Selection Report: Mid-Career Industry Fellowships 2025

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 Mid-Career Industry Fellowship scheme are to:

strengthen the industry collaboration skills of mid-career researchers;
develop and supervise research, which may include the participation of Higher Degree by Research (HDR) students and early-career researchers (ECRs), that fosters the development of industry collaboration, commercialisation and translation skills; and
deliver significant, actionable outcomes for industry partners and research end-users.

Selection process

Applications for Mid-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 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 on the basis of 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 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 Unless otherwise specified, data represented in this report excludes withdrawn applications.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 Mid-Career Industry Fellowships 2025 were assessed and merit ranked using the following assessment criteria:

a. Investigator/Capability (50%)

Research Opportunity and Performance Evidence (ROPE), including a demonstrated track-record of excellent research outputs appropriate to the discipline/s
Demonstrated capability to lead research projects in collaboration with industry; and
Demonstrated capability to effectively supervise and mentor HDR students and ECRs in industry and/or university settings.

b. Project Quality and Innovation (20%)

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 recent international 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 significant, actionable outcomes for the industry partner(s) and research end-users;
Significant 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 significant commercial, economic, environmental, cultural and/or social benefit for Australia.

Assessment process

The ARC assessment process for Mid-Career Industry Fellowships 2025 involved 21 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 523 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 Industry Fellowships Program (IFP) Grant Guidelines (2024 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 $222,950 (2024$) per year includes 30 per cent 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 147 applications for Mid-Career Industry Fellowships for funding commencing in 2025.

25 Mid-Career Industry Fellows are approved for funding commencing in 2025, shown in Table 1. The overall success rate for Mid-Career Industry Fellowships for funding commencing in 2025 is 17 per cent. The total indicative funding recommended is $28.1 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, one was found not to meet eligibility requirements.

Table 1. Mid-Career Industry Fellows approved for funding commencing in 2025.

Fellowship candidate	Administering Organisation
Associate Professor Shane Ellis	University of Wollongong
Associate Professor Jingwei Hou	The University of Queensland
Associate Professor Liton Kamruzzaman	Monash University
Associate Professor Gang Li	The University of Melbourne
Professor Jun Li	Curtin University
Associate Professor Bin Luo	The University of Queensland
Professor Esteban Marcellin	The University of Queensland
Associate Professor Thanh Vinh Nguyen	The University of New South Wales
Professor Emily Nicholson	The University of Melbourne
Associate Professor Ilyse Resnick	University of Canberra
Doctor Anne Sawyer	The University of Queensland
Professor Kate Seear	La Trobe University
Doctor Hannah Siddle	The University of Queensland
Professor James Smith	Flinders University
Professor Pingan Song	University of Southern Queensland
Associate Professor Sally Staton	The University of Queensland
Professor Dawei Su	RMIT University
Doctor Clara Tran	The University of Sydney
Associate Professor Tony Travouillon	The Australian National University
Associate Professor Susanna Venn	Deakin University
Associate Professor Michelle Villeneuve	The University of Sydney
Professor Qilin Wang	University of Technology Sydney
Associate Professor Yang Yang	University of Technology Sydney
Doctor Cheng Zhang	The University of Queensland
Professor Zhanying Zhang	Queensland University of Technology

Table 2. Application numbers, success rates, requested and allocated funds for approved Mid-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	314	25	8	303,334,206	24,652,636	23,840,576	96.7
2024	109	25	22.9	116,512,663	26,675,545	25,695,428	96.3
2025	147	25	17	161,055,368	28,201,555	28,123,055	99.7

Table 3. Indicative funds for approved Mid-Career Industry Fellowship 2025 applications.

Budget item	2025–2026 ($)	2026–2027 ($)	2027-2028 ($)	2028-2029 ($)	TOTAL ($)
Mid-Career Industry Salary including on-costs	5,573,750	5,573,750	5,573,750	4,681,950	21,403,200
Project Funding	1,774,815	1,880,160	1,896,043	1,168,837	6,719,855
TOTAL	7,348,565	7,453,910	7,469,793	5,850,787	28,123,055

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 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	41	5	12.2	46,127,319	5,596,684	5,596,684	100
EIC	53	10	18.9	58,380,073	11,496,350	11,471,850	99.8
HSE	38	6	15.8	40,165,882	6,843,587	6,795,587	99.3
MPCE	15	4	26.7	16,382,094	4,264,934	4,258,934	99.9
Total	147	25	17	161,055,368	28,201,555	28,123,055	99.7

*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 $28.1 million of ARC indicative funding recommended, 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 $29.4 million.

Outcomes by Administering Organisation

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

Table 5. Participating 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	4	2	50.0	2,115,008	3,312,062
The Australian National University	3	1	33.3	949,250	2,617,126
University of Canberra	1	1	100.0	1,165,758	694,936
New South Wales	31	6	19.4	6,624,222	7,853,673
Macquarie University	3	0	0.0	0	0
The University of New England	1	0	0.0	0	0
The University of New South Wales	9	1	11.1	1,181,800	1,594,396
The University of Newcastle	3	0	0.0	0	0
The University of Sydney	10	2	20.0	2,133,514	2,248,296
University of Technology Sydney	3	2	66.7	2,128,028	3,488,214
University of Wollongong	2	1	50.0	1,180,880	522,767
Queensland	40	9	22.5	10,031,868	10,613,876
Griffith University	5	0	0.0	0	0
James Cook University	1	0	0.0	0	0
Queensland University of Technology	9	1	11.1	1,146,592	2,253,612
The University of Queensland	23	7	30.4	7,725,476	6,882,013
University of Southern Queensland	1	1	100.0	1,159,800	1,478,251
University of the Sunshine Coast	1	0	0.0	0	0
South Australia	12	1	8.3	1,133,337	775,279
Flinders University	4	1	25.0	1,133,337	775,279
The University of Adelaide	5	0	0.0	0	0
University of South Australia	3	0	0.0	0	0
Tasmania	3	0	0.0	0	0
University of Tasmania	3	0	0.0	0	0
Victoria	52	6	11.5	7,058,420	5,565,731
Deakin University	7	1	14.3	1,181,800	619,220
La Trobe University	8	1	12.5	1,181,367	604,228
Monash University	10	1	10.0	1,181,620	789,489
RMIT University	9	1	11.1	1,150,033	755,954
Swinburne University of Technology	2	0	0.0	0	0
The University of Melbourne	15	2	13.3	2,363,600	$2,796,840
Victoria University	1	0	0.0	0	0
Western Australia	5	1	20.0	1,160,200	1,299,341
Curtin University	2	1	50.0	1,160,200	1,299,341
Murdoch University	1	0	0.0	0	0
The University of Western Australia	2	0	0.0	0	0
Total	147	25	17.0	28,123,055	29,419,962

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 66 unique Key Industry Partners or Other Industry Partners involved with the 25 projects recommended for funding, giving an average of 2.6 Industry Partners involved in each project.

Together, they have pledged a total (cash and in-kind) of $18.1 million. This represents 64 cents from Industry Partners for every dollar funded by the ARC.

Table 6. Industry Partner contributions by sector for approved Mid-Career Industry Fellowship 2025 applications.

Type	Cash		In-Kind		Total
	$	%	$	%	$	%
Government
Australian Federal	334,825	4.8	558,152	5.0	892,977	4.9
Australian state, territory and local	1,020,000	14.6	2,031,935	18.3	3,051,935	16.9
Sub-total	1,354,825	19.3	2,590,087	23.4	3,944,912	21.8
Industry Body
Australian	5,263,544	75.1	5,716,128	51.6	10,979,672	60.7
International	60,000	0.9	333,000	3.0	393,000	2.2
Sub-total	5,323,544	76.0	6,049,128	54.6	11,372,672	62.9
Non-profit
Australian	325,666	4.7	574,556	5.2	900,222	5.0
Sub-total	325,666	4.7	574,556	5.2	900,222	5.0
Other
Other	0	0.0	81,360	0.7	81,360	0.5
Sub-total	0	0.0	81,360	0.7	81,360	0.5
Education
Higher Education International	0	0.0	1,791,000	16.1	1,791,000	10.0
Sub-total	0	0.0	1,791,000	16.1	1,791,000	10.0
Total	7,004,035	100.0	11,086,131	100.0	18,090,166	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 Mid-Career Industry Fellowship 2025 candidates and approved awardees.

Gender	Applications considered	% of Applications considered	Applications approved	Success rate (%)
Woman or Female	52	35.4	9	17.3
Man or Male	93	63.3	15	16.1
Unspecified	2	1.4	1	50
Total	147	100	25	17

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 Mid-Career Industry Fellowship 2025 candidates and approved Awardees.

Citizenship/residency status	Applications considered	% of Applications considered	Applications approved	Success rate (%)
Foreign Nationals	2	1.4	0	0
Resident Australians	144	98	25	17.4
Returning Australians	1	0.7	0	0
Total	147	100	25	17

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

International Collaboration

Among 147 of the applications considered, applicants foreshadowed 110 instances of collaboration with researchers in 33 overseas locations. Of the applications approved for funding, applicants foreshadowed 26 instances of collaboration with researchers in 11 overseas locations (Figure 1).

Figure 1. International collaborations by location in approved Mid-Career Industry Fellowships 2025 applications.