith Cowan University
The University of Western Australia
Of the 1402 Chief Investigators (CIs) in this round, 329 were female, 1066 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 2021 is 39.6 per cent, 36.4 per cent and 28.6 per cent respectively.
Success rates of CIs by career age and gender in Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities 2021 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 (1.1 per cent) are not represented in the figure below.
*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.
Number of Eligible Organisations*
Number of applications considered
Number of applications approved
Success rate within band (%)
19
15.8
31
45.2
30
TOTAL
* 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 11 Eligible Organisations.
A summary of application success rates by number of collaborating organisations is shown in Table 6.
Number of collaborating organisations*
25
36.0
27
5.3
35.7
20
* Collaborating organisations include the Administering Organisation, Other Eligible Organisations, Partner Organisations and Other Organisations. There were no applications with 13, 14 or 16-19 collaborating organisations.
In the 138 applications considered, applicants foreshadowed 333 instances of collaboration with researchers in 49 overseas locations. Of the applications approved for funding, 30 foreshadowed 129 instances of collaboration with researchers in 40 overseas locations (Figure 2).
*The top 12 international collaboration locations are listed in Figure 1 and the remaining locations are grouped in the ‘Other’ category.
On Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities 2021 applications approved for funding, for every dollar funded by the ARC the proposed dollar contribution of the collaborating organisations listed on these applications is $9.43. The leverage of ARC funds for approved applications is shown in Table 7.
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)
78
280
$366,100,980
$9.43
A summary of the Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities applications approved for funding commencing in 2021, by Administering Organisation is outlined in Table 8. The application titles indicate the variety of equipment, infrastructure and facilities supported in this scheme round.
Applications approved for funding
Lead CI
A National Facility for the 3D Imaging of the Near Surface
Dr Ian Moffat
AusStage LIEF 7: The international breakthrough
Collaborative robotics for structural assembly and construction automation
Prof Yu Bai
Multifunctional Platform for Chemical Manufacturing and Energy Materials
Prof Adam Lee
The next generation fast radio burst detector for Australia
A/Prof Ryan Shannon
Australian Membership of the International Ocean Discovery Program
Prof Eelco Rohling
Australian Partnership in Advanced LIGO+: continuation
Prof David McClelland
Flexible Flame Aerosol Synthesis Technology
Prof Antonio Tricoli
Advancing 4D fluorescence microscopy within Australia
Prof Matthew Gilliham
Integrated In situ Characterisation Facilities for Energy Studies
Prof Shizhang Qiao
Revitalizing facilities for nuclear magnetic resonance in South Australia
Prof Andrew Abell
Structure Determination Pipeline Capabilities for South Australia
Prof Christopher Sumby
The Cherenkov Telescope Array - From Production towards Operation
Prof Gavin Rowell
A 3-photon imaging system for deep live imaging
Prof Scott Mueller
A cutting-edge and high-throughput nuclear magnetic resonance platform
Prof Spencer Williams
A fast fluorescence lifetime imaging microscope to track protein dynamics
Dr Elizabeth Hinde
Australian Cultural Data Engine for Research, Industry and Government
Prof Rachel Fensham
Enabling the Future of the Australian Collider Physics Program
Prof Geoffrey Taylor
Hydrogen-deuterium exchange system - a missing link in protein analysis
Prof Michael Parker
Magnetometry Facility for Molecular and Nanoscale Materials
A/Prof Colette Boskovic
Near infrared imaging and spectroscopy facility
Dr James Hutchison
New Biomolecular Capabilities for the Melbourne Magnetic Resonance Facility
Prof Paul Gooley
Nyingarn: a platform for primary sources in Australian Indigenous languages
A/Prof Nicholas Thieberger
Ultra-precise dating in Earth, planetary and archaeological science
Prof David Phillips
A platform for probing nanoscale magnetic states under multiple actuations
Prof Tom Wu
Cryo-Focused Ion Beam Facility for soft and hard materials
Prof Richard Tilley
Spacecraft Innovation Laboratory
Prof Andrew Dempster
The Australian Royal Commissions and Public Inquiries Library
A/Prof Philip Chung
Femtoliter Liquid Deposition Facility
Prof Andrew Fleming
A customised triple-beam microscope for precise fabricating/characterising
Prof Jin Zou
Advanced Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Technologies for Southeast Queensland
Prof Robert Capon
An Advanced Ultrafast Laser Spectroscopy Facility in Queensland
Dr Evan Moore
Australian Environmental Specimen Bank: advancing specimen bank capability
Prof Jochen Mueller
3D Two-Photon Nanoprinter for Advanced Multi-Functional Materials & Devices
Prof Hala Zreiqat
Australian Stress Engineering Facility
Prof Anna Paradowska
Electron microscopy facilities for in-situ materials characterisation
Prof Xiaozhou Liao
High Performance Single Crystal X-ray Diffraction Facility
Prof Cameron Kepert
Integrated Multimodal System for Multiplexed Imaging of Signal Transduction
Prof David James
Multifunctional deposition system for advanced superconducting circuits
Dr John Bartholomew
Advanced Maskless Photolithography for Western Australia
A/Prof Mariusz Martyniuk
Founding an Australian Critical Zone Observatory Network
A/Prof Sally Thompson
High Resolution Mass Spectrometer for Chemical Characterisation in WA
Dr Gavin Flematti
National Facility for Infrared Technologies
Prof Lorenzo Faraone
An ICP-ToF-MS facility for environmental, mineral and biological science
Prof Enzo Lombi
Quarantined ion chromatography mass spectrometry (IC-MS) facility
Prof Brett Paull
High-throughput camera system for biological cryo-electron microscopy
Prof Antoine van Oijen
Raman Spectroscopic System for In-Operando Electrochemical Studies
Prof Zaiping Guo