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 across a range of industry settings. The objectives of the Early Career Industry Fellowship scheme are to: develop the industry collaboration skills of early career researchers; support early career researchers to achieve translatable and/or commercialisable outcomes for industry; and deliver actionable outcomes for industry partners and research end-users. Selection process Applications for Early Career Industry Fellowships 2025 opened on 24 September 2024 and closed on 12 November 2024. 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 SAC which: assigned independent assessors to review the applications; assessed applications and reviewed assessments made by independent assessors; ranked each application relative to the others based on the application and the independent assessors’ reports; 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 decisions with respect to the eligibility of applications. This report reflects the funding outcomes approved by the ARC Board. Unless otherwise specified, data represented in this report excludes withdrawn applications. Assessment criteria All applications that meet the eligibility criteria for the Early Career Industry Fellowships 2025 were assessed and merit ranked using the following assessment criteria: a. Investigator/Capability (35%) Research Opportunity and Performance Evidence (ROPE), including a demonstrated track-record of high-quality research outputs appropriate to the discipline/s Demonstrated capability to undertake research projects in collaboration with industry and/or other research end-user groups; and Alignment of the candidate’s skills and experience to the project. b. Project Quality and Innovation (35%) Contribution of the project to address an important gap in knowledge or significant problem identified by the Key Industry Partner; Novelty and innovation of the project in the context of previous research in the area; Cohesiveness and clarity of the project design and implementation plan (including the appropriateness of the aim(s), conceptual framework, method, data and/or analyses); and The clear presence of the Key Industry Partner in the design, method and delivery of the research. 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 (2018); and The project’s understanding of, and proposed strategies to adhere to, the AIATSIS Code of Ethics for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Research (2020) and NHMRC’s guidelines on Ethical conduct in research with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples and communities (2018). c. Feasibility and Strategic Alignment (15%) Strength of engagement between the candidate and the Key Industry Partner, including previous projects (where applicable), and interactions to date on the proposed project; The extent to which all parties demonstrate a commitment to the success of the project, and to developing and expanding a collaborative relationship, including the necessary facilities, resources and development opportunities that the organisations will provide for the candidate; and The feasibility of the research in terms of the project’s design, participants, requested duration, required resources/facilities, risk management, and cost-effectiveness of the budget. d. Benefit (15%) Delivery of actionable outcomes for the industry partner(s) and other research end-users; New or advanced knowledge expected to result from the project; Appropriateness, completeness and effectiveness of proposed pathways for short-, medium- or long-term adoption, translation, and/or commercialisation of the project outcomes, including IP management, by the industry partner(s) beyond the Fellowship completion; Demonstration of the mutual benefit to the candidate and the Key Industry Partner including potential to lead to longer-term collaboration; and The potential for economic, commercial, environmental, cultural and/or social benefit for Australia. Assessment process The ARC assessment process for Early Career Industry Fellowships 2025 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 672 reports to the ARC to support the assessment process. Funding levels and duration Early Career Industry Fellowship projects are funded for 1 to 3 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 Early Career Industry Fellowship project. It is a requirement of the Industry Fellowships Program (IFP) Grant Guidelines (2024 edition) for the Administering Organisation to employ the Early Career Industry Fellow at a minimum of Academic Level A (or equivalent) for the project activity period. The annual salary provided by the ARC of $121,703 (2024$) per year includes 30 per cent on-costs. In addition to the Early Career Industry Fellowship salary and salary-related (on-cost) support, the ARC will provide the Early Career Industry Fellows with project funding not exceeding $150,000 over the duration of the grant. Summary of outcomes The ARC received a total of 180 applications for Early Career Industry Fellowships for funding commencing in 2025. A total of 50 Early Career Industry Fellows are approved for funding commencing in 2025, shown in Table 1. The overall success rate for Early Career Industry Fellowships for funding commencing in 2025 is 27.8 per cent. The total indicative funding recommended is $24.7 million over 3 financial years (Tables 2 and 3). A break-down of success rates and funding amounts is shown in Table 2. Of the unsuccessful applications, none were found ineligible. Table 1. Early Career Industry Fellows approved for funding commencing in 2025 Fellowship candidate Administering Organisation Doctor Saman Ahmadi RMIT University Doctor Carla Archibald Deakin University Doctor Holly Bradley Curtin University Doctor Wolfram Buss The Australian National University Doctor Guiyuan Cao RMIT University Doctor Feifei Chen Deakin University Doctor Peng Chen The University of Queensland Doctor Margaret Cook Griffith University Doctor Claire Doll The University of Western Australia Doctor David Fechner Griffith University Doctor Alan Green University of Wollongong Doctor Mike Harris The University of New South Wales Doctor Hayley Henderson The Australian National University Doctor Minh Tam Hoang Queensland University of Technology Doctor Elnaz Irannezhad The University of New South Wales Doctor Ella Johnston La Trobe University Doctor Shimona Kealy The Australian National University Doctor Rachelle Kernen The University of Adelaide Doctor Andrew Lacey Curtin University Doctor Nano Langenheim The University of Melbourne Doctor Jiaquan Li The University of Sydney Doctor Jiuling Li The University of Queensland Doctor Zhikao Li Monash University Doctor Scott Liles The University of New South Wales Doctor Samuel Lymbery The University of Western Australia Doctor Rebecca Morris The University of Melbourne Doctor Christopher O'Brien The University of Queensland Doctor Christopher Pastras Macquarie University Doctor Aaron Phillips The University of Adelaide Doctor Zhao Sha The University of New South Wales Doctor Shuang Song The University of New South Wales Doctor Rose-Marie Stambe The University of Queensland Doctor Alice Twomey The University of Queensland Doctor Mirjam van der Mheen The University of Western Australia Doctor Anthony Waddle Macquarie University Doctor Changlong Wang Monash University Doctor Jingxiu Wang The University of Adelaide Doctor Zhiyao Wang The University of Queensland Doctor Zijian Wang The University of Queensland Doctor Pabudi Weerathunge RMIT University Doctor Simon West The Australian National University Doctor Kai Wu University of Technology Sydney Doctor Xiong Xiao The University of Western Australia Doctor Zhengyi Yang The University of New South Wales Doctor Jung Yoon Flinders University Doctor Yuguo Yu RMIT University Doctor Tatheer Zahra Queensland University of Technology Doctor Lei Zhang RMIT University Doctor Litianyi Zhang The University of Sydney Doctor Chunrong Zhao The University of Sydney Table 2. Application numbers, success rates, requested and allocated funds for approved Early Career Industry Fellowship applications from 2023 to 2025. 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 359 50 13.9 $163,526,959 $23,209,075 $22,227,166 95.8 2024 185 50 27 $87,254,188 $23,546,711 $22,516,041 95.6 2025 180 50 27.8 $89,578,450 $25,001,314 $24,737,124 98.9 Table 3. Indicative funds for approved Early Career Industry Fellowship 2025 applications. Budget item 2025–2026 ($) 2026–2027 ($) 2027-2028 ($) TOTAL ($) Early Career Industry Salary including on-costs 6,085,150 6,085,150 6,085,150 18,255,450 Project Funding 2,348,967 2,161,629 1,971,078 6,481,674 TOTAL 8,434,117 8,246,779 8,056,228 24,737,124 Outcomes by discipline A summary of outcomes by discipline panel is shown in Table 4. Table 4. Application numbers, success rates, requested and allocated funds for approved Early Career Industry Fellowship 2025 applications. Discipline * Applications considered Applications approved Success rate (%) Requested funds over project life for all applications considered ($) Requested funds over project life for approved applications ($) Funds over project life for approved applications ($) Return Rate for approved applications (%) BSB 48 14 29.2 24,014,544 6,957,888 6,838,920 98.3 EIC 80 24 30 39,663,159 12,199,867 12,079,645 99 HSE 32 8 25 16,191,288 3,954,433 3,954,433 100 MPCE 20 4 20 9,709,459 1,889,126 1,864,126 98.7 Total 180 50 27.8 89,578,450 25,001,314 24,737,124 98.9 *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 $24.7 million of ARC indicative funding approved, the 50 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 $35.8 million. Outcomes by Administering Organisation The Administering Organisations of the 50 applications approved for funding are: Table 5. Participating Organisation contributions for approved Early Career Industry Fellowship applications by Administering Organisation. Administering Organisation Submitted applications Approved applications Success rate (%) Total allocated funding amount ($) Participating organisation contributions (cash & in-kind for funded applications) ($) Australian Capital Territory 14 4 28.6 2,022,775 3,207,432 The Australian National University 13 4 30.8 2,022,775 3,207,432 University of Canberra 1 0 0.0 0 0 New South Wales 45 13 28.9 6,443,042 9,604,370 Macquarie University 3 2 66.7 1,027,218 1,309,991 Southern Cross University 1 0 0.0 0 0 The University of New South Wales 18 6 33.3 2,872,866 3,563,570 The University of Newcastle 1 0 0.0 0 0 The University of Sydney 13 3 23.1 1,529,427 3,023,442 University of Technology Sydney 4 1 25.0 498,748 746,141 University of Wollongong 3 1 33.3 514,783 961,226 Western Sydney University 2 0 0.0 0 0 Northern Territory 2 0 0.0 0 0 Charles Darwin University 2 0 0.0 0 0 Queensland 34 11 32.4 5,505,889 7,559,496 Central Queensland University 1 0 0.0 0 0 Griffith University 6 2 33.3 1,021,496 1,349,039 Queensland University of Technology 7 2 28.6 1,012,074 1,352,010 The University of Queensland 16 7 43.8 3,472,319 4,858,447 University of Southern Queensland 2 0 0.0 0 0 University of the Sunshine Coast 2 0 0.0 0 0 South Australia 17 4 23.5 1,876,690 1,704,311 Flinders University 5 1 20.0 514,863 269,180 The University of Adelaide 11 3 27.3 1,361,827 1,435,131 University of South Australia 1 0 0.0 0 0 Tasmania 2 0 0.0 0 0 University of Tasmania 2 0 0.0 0 0 Victoria 49 12 24.5 5,933,850 8,717,471 Deakin University 4 2 50.0 957,863 1,241,460 La Trobe University 5 1 20.0 471,355 428,027 Monash University 9 2 22.2 989,868 1,779,867 RMIT University 14 5 35.7 2,484,719 3,792,790 The University of Melbourne 17 2 11.8 1,030,045 1,475,327 Western Australia 17 6 35.3 2,954,878 5,039,673 Curtin University 5 2 40.0 1,011,576 1,845,088 Edith Cowan University 2 0 0.0 0 0 Murdoch University 1 0 0.0 0 0 The University of Western Australia 9 4 44.4 1,943,302 3,194,585 Total 180 50 27.8 24,737,124 35,832,753 Industry Partners Australian companies, government entities and non-profit organisations will participate in the recommended projects as Key Industry and Other Industry Partners. International organisations will also contribute as Other Industry Partners. In total, there are 89 unique Key Industry Partners or Other Industry Partners involved with the 50 projects approved for funding, giving an average of 1.8 Industry Partners involved in each project. Together, they have pledged a total (cash and in-kind) of $19.2 million. This represents 78 cents from Industry Partners for every dollar funded by the ARC. Table 6. Industry Partner contributions by sector for approved Early Career Industry Fellowship 2025 applications. Type Cash In-Kind Total $ % $ % $ % Government Australian Federal 150,000 3.0 416,271 3.0 566,271 3.0 Australian state, territory and local 497,227 10.0 2,199,137 15.6 2,696,364 14.0 Sub-total 647,227 13.0 2,615,408 18.5 3,262,635 17.0 Industry Body Australian 3,796,924 74.7 7,677,589 54.3 11,474,513 59.7 International 195,000 3.8 160,000 1.1 355,000 1.9 Sub-total 3,991,924 78.4 7,837,589 55.4 11,829,513 61.5 Non-profit Australian 107,000 2.1 3,235,540 22.9 3,342,540 17.4 Sub-total 107,000 2.1 3,235,540 22.9 3,342,540 17.4 Other Other 340,000 6.7 423,000 3.0 763,000 4.0 Sub-total 340,000 6.7 423,000 3.0 763,000 4.0 Education Higher Education International 0 0.0 30,000 0.2 30,000 0.2 Sub-total 0 0.0 30,000 0.2 30,000 0.2 Total 5,086,151 100.0 14,141,537 100.0 19,227,688 100.0 Note: All percentages are shown using rounded figures, and as such may not sum to 100%. Gender The genders of the applicants and awardees are: Table 7. Gender of Early Career Industry Fellowship 2025 candidates and approved awardees. Gender Applications considered % of Applications considered Applications approved Success rate (%) Woman or Female 66 36.7 21 32 Man or Male 110 61.1 29 26.4 Unspecified 1 0.6 0 0 Non-binary 1 0.6 0 0 Prefer not to answer 2 1.1 0 0 Total 180 100 50 27.8 Note: All percentages are shown using rounded figures, and as such may not sum to 100%. 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 8). Table 8. Citizenship/residency status of Early Career Industry Fellowship 2025 candidates and approved Awardees. Citizenship/residency status Applications considered % of Applications considered Applications approved Success rate (%) Foreign Nationals 31 17.2 7 22.6 Resident Australians 144 80 43 29.9 Returning Australians 5 2.8 0 0 Total 180 100 50 27.8 Note: All totals and percentages are shown using rounded figures, and as such may not sum. International Collaboration Among 180 of the applications considered, applicants foreshadowed 79 instances of collaboration with researchers in 30 overseas locations. Of the applications recommended for funding, applicants foreshadowed 28 instances of collaboration with researchers in 15 overseas locations (Figure 1). Figure 1. International collaborations by location in approved Early Career Industry Fellowships 2025 applications. *The top 5 international collaboration locations are individually listed in Figure 1 and the remaining are grouped in the ‘Other’ category.