arc decra uqr&i information session · • a decra recipient must obtain legal right to work...

CRICOS Provider No 00025B

ARC DECRA

UQR&I Information Session

Nicole Thompson - Director, Research Management Office, UQR&I

Kate Hellings - A/Manager, Sponsored Research (Fellowships), UQR&I

Prof Andrew Whittaker - Professorial Research Fellow, AIBN

11 February 2016


Agenda

• UQ Performance in ARC Schemes

• ARC DECRA Scheme Overview:

o Objectives and Criteria

o Funding Rules

o Key Application Sections

• ARC DECRA Strategic Statement

• General Grant Writing Tips and Application Process

• Q&A


UQ Performance in DECRA (2012 – 2016)

• First in 2016 (27 awards)

• Cumulatively first in 2012-2016

o 144 DECRAs funded in total

o $52,705,278 total funds awarded

2012 2013 2014

Submitted Awarded

Success

Rate Submitted Awarded

Success


Success

Rate

UQ 213 34 16.0% 132 30 22.7% 150 30 20.0%

National 2159 277 12.8% 1281 200 15.6% 1468 200 13.6%

2015 2016

Submitted Awarded

Success


Success

Rate

UQ 133 23 17.3% 131 27 20.6%

National 1394 200 14.3% 1220 200 16.4%


DECRA Scheme - Objectives

• Support excellent basic and applied research by early

career researchers;

• Advance promising early career researchers and promote

enhanced opportunities for diverse career pathways;

• Enable research and research training in high quality and

supportive environments;

• Expand Australia’s knowledge base and research

capability; and

• Enhance the scale and focus of research in the Science and

Research Priorities.


DECRA Scheme - Selection Criteria

Project Quality and Innovation (40%)

• Does the research address a significant problem?

• Is the conceptual/theoretical framework innovative and original?

• What is the potential for the research to contribute to the Science and Research Priorities?

• Will the aims, concepts, methods and results advance knowledge?

DECRA Candidate (35%)

• Research opportunity and performance evidence (ROPE)

• Time and capacity to undertake the proposed research


DECRA Scheme - Selection Criteria

Project Research Environment (15%)

• Is there a supportive and collaborative research environment?

• Will the project provide the capacity and opportunity to develop an

independent record of innovative, high quality research?

• Are the necessary facilities available to complete the Project?

• Are there adequate strategies to encourage dissemination,

commercialisation, and promotion of research outcomes?

Feasibility and Benefit (10%)

• Are the design of the project and expertise of the participants sufficient to

ensure the project can be completed with the budget and timeframe?

• Will the completed project produce innovative economic, environmental,

social and/or cultural benefit to the Australian/international community?

• Will the proposed research be cost-effective and value for money?


ARC DECRA Funding Rules - 2017

• Funding Rules for all schemes under the Discovery Programme are in the one document (Parts A and D)

• However remember that documentation for ARC schemes are not available in either a single document or location – ensure that you have downloaded all relevant documents and templates


ARC DECRA Funding Rules - Eligibility

• A DECRA Candidate must at the closing time of submission of Proposals:

o have been awarded a PhD on or after 1 March 2011; or

o have obtained approval from the ARC via submission of an Eligibility Exemption Request for having been awarded a PhD awarded on or after 1 March 2007, with periods of eligible career interruption which if taken into account would be commensurate with being PhD being awarded on or after 1 March 2011.

• Eligibility Exemption Requests closed 27 January 2016.

• A researcher may only apply for up to two DECRAs over the period in which they are eligible.


ARC DECRA Funding Rules – Project Limits

• Within the Discovery Programme a researcher can be funded for a maximum of:

a. two Projects as a CI, or

b. one ARC Fellowship or ARC Award, and one Project as a CI

• CIs on funded ARC CoE, Industrial Transformation Research Hubs/Centres, or SRIs may only apply for or hold one Project/Award/Fellowship under the Discovery Programme.

• A researcher cannot concurrently hold more than one ARC Fellowship or Award, and a holder of an ARC Fellowship or Award cannot concurrently hold a Fellowship from another Commonwealth funding agency. Successful DECRA Recipients would be required to relinquish other Commonwealth fellowships prior to the commencement of the DECRA.


ARC DECRA Funding Rules – Medical Research

• The ARC Medical Research Policy defines research ineligible for ARC support:

o research with human health and/or medical goals; or

o research involving the use or development of animal models of human health conditions, or the use of animals for the development or testing of therapeutic goods or procedures, for the purposes of better understanding human health or developing treatments for human health conditions; or

o interventional research in humans, particularly clinical or pre-clinical trials of therapeutic goods, or research aiming to modify the health of the human participants; or

o the use or development of equipment, facilities, tools, games, devices, smart phone applications or other items to understand, diagnoses, monitor, manage or treat human health conditions.

Remember to take care when selecting FoR Codes


ARC DECRA Funding Rules - Candidate

• A DECRA Recipient must be an employee at the Administering Organisation for the duration of the Award.

• A DECRA Recipient must obtain legal right to work and reside in Australia for the duration of the Award and cannot spend more than one third of the duration of the Award overseas or engaged in international travel.

• The DECRA is awarded on a full-time basis but can be converted to (or from) part-time to fulfil family and/or carer responsibilities.

• Expected to spend a minimum of 20% at Admin Org, and 80% of time on research activities related to the DECRA.

• May not engage in other professional employment without ARC approval.

• May spend 20% of time on teaching annually.


ARC DECRA Funding Rules - Funding

• A DECRA recipient may be awarded ARC funding of up to $137,708 per year for three years (salary & project costs).

• Up to a maximum of $40,000 project costs.

• Clause A5.2 – Budget Items Supported. In addition, the DECRA scheme allows:

a. up to one HDR stipend per Proposal (may be divided amongst more than one person, for example two students at 0.5 FTE each);

b. travel costs essential to the Project may be supported, including economy travel costs for domestic and/or international travel, up to $50,000 over the life of the Project.

• Key Change - the restriction on travel costs being permitted ‘for the DECRA recipient only’ has been removed. All travel budget requests must still be essential to the research project and justified accordingly.


ARC DECRA Funding Rules - Funding

• Clause A5.3 Budget Items Not Supported – include:

o bench fees or similar laboratory access fees;

o capital works and general infrastructure costs;

o costs not directly related to research or the proposed Project. Examples include but are not limited to: professional membership fees, fees for patent application, visas, relocation costs, costs of dependants and insurance; and

o fees for international students or the Higher Education Contribution Scheme (HECS) and Higher Education Loan Program (HELP) liabilities for students.


ARC DECRA Application – Key Sections

A4 – Proposal Summary:

• Write this for non-expert in your research field

• Aims, Significance, Expected Outcomes and Benefits

• Do not use first person language

A5 – Impact Statement:

• Demonstrable contribution beyond academia (economy, society, culture, national security, public policy or services, health, the environment or quality of life)

• Outline the intended path to impact of the proposed research –use the ARC Research Impact Principles and Framework as a guide - http://www.arc.gov.au/research-impact-principles-and-framework

Don’t forget the word cloud!

http://www.arc.gov.au/research-impact-principles-and-framework



C7 - Details on your career and opportunities for research:

• Establishes your opportunities for research and sets the context against which your performance evidence (C8 and C9) is evaluated.

• Give an indication of the percentage of time you currently spend and

have spent in roles including research-only, teaching and research,

administration, industry etc.

• Don’t forget to mention career interruptions

C9 - Statement on your research impact and contributions to the research field of this Proposal:

• Describe your significant research findings and impact on the field

• Quality of publications (citations, who cites your work, bibliometrics)

• Awards and prizes, membership of learned societies

• Involvement in peer review and academic community



D1 – Project Description (8 pages, including references):

Must use the ARC’s heading structure:

• Project Title

• Aims and Background

• Project Quality and Innovation

• Project Research Environment

• Feasibility and Benefit

• DECRA Candidate

• Management of Data

• References



E1 – Project Cost

• Use correct budget category – Personnel, Equipment, Maintenance, Fieldwork Expenses, Travel, Other

• Do not include GST in your costs

• No Administering Organisation cash contributions

• Ensure that each budget item requested can be fully justified in terms of need and cost in Part F1.

F1, G1 and G2 – Use the UQR&I templates

• Key Change – in the previous round, G1 Research Support question only included sources of Research Support other than the ARC. For this round, include current submitted ARC Proposals, newly funded ARC Projects (not showing at C10), and sources other than the ARC.


ARC DECRA Strategic Statement


ARC DECRA – Strategic Statement

D2 – Strategic Statement

• Indicates that the DECRA Proposal aligns with a core

and/or emerging research strength of the

Administering Organisation;

• Describes the level of resources to be provided to

support the successful DECRA Candidate; and

• Details opportunities for the DECRA Candidate to

demonstrate the level of independence required to be

competitive for research and/or research and teaching

pathways at the Administering Organisation during and

after the project.


Process

• UQR&I is providing a template.

• No “one size fits all” approach - must be about you and

your fit to UQ research strengths/school research strategy.

• DECRA candidate to draft the body of Statement (with

assistance as needed School/Faculty/Institute).

• Full draft Statement to be included when the application is

submitted internally for UQR&I review.

• UQR&I will provide strategic comment on the Statement,

and any further suggestions for improvement.

• UQR&I will arrange DVC(Research) signature and upload

the Statement once it is finalised.



Consider the strategic fit of the applicant and their

project

Why do we seek to appoint:

• Person – ie, someone like you

• Project – undertaking the work proposed in

DECRA

• Place – in this research area

• At UQ (not necessarily just in your org unit)

• At this point in the development of this

research strength/emerging strength at UQ



1. Introduction

• An Executive Summary of the DECRA

applicant including career highlights – what

makes you and your work interesting and

unique?

• Setting the scene for the sections that follow

about strategic fit, support, trajectory and

independence



2. Alignment with Core or Emerging Research

Strengths

• Fit between the DECRA & research strengths

(or emerging areas)

• How does The Person and The Project fit with,

and complement, The Place



How well does the person/project align with UQ

• link the focus of DECRA & their work to UQ strength/s

and priorities - existing or emerging (be definite)

• detail how well Nominee aligns with UQ research

strengths or emerging priorities

• why is this research area an existing or emerging

strength at UQ? (international profile, critical mass of

key researchers or centres in this/related areas)

• ERA outcomes ... some detailed analysis of strength in

relevant related Fields of Research



3. Resources to Support the DECRA

• Positioning of the DECRA in a quality research

environment (supportive/collaborative …intellectual

and physical/infrastructural resources)

• Who will you work with? Alignment with specific

expertise of UQ researchers and/or collaborators

working in areas of strength.

• Level of support for the successful DECRA (eg

salary top-up, PhD student top-ups).



4. Independence, Career Pathways,

Capacity

• How will this DECRA develop the Career Pathways,

Independence and Research Capacity?

• How does the award of the DECRA open up career

opportunities after the project?

• What is the involvement of teaching in the DECRA in

terms of future career trajectories?

• How will the DECRA promote independence?

• How will research capacity be boosted?



What are our Plans for this area? UQ capacity

We need someone with these attributes because

• We are working towards …

• S/he will enable our existing human and physical

infrastructure to … (be used in innovative

ways)

• We have these colleagues, whom s/he will

enhance by …

• We have … available support



National Capacity

More broadly, how might this DECRA help develop the

National Research Capacity

Possible links to statements about collaboration with

Industry &/or

Research institutions &/or

other disciplines, research capabilities, techniques



The Person: if you are a continuing UQ employee

You MUST strongly justify how the DECRA

• will enhance their research capacity and UQ’s

• will facilitate this at this time

• NEVER “more time to do more of the same”

Why award a DECRA to this applicant?

Why now?



Overlap between D1 Research Environment and D2

Strategic Statement:

• D1 context:

o focus on how the research environment at UQ will support the

project and foster independence

o written from the candidate’s perspective

• D2 context:

o focus on how the DECRA candidate is positioned within the

research environment at UQ

o Institutional affirmation of support (intellectual, physical and

developmental environment, pathways, plus cash/in-kind)



Selection

Criteria

Is there supportive and

collaborative research

environment?

Will an independent track

record of innovative,

quality research be

developed?

Are the necessary facilities

available to complete the

project?

Are there adequate

strategies to encourage

dissemination,

commercialisation, if

appropriate, and

promotion of research

outcomes?


UQ Strategies & Examples

Describe the research environment at UQ:

• Context: physical & intellectual environment in which

you work.

• Context: mentoring and collaboration (within School,

across UQ, nationally and internationally)

• UQ Research Strengths

http://www.uq.edu.au/research/research-at-uq/research-

strengths and other measures of a quality environment

(eg 2015 ERA Rankings).

• Development of an independent career trajectory

(rather than ‘further funding for your current supervisor’s

group’), career development pathways and UQ training

courses/internal grant schemes

Relevant UQ facilities (imaging, microscopy,

library, animal house)

School/Institute facilities (labs, or specialist

environment/equipment)

Outline your plans for communicating research

results – both scholarly and to the general

public.

http://www.uq.edu.au/research/research-at-uq/research-strengths


ARC DECRA – General Tips

and UQ application process


DECRA 2016 Statistics – years since PhD

Years since

award of

PhD

No. of

considered

proposals

% of

considered

proposals

No. of

approved

proposals

% of

approved

proposals

0–1 112 9.2% 20 10.0%

1–2 149 12.2% 29 14.5%

2–3 176 14.4% 26 13.0%

3–4 267 21.9% 31 15.5%

4–5 378 31% 62 31.0%

5–6 96 7.9% 23 11.5%

6–7 20 1.6% 4 2.0%

7–8 13 1.1% 4 2.0%

8–9 9 0.7% 1 0.5%

Total 1220 200


ARC DECRA - General Grant Writing Tips

• Awareness of your ARC College of Experts Panel is an important consideration – Who are the members? What are their areas of expertise? Know your audience!

* Biological Sciences and Biotechnology (BSB)

* Engineering, Mathematics and Informatics (EMI)

* Humanities and Creative Arts (HCA)

* Physics, Chemistry and Earth Sciences (PCE)

* Social, Behavioural and Economic Sciences (SBE)

http://arc.gov.au/about_arc/college.htm

http://arc.gov.au/about_arc/college.htm



• UQ spends more time and energy on internal feedback than most institutions (and ARC acknowledges the value of this).

• UQ’s supporting structures for grant writing are there for you –take advantage of them

• Seek feedback on your full grant proposal from:

o A discipline expert – this mirrors the ARC expert reader

o A very broad cognate discipline reader – for example, someone from one of the ‘adjacent disciplines’ represented on your College of Experts Panel – this mirrors the College Member



• School/Faculty/Institute Peer Review mechanisms offer valuable input.

• UQ Grant Writing Skills Seminars give grant applicants additional insights: academically, strategically and technically.

• UQ Library Bibliometrics Grant Writing Workshops discuss metrics and counts used to represent impact and strength of research.

• UQR&I internal closing dates are important: the ‘research office’ checking process provides critical eligibility and compliance advice. It also provides strategic input wherever possible, especially for Fellowships/Awards, Strategic Statements and niche schemes.



Be as concrete and explicit as possible

Document all claims of excellence or uniqueness

Know your audience (applications are assessed by intelligent

non-experts)

X No local acronyms, no organizational peculiarities

X I have a heavy teaching load

X "I am famous, internationally renowned, world-leading

expert”…


DECRA 17 - Application Process

Submit application to UQR&I for internal review - once your full proposal and all of its attachments are ready (and valid) in RMS, you will need to submit internally as follows:

• Submit online to UQR&I by pressing the ‘Submit to Research Office’ button on the Action Centre home page.

• Email [email protected] to advise that the application is ready for review. Please attach to this e-mail:

o a scan of your completed and signed UQ Coversheet;

o a scan of your completed and signed Certification Proforma;

o where relevant, your completed Request not to Assess form;

o a word document of your Part D2 Strategic Statement.

UQR&I Due Date: Tuesday 1 March 2016

UQR&I will review and provide feedback to applicant. Final submission instructions will be provided with review.

mailto:[email protected]


DECRA 17 – UQR&I Scheme Contacts

Email

• [email protected]

RMS Help

• http://www.uq.edu.au/research/research-management/arc-rmsor

• [email protected]

Research Grants Unit Contacts webpage

• http://www.uq.edu.au/research/contact-us


http://www.uq.edu.au/research/research-management/arc-rms


http://www.uq.edu.au/research/contact-us


UQ Library Bibliometrics Sessions for ECRs

Session details

Thursday February 11, 2016, 2:00pm to 3:00pm (repeat),

St Lucia - Duhig Building, eZone 3

Monday February 15, 2016, 12:00pm to 1:00pm (repeat),

St Lucia - Duhig Building, eZone 3

Bookings via

https://www.library.uq.edu.au/training/#Research%20Skills

https://www.library.uq.edu.au/training/


DECRA 17 – Q&A

QUESTIONS?

arc decra uqr&i information session · • a decra recipient must obtain legal right to work...

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