ELIGIBILITY EXEMPTION REQUEST
INSTRUCTIONS TO APPLICANTS
For Future Fellowships for funding commencing in 2016
Future Fellowship Candidates may submit an Eligibility Exemption Request to the ARC, provided
that they meet the criteria as set out in the Funding Rules for schemes under the Discovery
Programme 2016—Future Fellowships (the Funding Rules).
Eligibility Exemption Requests must be received by the ARC by the date and time provided on the
Important Dates page on the ARC website, unless otherwise advised. Please note that requests
must be submitted to the Research Office of the Administering Organisation of the Future
Fellowships proposal. The Research Office must then submit the request to the ARC by the
closing date and time.
The types of Future Fellowships Eligibility Exemption Requests available are:
Table 1
Type
Funding Rules
Section
Eligibility Exemption Requests definition
1 – Recognition of
research experience
B6.3.2 b(i)
The proposed Future Fellowship Candidate does not hold
a PhD but seeks recognition of research experience that
can be justified as equivalent to a PhD, gained between 1
March 2001 and 1 March 2011. The administering
organisation must provide support for this claim.
2 – Outside timing
requirements
B6.3.2 b(ii)
The proposed Future Fellowship Candidate’s
qualification(s) or research experience does not accord
with the timing requirements of having been awarded a
PhD on or after 1 March 1994, and they are able to
demonstrate periods of significant career interruption
(between the PhD award date and the closing time of
submission of Proposals) which if taken into account
would be commensurate with a PhD being awarded on or
after 1 March 2001, Applications for variation of timing
will not be approved if the researcher was awarded their
PhD after 1 March 2011 or before 1 March 1994 except as
provided for in subsection B6.5.4.
Candidates claiming an interruption under B6.5.3 (g) –
(Primary carer of a dependent child) - may claim a two
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year interruption for each dependent child and may be
eligible where there PhD was awarded earlier than 1
March 1994, provided that where eligible interruptions
are taken into account this would be commensurate with
a PhD awarded on or after 1 March 2001.
3 – Both
The proposed Future Fellowship Candidate is claiming
both type 1 and 2 as listed above.
Note that, as per subsection B6.3.3 of the Funding Rules, an Eligibility Exemption Request should
not be submitted if the Administering Organisation has determined that the Future Fellowship
Candidate’s qualification meets the level 10 criteria of the Australian Qualifications Framework
Second Edition January 2013 and proposed Future Fellowship Candidate’s qualification(s) or
experience accords with the timing requirements.
The following instructions explain how a proposed Future Fellowship Candidate should submit an
Eligibility Exemption Request through the ARC’s Research Management System (RMS).
Instructions for Future Fellowship Candidates
To complete an Eligibility Exemption Request form in RMS, please log into RMS as a participant
and select ‘FT16 Round 1’ from the drop-down menu under the ‘Applicant Proposals’ section of
the Action Centre. Once you have selected ‘FT16 Round 1’ from the drop down menu, click the
‘Create Eligiblity Exemption’ button. Please ensure that your Qualifications and Employment
History are up to date in RMS before starting.
When completing the form, please ensure that all fields are completed with the most relevant
and up to date information. The Eligibility Exemption Request form requires the following
information:
Participant Name:
(This questions must be answered)
This question is auto-populated with your title, first name and surname from your Personal
Profile in RMS.
Proposal’s Administering Organisation:
(This questions must be answered)
From the drop down menu, select the Eligible Organisation that will submit the FT16 Proposal
and the Eligibility Exemption Request.
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Proposal Title:
(This questions must be answered)
Please enter the title that you intend to use in the Proposal application form.
Note: If the Exemption Request is upheld, the title in the proposal does not need to be an exact
match of the Exemption Request title.
Exemption Request Type:
(This questions must be answered)
Select the relevant exemption request type from the drop down menu. Please refer to Table 1,
for the types and their definitions.
Justification Statement:
(This questions must be answered)
In no more than 3000 characters, please provide a justification statement outlining the special
circumstances in support of the Eligibility Exemption Request application.
Employment History:
(This questions must be answered)
This field is automatically populated from your RMS profile. If the details that appear are
incorrect, they can be updated by selecting the ‘Manage Employment Details’ link. Any updates
made to your RMS profile will then be reflected in the Eligibility Exemption Request form.
Indicate if the employment contract includes any research related activity and the Full-Time
Equivalent status (FTE) of the position(s) (between 0.1 and 1).
Relevant Qualifications:
(This questions must be answered)
Please select the qualification most relevant to the proposal that you will be submitting by
ticking the box next to the relevant qualification.
Note: This field is automatically populated from your RMS profile. If the details that appear are
incorrect, they can be updated by clicking the ‘Manage Qualification Details’ link. Any updates
made to the RMS profile will then be reflected in the Eligibility Exemption Request form.
Career Interruptions:
To add a career interruption, click the ‘Add Answer’ button under the Career Interruptions
question. The following questions will then become mandatory:
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Type of Interruption:
Select the Interruption you are claiming from the drop-down menu.
The following types of interruption will be considered:
a) carer’s responsibility
b) disruption due to international relocation for post-doctoral studies or other research
employment not exceeding three months per international relocation;
c) illness;
d) maternity or parental leave;
e) unemployment;
f) non-research employment not concurrent with research employment; and
g) the primary care of a dependent child (inclusive of carer’s responsibility and any
maternity or partner/parental leave), two years per dependent child.
Start Date
Enter the date the career interruption commenced. The start date must be in the following
format: DD/MM/YYYY.
End Date
Enter the date the career interruption ended. The end date must be in the following format:
DD/MM/YYYY.
Full Time Equivalent
Enter the Full Time Equivalent (FTE) of the interruption.
Total Full Time Equivalent in Days
The ‘Total Full Time Equivalent in Days’ is auto-populated by RMS using the FTE multiplied by the
period of interruption.
Did the Employment contract include research related activity?
This question must be answered for all types of interruption. For primary carer’s of dependent
children, claiming 2 years or more, the answer to this question should be ‘no’.
Note: Career interruptions of less than one month will not be considered.
For instances where a Candidate claims primary carer’s leave, carer’s leave, parental leave or
illness, the relevant career interruptions with corresponding FTE level should be entered
separately in the ‘career interruptions’ table and the details of the part-time work with
remaining FTE should be entered in the ‘Employment History’ section.
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Supporting Documentation: It is mandatory to provide supporting documentation for all types
of interruptions with the exception of those associated with being the primary carer of a
dependent child. Note that by submitting the application the Administering Organisation is
certifying that the information provided is complete, accurate and not misleading, including
career interruption claims for primary care. Each Eligibility Exemption Request is permitted up to
ten A4 pages of relevant supporting documents which provide justification for the request.
Please ensure that these documents are merged into one complete PDF document.
Supporting Documentation may include the following:
 Employment contract or statement of employment letter;
 Passport;
 Birth certificate;
 Letter from past/current employer outlining employment arrangements;
 Medical certificate; and
 Statutory Declaration.
The Administering Organisation is responsible for ensuring the supporting documentation is
appropriate and reliable.
To submit the Eligibility Exemption Request, please ensure that all information requested by the
ARC has been provided and click the ‘Save’ and ‘Close’ buttons. Return to the ‘Eligibility
Exemptions’ screen and you may select ‘Submit to Research Office’. The Eligibility Exemption
Request will be submitted to the Administering Organisation’s Research Office.
Instructions for Research Office staff
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
The Research Office must review the Eligibility Exemption Request submitted by the Future
Fellowship Candidate and submit it to the ARC by the closing date and time on the
Important Dates page of the ARC website, unless otherwise advised.
From the Action Centre select ‘Research Office Eligibility Exemptions’. You can now view
and edit the Eligibility Exemption Requests.
Please note Research Office staff are not able to complete an Eligibility Exemption
Request on behalf of an participant however, once a participant has added in the
‘Proposal’s Administering Organisation’ section of the Eligibility Exemption Request form,
the Research Office is able to ‘Edit’, ‘Return to draft’ (return to the applicant), ‘Submit to
ARC’ and ‘Submit to Research Office’ (on behalf of the applicant).
A decision regarding the Eligibility Exemption Request, will be notified as a network
message to the Research Administrators Network advising Research Offices that outcomes
are available. The Research Office and the Future Fellowship Candidate will be required to
log into RMS to view the details of the decision.
In submitting an Eligibility Exemption Request to the ARC, the Administering Organisation
is certifying that the information provided is complete, accurate and not misleading.
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ARC Contacts:
If further assistance is required, please contact the Future Fellowships team at ARCFutureFellowships@arc.gov.au or by phone on (02) 6287 6600.
For RMS technical assistance, please contact the RMS Helpdesk at rms@arc.gov.au or by phone
on (02) 6287 6789.
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