John Stocker Postdoctoral Fellowships 2016
Overview
The Science and Industry Endowment Fund (SIEF) has funding available for up to 6
fellowships commencing in 2016.
The process of awarding fellowships will begin with an invitation to Australian universities
and Publically Funded Research Agencies (PFRA) and Research Institutes to submit
proposals. Preferentially, research projects will be collaborative projects between PRFAs and
universities. The proposal, which must be submitted via the University Research Office
(or equivalent), will identify the eligible Candidate, the proposed project, Lead supervisor
and any other collaborating partners. Proposals will be assessed by a panel of experts
drawn from universities, publicly funded research agencies and industry representatives.
SIEF is seeking applications that include a diverse range of Early Career Researchers in
order to ensure that it has the strongest field of candidates and projects from which to select.
Further information regarding the terms and conditions of the John Stocker Postdoctoral
Fellowship, including eligibility and funding documentation, can be found at www.sief.org.au.
Process and Timeline - 2015*
February 2015
Invitation to Australian universities and publicly funded
research agencies to submit proposals, targeted at
identifying projects with the highest potential for scientific
achievement and benefits to Australia. Collaborative
proposals must be supported by all collaborating entities.
Applications must identify the candidate Fellow.
A grant of $92,000 per annum for three years for each
proposal chosen will be awarded to the Lead Organisation
as a contribution towards the salary and on-costs of the
Postdoctoral Fellow.
Proposals, which include identification of the candidate
and written support of all collaborating organisations, are
to be submitted by 5pm (AEST) 31 July 2015.
Proposals will only be accepted if submitted electronically
by the Lead Organisation’s Research Office or equivalent.
31 July 2015
All proposals from an Organisation must be included on
the master spreadsheet (available from SIEF website) and
submitted to sief@sief.org.au.
Please note any internal Research Office deadlines
imposed by your Organisation.
SIEF will acknowledge receipt of applications including a
SIEF Reference number to lead Research Office or
equivalent. All future correspondence must include the
SIEF Reference number.
2
August-November 2015
Proposals will be assessed by expert Panels. An
outcomes spreadsheet listing the results for Proposals
submitted by your Organisation will be provided to the
Research Office or equivalent. Formal notification letters
for successful and unsuccessful proposals will be provided
to the Research Office for distribution to the proponents.
Funding Agreements will be forwarded to each successful
Lead Collaborator. Note that the Funding Agreement must
be completed and executed by all parties prior to
commencement of the Postdoctoral Fellow.
No later than 28 February 2016
or by when indicated in the
notification letter (whichever is
later)
Funding Agreement to be completed, signed by all
collaborators and collated by the Lead collaborator before
sending to SIEF for approval and final execution by SIEF.
1 April 2016
Milestone 1 report submitted and, upon approval, invoice
sent to SIEF.
30 June 2016
Commencement of Fellow must occur before this date.
Later commencement to be considered at the discretion of
the SIEF Trustee.
*The dates and procedures set out in this table are
indicative only and are subject to change.
Assessment Criteria for Research Proposals and Related Information
To be eligible for consideration, the project must be for research in areas that align with the
SIEF Purpose and Strategic Objectives. The project must align with the research priorities
and strategic direction of all the collaborating organisations.
The project must be of the highest calibre with the possibility of innovative and potentially
disruptive scientific outcomes; it must address issues of national priority and bring benefit to
Australia - the project must be of strategic importance to Australia. The proposal must clearly
provide background and details of the project, paying particular attention to what the
Postdoctoral Fellow will do.
The Lead Supervisor must be of the highest quality as judged by a variety of indicators
including publications and citations, national and international standing, conference
invitations, patents, awards and editorial/review activities.
The research group must be of the highest standard providing a broad spectrum of expertise,
and a dynamic and exciting research experience for the Postdoctoral Fellow.
The Fellowship must provide an excellent postdoctoral experience including a welldeveloped research capability, additional training in areas of importance to the development
of the Postdoctoral Fellow (eg scientific writing and seminar presentation; Commercialisation
and intellectual property), an enhanced research network, international exposure,
publications in high profile journals, and excellent career prospects.
The candidate Fellow is expected to be of a high calibre, with less than 3 years of
Postdoctoral experience.
Funding
Successful proposals will receive a grant of $92,000 per annum for 3 years towards the costs
of the Postdoctoral Fellow (that is, towards salary and direct on-costs) under the terms of a
3
Funding Agreement with the SIEF. The collaborators must agree to fund all other costs of the
project including equipment, consumables, travel and general overheads. It is anticipated
that the organisation(s) participating in the proposal will commit an aggregate of at least
$30,000 per annum to support the Postdoctoral Fellow. The level of commitment and its
expenditure should be identified in the submitted proposal.
Eligibility of Fellow
The Fellow must meet the following criteria:
(a)
awarded (or shortly to be awarded) a PhD degree in a discipline related to the
Project;
(b)
eligible to work in Australia;
(c)
on completion of the Fellowship, the candidate’s total relevant work experience since
confirmation of the candidate’s doctorate does not exceed six full-time equivalent
years;
(d)
available to commence role prior to 30 June 2016; and
(e)
be offered employment by the Lead Organisation as a designated post-doctoral fellow
for a period of not more than three years full-time.
Development and Training
A training and development plan must be developed in consultation with the Postdoctoral
Fellow. Usually, this will occur prior to commencement, so that obligations and expectations
are clarified before the Fellow accepts an offer of employment. If this is impractical, a broad
plan should be submitted by the lead organisation and followed up with a more detailed plan
no later than one month after commencement. The plan will be designed to facilitate the
development of the Fellow's capabilities to those expected of an independent researcher and
opportunity must be provided for the Fellow to apply those capabilities in their work, as they
develop.
The training and development plan will include defined opportunities for formal involvement
in research planning, conference attendance, publication and review of scientific papers and
fully funded training courses for skills development in relevant areas such as:
•
Intellectual Property
•
Commercialisation, licensing and legal issues
•
Elementary statistics
•
Writing papers for presentations and publication
•
Conference and meeting presentation skills
(Please delete the above section before submission)
Science and Industry Endowment Fund
John Stocker Postdoctoral Fellowships 2016
Project Proposal Form
This form must be completed for each proposal. All proposals must be endorsed by an
authorised officer of the Lead Organisation as well as each Collaborating Organisation, and
submitted via the Research Office or equivalent.
Proposals should adhere to the page limits as indicated at relevant sections (excluding the
appendices) and supply only the information requested. A minimum of 10 point font
should be used.
Please read the Guidelines at the end of this form before completing the proposal.
Section A – Details of Proposal
A1: Lead Organisation: Name of agency / university
A2: Who will be the primary supervisor of the postdoctoral fellow? (Nominate one
person only – see Guidelines)
Salutation:
First name:
Last name:
Mailing
address
Email:
Phone:
A3: Collaborating Organisation(s): Name of agency / university
A4: Who will be the co-supervisor of the Postdoctoral Fellow?
Salutation:
First name:
Last name:
Mailing
address
Email:
Phone:
A5: Proposed location of Postdoctoral Fellow: (should be the same as the primary
supervisor)
A6: Project title:
A7: Project description: [Use the headings as indicated]
Explain how the project is directed to furthering the interests of the Australian community,
industry or contributing to the achievement of Australia’s National Research Priorities.
How innovative/disruptive is the project likely to be:
1. Does the project really challenge the boundaries of knowledge?
2. Could the project result in disruptive innovation?
5
No confidential information should be included.
[2 Pages]
1. Background and details of the project:
2. What will the Postdoctoral Fellow do:
A8: State why you think this will be an excellent Postdoctoral experience, include
details of training opportunities: Note a training and development plan will be required
as part of Milestone 1 report
[1/2 Page]
A9: Indicate which Primary Field of Research (FOR) the project is relevant to: Please
indicate a maximum 1 FORs from the list below that best align with your project. FORs are
based on the Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC),
2008.
01
02
03
04
05
06
07
08
09
10
11
MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES
PHYSICAL SCIENCES
CHEMICAL SCIENCES
EARTH SCIENCES
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
AGRICULTURAL AND VETERINARY SCIENCES
INFORMATION AND COMPUTING SCIENCES
ENGINEERING
TECHNOLOGY
MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES
A10: Indicate which Secondary Field of Research (FOR) the project is relevant to:
Please indicate a maximum 1 FORs from the list below that next best align with your project.
FORs are based on the Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification
(ANZSRC), 2008.
01
02
03
04
05
06
MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES
PHYSICAL SCIENCES
CHEMICAL SCIENCES
EARTH SCIENCES
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
6
07
08
09
10
11
AGRICULTURAL AND VETERINARY SCIENCES
INFORMATION AND COMPUTING SCIENCES
ENGINEERING
TECHNOLOGY
MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES
A11: What contribution/ impact would the Fellow have on supervisor(s) research
program(s)?
[1/2 Page]
SECTION B – Details of Research Group and Supervisor(s)
B1: Brief description of the immediate group’s composition. Give names, affiliations,
locations, expertise, roles, and % EFT in the project:
[1/2 Page]
B2: List invitations to the supervisor(s) to speak at international conferences in the
last 2 years and indicate whether or not there was support from the conference:
Attach as an appendix
B3: Patents granted or applied for by the supervisor(s): (provide titles):
Attach as an appendix
B4: Publications of the supervisor(s) and all members of the group (separately) for the
last 5 years including references, journal impact factors and citations (provide in
tabular format – see page 2 of the Guidelines):
Attach as an appendix
B5: Other relevant information that supports the application including awards, lifetime
citations, editorial appointments etc: (see Guidelines following):
[1/2 Page]
SECTION C – Details of the Fellow
C1: Fellow information:
First
Last
Salutation:
Gender:
name:
name:
C2: Academic and relevant experience of Fellow. Also attach a brief CV as appendix
[1/4 Page]
C3: On completion of the Fellowship, the candidate’s total relevant
work experience since confirmation of the candidature’s doctorate will
not exceed six full-time equivalent years.
C4: Is the Fellow eligible to work in Australia?
C5: Has the Fellow been awarded (or is the Fellow shortly to be
awarded) a PhD?
SECTION D – Finance
D1: Funding information:
Yes
No
Yes
No
Yes
No
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Applicants Contributions
Instalment
Fellowship
Total
number
Funds (SIEF)
Lead
Collaborator 1 Collaborator 2
1
$92,000
$
$
$
$
2
$92,000
$
$
$
$
3
$92,000
$
$
$
$
D2: Details of the composition of the applicants contribution including cash and/or inkind (see Guidelines following):
SECTION E – Endorsement of Lead Organisation
Endorsement of the Lead Organisation
[Do not delete these conditions]
NOTE: By signing below, the signatory represents that he/she has authority to do so and
that, if successful, the Lead Organisation is agreeing to:
(a) provide the cash and/or in-kind contribution specified above, and that this contribution
combined with the contributions pledged by the Collaborating Organisations (if any) is
sufficient to support the postdoctoral fellowship if the proposal is successful; and
(b) The publication of the project title, name of Lead Organisation, names of relevant
researchers, and other relevant details of this Project Proposal Application Form,
including on the SIEF website; and
(c) all information disclosed in this Project Proposal Application entering, and being
deemed to have entered, the public domain, and being disclosed to reviewers,
advisors and any other party deemed necessary by SIEF; and
(d) Execute the Funding Agreement by 28 February 2016.
_________________________
Signature of authorised officer of Lead Organisation
_________________________
Name
________________________
Position
________________________
Date
SECTION F – Endorsement of Collaborating Organisation
Endorsement by Collaborating Organisation:
[Do not delete these conditions]
NOTE: By signing below, the signatory represents that he/she has authority to do so and
that, if successful, the Collaborating Organisation is agreeing to:
(a) provide the cash and/or in-kind contribution specified above, and that this contribution
8
combined with the contributions pledged by the Lead Organisation (if any) is sufficient
to support the postgraduate scholarship if the proposal is successful; and
(b) The publication of the project title, name of Collaborating Organisation, names of
relevant researchers, and other relevant details of this Project Proposal Application
Form, including on the SIEF website; and
(c) All information disclosed in this Project Proposal Application entering, and being
deemed to have entered, the public domain, and being disclosed to reviewers,
advisors and any other party deemed necessary by SIEF; and
(d) Execute the Funding Agreement by 28 February 2016.
_________________________
Signature of authorised officer of Collaborating Organisation
_________________________
Name
________________________
Position
________________________
Date
Duplicate this section for all collaborating organisations
Administrative contact details of Lead Organisation
Contact:
Email:
Phone:
Administrative contact details of Collaborating Organisation
Contact:
Email:
Phone:
SECTION G – Submission
.
.
All documentation relating to an individual proposal must be assembled into one word or
pdf file
Please name the document as per the following protocol:
SIEF 2016 – PDF – [Lead Supervisor surname]
Proposals should be submitted to sief@sief.org.au, via the Research Office or equivalent, by
5pm (AEST) 31 July 2015.
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Guidelines - John Stocker Postdoctoral Fellowships
The following comments on issues of special importance to the assessors may be helpful to
those preparing proposals.
(Please delete Guidelines before submission)
Item in Proposal Form
Who should
complete this
application?
It is strongly suggested that this application be completed as a
combined effort between the Supervisor(s) and the proposed Fellow.
Many of the questions require information on current research
activities, and Supervisor background, and therefore should be
primarily completed by the Supervisor(s). The Fellow should provide
relevant information for Section C and may also be involved in the
drafting of other sections, in particular the Project Description (A5).
Assessment
weightings
The following weightings will be assigned to assessment
Project, research environment and opportunity – 50%
Supervisor – 25%
Candidate Fellow – 25%
Submission
process
The completed Proposal:






Section A
must be submitted via the Lead Researcher’s Research Office
or equivalent, along with the Research Office Spreadsheet for
submission (available on the SIEF Webpage)
no proposals will be accepted if submitted directly by the
Researcher or candidate Fellow
all Collaborating Organisations must certify the proposal prior to
submission; it is the responsibility of the Lead Organisation to
collate all relevant signatures before submission
applicants should make themselves aware of their internal
Research Office or equivalent deadlines and leave sufficient time
for appropriate sign-off by ALL collaborators
the document should be named as per the following protocol:
SIEF 2016 – PDF – [Lead Supervisor surname]
proposals to be submitted to sief@sief.org.au by 5pm (AEST) 31
July 2015
Project Selection: The project must be of the highest calibre with the
possibility of innovative and potentially disruptive scientific outcomes.
The project should challenge the boundaries of knowledge. Funding
from the SIEF is being made available to engage Postdoctoral
Fellows (‘PDFs’) in projects with the highest potential for scientific
achievement and benefits to Australia. Preference will be given to
research projects in which PDFs are to be engaged which are
collaborative projects between Australian publicly funded research
agencies and an Australian University.
Proposals outlining “more of the same” or “pair of hands” projects will
10
not be highly ranked.
A2 – Supervisor: Although there may be more than one supervisor,
please nominate one primary supervisor. This person must be a
scientist of the employing organisation and will be the person who is
directly responsible for the day-to-day supervision, research direction,
and (usually) mentoring of the PDF and must be regularly available
for consultation with the PDF. The supervisor is crucial in this
program and we must be able to determine if the supervisor is an
outstanding scientist with strong international profile and will provide
an excellent support environment for the PDF.
A7 - Project Description: The project must meet SIEF’s primary
purpose of being scientific research directed to assisting Australian
industry, furthering the interests of the Australian community or
contributing to the achievement of Australian national objectives.
Assessors are, in general, not experts in all fields of science. Thus it
is very important to state the background and details of the project
clearly and simply without using acronyms, jargon and complex
concepts those assessors may not understand. Sufficient detail of the
project must be given to make it clear what the PDF would do. State
clearly the nature and the scope of the PDF project. It is the PDF’s
role in the research program that is of paramount importance in your
proposal.
If a diagram is included, make it self-explanatory, clear and relevant.
No confidential information should be included in the application
form. By providing information to SIEF, the information will be
considered to be in the public domain and will be disclosed to
reviewers, advisors and other relevant parties as deemed appropriate
by SIEF in its sole discretion.
A8 - Excellence of the postdoctoral experience: The Fellowship
must provide an excellent postdoctoral experience including a welldeveloped research capability, frequent research update talks at
laboratory, divisional/departmental and other levels, additional
training where necessary (eg fully funded training courses for skills
development in relevant areas such as intellectual property;
commercialisation, licensing and legal issues; elementary statistics;
writing scientific papers for presentations and publication; conference
and meeting presentation skills) an enhanced research network,
international exposure, publications in high profile journals, and
excellent career prospects.
A9 & A10- Select a maximum of two (2) Fields of Research (FORs)
that best describe your project. Indicate which is the Primary FoR
and which is the Secondary FoR. This selection will assist in the
designation of reviewers for your application. Further details and
descriptors of what is included in each FOR can be found on the
Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) website.
A11 - Contribution/impact of the Fellow: The assessors must be
convinced that the PDF’s contribution will be more than another pair
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Section B
of hands. It is not sufficient to describe the PDF’s contribution as
providing “critical mass”. It must be clear that the PDF will have
intellectual input into a well-defined research project which is a
significant component of the research team’s effort.
B1 - The immediate research group: We want to be sure that there
is a strong team of scientists associated with the project bringing a
broad spectrum of expertise to the project and creating a dynamic
and career-building research experience for the PDF. Thus, we need
names, affiliations, expertise, and briefly what each will contribute to
the project and the PDF experience. If the group is small, state how
the PDF will interact more broadly.
B2 – Invitations to speak /patents: Invitations to speak at meetings
and patent information refer to the primary supervisor only.
Information for other members of the group can be given in the “Other
relevant information” section.
B4 - Publications for last 5 years: Publications of the supervisor
and the group members must be given individually in an Appendix.
Publication information is a very strong indicator of performance and
is very important. Assessors may not be familiar with the relative
importance of journals in different fields and thus journal impact
factors as well as citation data must be given. Give this information in
tabular format (see example below) and separate refereed journal
papers, not-refereed papers, conference publications, books and
book chapters, reports etc from each other.
Refereed journal papers:
Reference
Smith RL, Jones BM, Brown FX
(2006) Rabbits, rabbits and more
rabbits. Pest Control 35: 1-4
Impact
Factor
3.6
Citations
28
NB: Type the name of the applicant/group member in bold
Other indicators of importance (eg h-index) and success of the project
should be given in the “Other relevant information” section of the
proposal form.
B5 – Other relevant information: Use this section for anything you
feel will help the assessors eg awards, lifetime citations, editorial
appointments, the multidisciplinary nature of the group and the PDF
experience, possibility of strong national/international collaborations,
possibility of breakthrough outcomes, adoption, commercialisation or
at least IP capture etc.
Section C
C2:The quality of the candidate Fellow is critical to the assessment of
the application. Thus it is important that academic and relevant
experience of the Fellow is provided.
A brief CV from the Fellow must be included (5 page maximum)
C3: On completion of the SIEF John Stocker Postdoctoral Fellowship,
the Fellow must have no more than six (6) full-time equivalent years
12
of relevant work experience since confirmation of the candidature’s
doctorate. (ie no more than 3 years relevant experience prior to
commencement of the SIEF John Stocker Postdoctoral Fellowship).
C4: It is the responsibility of the Lead Organisation to ensure the
Fellow is eligible to work in Australia (ie if required, all permits/visas
are obtained prior to commencement of the Fellow).
Section D
Sections E & F
General
D1 - This information will be used to populate the Funding Agreement
if the proposal is successful. The combined total of all collaborators
co-investment must be a minimum of $30,000 p.a. cash and/or inkind.
D2 - Details of the composition of the applicants contribution including
cash and/or in-kind. This will include operating expenses, travel,
training and development etc as well as direct cost associated with
employment of the Fellow, but would not normally include the in-kind
contribution of supervisors or ‘laboratory fees’.
An authorised representative from the Lead as well as each
Collaborating Organisation must certify they have reviewed the
application and agrees to the indicated conditions. It is the
responsibility of the Lead Organisation to collate all relevant
signatures before submission.
The job of the assessors is demanding. Assessors assess on the
basis of what is in the proposal. Thus, an incomplete or poorly
prepared proposal will be disadvantaged and scored
accordingly.