Linkage Projects
Selection Report
For Funding Commencing in 2015
Linkage Projects
Selection Report for Funding Commencing in 2015
Overview
The Linkage Projects scheme funds collaborative projects between University researchers and
Partner Organisations. Proposals for funding commencing in 2015 opened on 16 September
2014, and closed on 12 November 2014. This report outlines recommendations from the
selection process for that round.
The objectives of the Linkage Projects scheme are to:

support the initiation and/or development of long-term strategic research alliances
between higher education organisations and other organisations, including industry and
end-users, in order to apply advanced knowledge to problems and/or to provide
opportunities to obtain national economic, social or cultural benefits;

build the scale and focus of research in the Strategic Research Priorities;

provide opportunities for researchers to pursue internationally competitive research in
collaboration with organisations outside the higher education sector, targeting those who
have demonstrated a clear commitment to high-quality research; and

encourage growth of a national pool of world-class researchers to meet the needs of the
broader Australian innovation system.
Page 2 of 12
Selection Process
ARC Executive Directors, assisted by ARC staff, prepared funding recommendations for
submission to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO). The recommendations were based on
advice from the ARC College of Experts which:





assigned independent assessors to review the proposals;
assessed proposals and reviewed assessments made by independent assessors;
reviewed applicants’ comments on assessors’ reports;
ranked each proposal relative to the others on the basis of the proposal, the
assessors’ reports and applicants’ responses to those assessments; and
assessed and recommended budgets.
and, on advice from the ARC Eligibility Committee which:



considered eligibility issues identified by ARC staff, the ARC College of Experts
or independent assessors;
where required, sought advice from institutions with respect to issues raised; and
made recommendations to the CEO in respect of ineligible proposals.
This report reflects the recommendations of the ARC CEO to the Minister for Education and
Training, and the ministerially approved funding outcomes.
Selection Criteria
Selection criteria and corresponding weights for Linkage Projects proposals are:





Investigator(s)
Significance and Innovation
Approach and Training
Research Environment
Commitment from Partner Organisation(s)
(20%)
(25%)
(15%)
(10%)
(30%)
The ARC assessment and subsequent reporting process for Linkage Projects 2015 was managed
in the Research Management System (RMS), and used a total of 52 ARC College of Experts
members on four discipline panels. A total of 2305 independent assessor reports were submitted
to the ARC for Linkage Projects 2015.
Page 3 of 12
Summary of Outcomes
The ARC received a total of 711 proposals for Linkage Projects 2015, of which one proposal
was withdrawn. The overall success rate is 35.5 per cent, which represents a small decrease
from the success rate of 35.9 per cent in Linkage Projects 2014.
Table 1.
Comparison of proposal numbers, success rates, requested and allocated
funds for successful proposals from Linkage Projects from 2013 to 2015
Requested
Requested funds
Allocation as a
Funding Proposals Proposals Success funds over
over project life Funds allocated
percentage of
Year considered approved rate project life (all
(approved
over project life
request
proposals)
proposals)
2013
785
306
39.0% $304,720,415
$134,906,880
$101,809,345
75.5%
2014
699
251
35.9% $278,890,547
$116,033,006
$88,154,841
76.0%
2015
710
252
35.5% $294,055,484
$110,351,748
$86,927,155
78.8%
Approved Funding by Discipline Panel
Table 2.
Panel*
Comparison of proposal numbers, success rates and requested and allocated
funds for approved Linkage Projects 2015 proposals by discipline panel
Proposals
considered
Proposals
approved
Success
rate
Requested funds
over project life
(all proposals
considered)
149
52
34.9%
$68,999,948
$20,086,620
222
82
36.9%
$94,473,399
$27,361,690
216
75
34.7%
$78,755,162
$23,802,054
123
43
35.0%
$51,826,975
$15,676,791
710
252
35.5%
$294,055,484
$86,927,155
BEM
ET
HSE
PMI
Total
Approved funds
over project life
(approved
proposals)
*BEM = Biological Sciences, Biotechnology, Environmental, Medical and Health Sciences; ET = Engineering and
Technology; HSE = Humanities and Creative Arts, Social, Behavioural and Economic Sciences; PMI = Physical,
Mathematical and Information Sciences
Project Size
Table 3.
Average first year requested and allocated funding for approved proposals
Funding Year
2013
2014
2015
Average year 1 request
(approved proposals)
$152,978
$156,969
$140,324
Average year 1 allocation
(approved proposals)
$116,193
$120,038
$106,277
Percentage of
allocation
76.0%
76.5%
75.7%
Page 4 of 12
Leverage of ARC Funding
Of the 710 proposals considered, 252 were approved with a total approved funding, over the
life of these projects, of $86.9 million. There are 528 Partner Organisations involved with
these projects and they have pledged a total (cash and in-kind) of $153.2 million. This
represents $1.76 from Partner Organisations for every dollar funded by the ARC.
Selection Outcomes by Administering Organisation
Table 4.
Numbers of proposals, success rates, ARC approved funding and Partner
Organisation contributions for Linkage Projects 2015 proposals by
Administering Organisation
Partner
Organisation
contributions
(cash & in-kind)
over project life
(approved
proposals)
Proposals
considered
Proposals
approved
Success
rate
ARC approved
funding over
project life
(approved
proposals)
24
8
33.3%
$2,998,799
$5,855,570
5
0
0%
-
-
6
2
33.3%
$549,000
$693,897
4
1
25.0%
$191,394
*
11
2
18.2%
$565,378
$812,048
9
3
33.3%
$1,191,900
$2,068,270
66
32
48.5%
$10,287,431
$22,111,513
10
3
30.0%
$899,929
$1,415,522
38
16
42.1%
$6,589,240
$9,683,303
19
7
36.8%
$2,819,387
$5,409,380
11
2
18.2%
$525,233
$715,320
16
3
18.8%
$1,066,506
$1,950,636
1
1
100.0%
$353,806
*
Bond University
Central Queensland
University
1
0
0%
-
-
4
0
0%
-
-
Griffith University
James Cook
University
30
14
46.7%
$4,478,006
$7,273,716
6
2
33.3%
$778,519
$1,224,836
Queensland
41
16
39.0%
$4,124,054
$6,464,433
Administering
Organisation
Australian Capital
Territory
The Australian
National University
University of
Canberra
New South Wales
Australian Catholic
University
Charles Sturt
University
Macquarie
University
Southern Cross
University
The University of
New South Wales
The University of
Newcastle
The University of
Sydney
University of
Technology,
Sydney
University of
Western Sydney
University of
Wollongong
Northern
Territory
Charles Darwin
University
Queensland
Page 5 of 12
Partner
Organisation
contributions
(cash & in-kind)
over project life
(approved
proposals)
Proposals
considered
Proposals
approved
Success
rate
ARC approved
funding over
project life
(approved
proposals)
67
22
32.8%
$8,229,987
$14,045,991
7
1
14.3%
$219,959
*
4
3
75.0%
$1,423,835
$2,359,400
12
6
50.0%
$2,357,776
$3,875,156
25
9
36.0%
$3,065,561
$5,024,037
15
5
33.3%
$1,713,331
$2,658,041
16
5
31.3%
$2,057,620
$4,156,130
Deakin University
Federation
University
Australia
La Trobe
University
16
2
12.5%
$511,000
$1,221,291
2
0
0%
-
-
13
6
46.2%
$1,662,517
$2,187,873
Monash University
57
17
29.8%
$4,904,240
$8,633,981
RMIT University
Swinburne
University of
Technology
The University of
Melbourne
32
6
18.8%
$1,806,200
$2,701,089
10
5
50.0%
$1,518,000
$2,099,631
62
30
48.4%
$11,178,512
$20,176,315
Victoria University
7
2
28.6%
$509,467
$601,400
17
5
29.4%
$1,634,698
$2,331,284
3
0
0%
-
-
9
4
44.4%
$1,541,755
$4,337,321
1
0
0%
-
-
33
12
36.4%
$5,174,115
$9,744,811
710
252
35.5%
$86,927,155
$153,160,565
Administering
Organisation
University of
Technology
The University of
Queensland
University of
Southern
Queensland
University of the
Sunshine Coast
South Australia
The Flinders
University of South
Australia
The University of
Adelaide
University of South
Australia
Tasmania
University of
Tasmania
Victoria
Western Australia
Curtin University of
Technology
Edith Cowan
University
Murdoch
University
The University of
Notre Dame
Australia
The University of
Western Australia
Total
*For confidentiality reasons, total contributions by Partner Organisations are not shown in instances in which Administering
Organisations are associated with one approved proposal only. The Table 4 total does, however, include the total
contributions by Partner Organisations on approved Projects associated with those Administering Organisations.
Page 6 of 12
Partner Organisations were identified as Australian, international, government, non-profit,
industry or overseas higher education organisations. The Partner Organisation contributions in
these categories for Linkage Projects 2015 proposals approved for funding are shown below
in Table 5.
Table 5.
Partner Organisation contributions by sector for approved Linkage Projects
2015 proposals
Type
In-kind
Cash
Government
Australian Federal
Government
Australian state,
territory & local
governments
International
governments
Subtotal
Industry
Australian
International
Subtotal
Non-profit
Australian
International
Subtotal
Total
$
%
$
%
$
%
1,088,150
2.33
3,673,243
3.45
4,761,393
3.11
9,334,876
20.0
23,912,348
22.45
33,247,224
21.71
179,445
0.38
441,507
0.41
620,952
0.41
10,602,471
22.71
28,027,098
26.31
38,629,569
25.23
19,002,908
40.72
37,895,310
35.58
56,898,218
37.15
8,583,763
18.39
13,616,741
12.79
22,200,504
14.49
27,586,671
59.11
51,512,051
48.37
79,098,722
51.64
3,890,258
8.34
15,628,691
14.68
19,518,949
12.74
977,225
2.09
1,645,521
1.55
2,622,746
1.71
4,867,483
10.43
17,274,212
16.23
22,141,695
14.45
0
0
0
0
0
0
502,492
1.08
4,352,878
4.09
4,855,370
3.17
502,492
1.08
4,352,878
4.09
4,855,370
3.17
3,108,232
6.66
5,326,977
5.0
8,435,209
5.51
3,108,232
6.66
5,326,977
5.0
8,435,209
5.51
46,667,349
100.0%
106,493,216
100.0%
153,160,565
100.0%
Education
Australian
International
Subtotal
Other
Other
Subtotal
Total
Note: All percentages are shown using rounded figures, and as such may not sum to 100%.
Page 7 of 12
Partnerships
Linkage Projects proposals represent partnerships between researchers, higher education
organisations and other organisations, as well as collaborations between Partner Organisations
within projects. These partnerships form congruent and/or complementary linkages in Fields
of Research (FoR). There are a total of 591 instances of collaboration with Partner
Organisations (including multiple collaborations with a number of organisations) in Linkage
Projects 2015 giving an average of 2.4 Partner Organisations involved in each proposal. A
summary of the FoR categories identified by applicants of approved proposals and the total
Partner Organisation contributions are shown below in Table 6.
Table 6.
Proposal data by Field of Research category for Linkage Projects 2015
Field of Research category
Number of
proposals
approved*
Agricultural and Veterinary Sciences
Biological Sciences
Built Environment and Design
Chemical Sciences
Commerce, Management, Tourism and Services
Earth Sciences
Economics
Education
Engineering
Environmental Sciences
History and Archaeology
Information and Computing Sciences
Language, Communication and Culture
Law and Legal Studies
Mathematical Sciences
Medical and Health Sciences
Philosophy and Religious Studies
Physical Sciences
Psychology and Cognitive Sciences
Studies in Creative Arts and Writing
Studies in Human Society
Technology
Total
6
20
6
6
8
11
6
7
75
17
7
19
6
1
1
6
1
7
9
9
12
12
252
Partner Organisation
contributions (cash & inkind) over project life
(approved proposals)
$2,878,243
$13,325,826
$2,322,495
$2,972,034
$4,603,570
$9,087,802
$1,485,829
$4,374,326
$42,428,476
$13,690,416
$5,447,019
$9,225,711
$2,376,614
*
*
$3,124,838
*
$7,443,228
$6,969,169
$5,580,971
$6,162,548
$7,571,031
$153,160,565
* Based on the primary FoR
*For confidentiality reasons, total contributions by Partner Organisations are not shown in instances in which Field of
Research categories are associated with one approved proposal only. The Table 6 total does, however, include the total
contributions by Partner Organisations on approved Projects associated with those Field of Research categories.
Page 8 of 12
International Collaboration
Figure 1. Instances of international collaboration on approved proposals in Linkage
Projects 2015
Table 7.
Instances of international collaboration in Linkage Projects 2015
Country
Austria
Proposals considered
4
Proposals approved
1
Bangladesh
1
0
Belgium
6
4
Brazil
4
3
Canada
15
9
Chile
1
1
China (excludes SARs and Taiwan)
75
18
Colombia
1
1
Czech Republic
2
1
Denmark
5
4
England
51
23
Fiji
1
1
Finland
4
2
France
20
9
Germany
17
7
Ghana
1
0
Greece
1
0
Guinea
1
0
Hong Kong (SAR of China)
6
4
Page 9 of 12
Hungary
1
1
Iceland
1
1
India
9
3
Indonesia
2
1
Ireland
1
1
Israel
2
1
Italy
4
1
Japan
12
9
Korea, Republic of (South)
5
2
Laos
1
0
Lithuania
1
0
Luxembourg
1
0
Malaysia
1
0
Mexico
1
1
Mongolia
1
0
Netherlands
14
6
New Zealand
16
9
Norway
5
3
Papua New Guinea
3
1
Peru
1
0
Philippines
3
2
Poland
1
1
Portugal
1
0
Russian Federation
3
1
San Marino
1
0
Saudi Arabia
1
1
Scotland
3
2
Singapore
8
5
Solomon Islands
1
1
South Africa
4
1
Spain
4
2
Sri Lanka
2
1
Sweden
6
2
Switzerland
12
7
Taiwan
2
1
Thailand
2
1
United Arab Emirates
1
0
117
50
2
0
472
206
United States of America
Vietnam
Total
Page 10 of 12
Age and Gender
A total of 3306 participants were named on all proposals considered in this round. Of these,
854 are female and 2443 are male (a small number of participants did not provide gender
information). Figure 2 shows the number of participants in the round by age and gender, and
Figure 3 shows the success rate of participants in the round by age and gender. The success
rate for female and male participants in this round of Linkage Projects proposals is 34.1 per
cent and 36.4 per cent respectively. The success rates for each gender have been quite similar
over the last nine Linkage Projects rounds (Figure 4). 518 of the proposals considered had a
male lead CI, of which 191 were successful, representing a 36.9% success rate. 190 of the
proposals considered had a female lead CI, of which 60 were successful, representing a 31.6%
success rate.
Figure 2. Number of participants by age and gender for Linkage Projects 2015
450
Number of Participants
400
350
300
250
Female
200
Male
150
100
50
0
Participant Age Bracket
Figure 3.
Comparative success rates by participant age and gender for Linkage
Projects 2015
45%
40%
35%
Success Rate
30%
25%
20%
Female
15%
Male
10%
5%
0%
Participant Age Bracket
Page 11 of 12
Figure 4.
Comparison of Linkage Projects success rates between female and male
participants from 2010 to 2015
60%
Success Rate
50%
40%
48.0%
47.4%
51.5%
45.4%
45.9%
43.1%
46.3%
35.0%
44.1%
37.5%
40.8%
37.2%
36.4%
40.0%
30%
33.3%
36.2%
37.9%
34.1%
Female
20%
Male
10%
0%
2010 R1 2010 R2 2011 R1 2011 R2 2012 R1 2012 R2
2013
2014
2015
Linkage Projects Round
Strategic Research Priorities
Table 8.
Approved funding for Linkage Projects 2015 by Strategic Research Priority
Priority area
Lifting productivity and
economic growth
Living in a changing
environment
Managing our food and water
assets
Promoting population health and
wellbeing
Securing Australia's place in a
changing world
None selected
Total Proposals
Total priority proposals
Percentage within priority
area
Proposals
considered
Proposals
approved
Success
rate
Approved funds
over project life
285
96
33.7%
$34,885,485
145
53
36.6%
$19,393,832
66
20
30.3%
$6,837,491
153
62
40.5%
$19,400,075
37
11
29.7%
$3,354,481
24
710
686
10
252
242
41.7%
35.5%
35.3%
$3,055,791
$86,927,155
$83,871,364
96.6%
96.0%
96.5%
Page 12 of 12