Discovery Early Career Researcher
Award
Selection Report
for Funding Commencing in 2015
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award
Selection Report
for Funding Commencing in 2015
Overview
The Discovery Early Career Researcher Award scheme is one element of the Discovery
Program. It aims to provide more focused support for researchers and create more
opportunities for early-career researchers in both teaching and research, and research-only
positions. It supports research in areas of critical national importance by enabling outstanding
Australian and international early-career researchers to conduct their research in Australia.
The objectives of the Discovery Early Career Researcher Award scheme are to:
 support and advance promising early career researchers;
 promote enhanced opportunities for diverse career pathways;
 focus research effort in the Strategic Research Priority areas to improve research capacity
and policy outcomes; and
 enable research and research training in high quality and supportive environments.
Selection Process
The closing date for proposals was 2 April 2014. Proposals were submitted through the
Australian Research Council (ARC) Research Management System (RMS).
ARC Executive Directors, assisted by relevant 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 the applicant’s responses to those assessments; and
assessed and recommended budgets;
and, advice from the ARC Eligibility Committee which:



considered eligibility issues identified by ARC staff, the ARC College of Experts or
independent assessors;
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. Unless otherwise
specified, figures presented in this report exclude withdrawn proposals.
Page 2 of 8
Selection Criteria
Selection criteria and corresponding weightings for Discovery Early Career Researcher
Award proposals are:




Project Quality and Innovation
DECRA Candidate
Research Environment
Feasibility and Benefit
(40%)
(35%)
(15%)
(10%)
The ARC assessment and subsequent reporting process for Discovery Early Career Researcher
Award 2015 was managed in the Research Management System (RMS), and used a total of 81
ARC College of Experts members on five discipline panels. In addition, a total of 4578
independent assessor reports were submitted to the ARC for Discovery Early Career Researcher
Award 2015.
Summary of Outcomes
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award projects are funded for three consecutive years on
a full-time basis. In addition to the annual salary contribution of $94,512, including 28 per
cent on-costs, the ARC may provide up to $40,000 in project costs per annum.
The ARC received a total of 1404 Discovery Early Career Researcher Award proposals for
funding commencing in 2015, of which ten were subsequently withdrawn by the
Administering Organisations. This is a decrease from the 1472 proposals received for
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award for funding commencing in 2014. Of the
unsuccessful proposals, ten were found not to meet eligibility requirements.
Table 1.
Comparison of Discovery Early Career Researcher Award proposal numbers,
success rates, requested and approved funding for successful proposals from
2012 to 2015
Proposals
considered
Proposals
approved
Success
rate
Total requested
funds (over
project life)
Requested funds
(over project
life) of approved
proposals
Funds
allocated
(over project
life)
Allocation
as a
percentage
of request
2012
2159
277
12.8%
$809,625,000
$103,875,000
$103,875,000
100.0%
2013
1281
200
15.6%
$459,934,037
$72,406,078
$72,321,876
99.9%
2014
1468
200
13.6%
$554,880,909
$75,869,611
$75,789,232
99.9%
2015
1394
200
14.3%
$534,829,398
$77,458,306
$70,567,494
91.1%
Funding
Year
Table 2.
Indicative
Funding
Indicative funds for Discovery Early Career Researcher Award proposals
approved for funding commencing in 2015
2014-15
2015-16
2016-17
2017-18
Total
$11,867,308.50
$23,697,435.50
$23,416,438.50
$11,586,311.50
$70,567,494.00
Page 3 of 8
ARC Discipline Groups
Table 3.
Panel*
BSB
EMI
HCA
PCE
SBE
Total
Numbers and success rates for Discovery Early Career Researcher Award
proposals approved for funding commencing in 2015, by Discipline Group
Proposals
considered
% of
proposals
considered
Proposals
approved
Success rate
Allocated funds
(over project
life)
320
389
177
239
269
1394
23.0%
27.9%
12.7%
17.1%
19.3%
100.0%
46
56
26
34
38
200
14.4%
14.4%
14.7%
14.2%
14.1%
14.3%
$16,677,913
$19,280,323
$9,073,268
$12,018,396
$13,517,594
$70,567,494
*(BSB – Biological Sciences and Biotechnology; EMI – Engineering, Mathematics and Informatics; PCE –
Physics, Chemistry and Earth Sciences; SBE – Social, Behavioural and Economic Sciences; HCA – Humanities
and Creative Arts)
Strategic Research Priorities
Table 4.
Numbers and success rates for Discovery Early Career Researcher Award
proposals approved for funding commencing in 2015, by Strategic Research
Priority
Strategic Research
Priority
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
% within priority area
Proposals
considered
Proposals
approved
Success rate
Allocated funds
(over project
life)
386
53
13.7%
$18,622,535
334
52
15.6%
$18,591,850
75
9
12.0%
$3,178,412
264
35
13.3%
$12,519,384
171
24
14.0%
$8,255,136
164
1394
27
200
16.5%
14.3%
$9,400,177
$70,567,494
1230
173
14.1%
$61,167,317
88.2%
86.5%
86.7%
Page 4 of 8
Attracting and retaining outstanding researchers
Proposals were open to Eligible Organisations to nominate candidates who are promising
early career researchers, resident either within Australia or overseas.
Table 5.
Citizenship/residency status of Discovery Early Career Researcher Award
Candidates and approved awardees for funding commencing in 2015
Citizenship/residency
status
Proposals
considered
% of proposals
considered
Proposals approved
Success rate
Foreign Nationals
466
33.4%
83
17.8%
Resident Australians
863
61.9%
106
12.3%
Returning Australians
65
4.7%
11
16.9%
1394
100.00%
200
14.3%
Total
Time since PhD
At the closing time of submission of proposals, 1243 of all Discovery Early Career
Researcher Award Candidates were within 5 years of the award of their PhD and 151 were
within 5 to 9 years of the award of their PhD. Of the approved Discovery Early Career
Researcher Awards, 177 are within 5 years of the award of their PhD and 23 are within 5 to 9
years of the award of their PhD.
Table 6.
Years since the award of PhD (at time of submission) for Discovery Early
Career Researcher Award for funding commencing in 2015
Years since
award of PhD
No. of
considered
proposals
% of considered
proposals
No. of approved
proposals
% of approved
proposals
0-1
157
11.3%
19
9.50%
1-2
158
11.3%
18
9.0%
2-3
235
16.9%
26
13.0%
3-4
287
20.6%
48
24.0%
4-5
406
29.1%
66
33.0%
5-6
106
7.6%
21
10.5%
6-7
27
1.9%
1
0.5%
7-8
16
1.1%
0
0.0%
8-9
2
0.1%
1
0.5%
Total
1394
200
Page 5 of 8
Gender of Candidates
Table 7.
Total
Numbers and success rates by gender for Discovery Early Career Researcher
Award for funding commencing in 2015
Number of
female
candidates
Number of
approved
female
candidates
Female
success
rate
Number of
male
candidates
Number of
approved
male
candidates
Male
success
rate
495
73
14.7%
892
124
13.9%
Please note that seven proposal participants, three of which are approved for funding, did not
provide gender information and are not included in the above table.
Administering Organisation
Table 8.
Number of approved Discovery Early Career Researcher Award proposals and
success rates for funding commencing in 2015, by Administering
Organisation
Administering Organisation
Proposals
considered
Proposals
approved
Success
rate
Allocated
funding
Australian Capital Territory
131
25
19.1%
$8,896,720
18
1
5.6%
$371,000
105
23
21.9%
$8,201,163
8
1
12.5%
$324,557
405
60
14.8%
$20,996,920
Australian Catholic University
6
1
16.7%
$361,876
Australian Nuclear Science and
Technology Organisation
4
0
0.0%
$0
Charles Sturt University
1
0
0.0%
$0
Macquarie University
33
5
15.2%
$1,784,476
Southern Cross University
7
2
28.6%
$720,000
The University of New England
7
0
0.0%
$0
The University of New South
Wales
117
23
19.7%
$8,009,406
The University of Newcastle
22
2
9.1%
$643,289
The University of Sydney
106
14
13.2%
$4,824,092
University of Technology, Sydney
26
4
15.4%
$1,456,000
University of Western Sydney
23
4
17.4%
$1,442,671
University of Wollongong
53
5
9.4%
$1,755,110
Commonwealth Scientific and
Industrial Research Organisation
The Australian National
University
University of Canberra
New South Wales
Page 6 of 8
Proposals
considered
Proposals
approved
Success
rate
Allocated
funding
242
30
12.4%
$10,609,156
Bond University
2
0
0.0%
$0
Central Queensland University
6
0
0.0%
$0
Griffith University
19
1
5.3%
$390,000
James Cook University
17
1
5.9%
$358,536
54
5
9.3%
$1,692,000
1
0
0.0%
$0
133
23
17.3%
$8,168,620
University of Southern
Queensland
6
0
0.0%
$0
University of the Sunshine Coast
4
0
0.0%
$0
South Australia
122
16
13.1%
$5,653,098
The Flinders University of South
Australia
24
3
12.5%
$1,062,876
The University of Adelaide
75
10
13.3%
$3,505,195
University of South Australia
23
3
13.0%
$1,085,027
Tasmania
30
5
16.7%
$1,830,268
University of Tasmania
30
5
16.7%
$1,830,268
Victoria
345
50
14.5%
$17,523,319
Deakin University
35
4
11.4%
$1,372,669
Federation University Australia
6
0
0.0%
$0
La Trobe University
22
5
22.7%
$1,764,189
Monash University
99
13
13.1%
$4,566,181
RMIT University
29
4
13.8%
$1,346,751
Swinburne University of
Technology
16
4
25.0%
$1,368,000
The University of Melbourne
136
20
14.7%
$7,105,529
2
0
0.0%
$0
Administering Organisation
Queensland
Queensland University of
Technology
The Australian Institute of Marine
Science
The University of Queensland
Victoria University
Page 7 of 8
Proposals
considered
Proposals
approved
Success
rate
Allocated
funding
Western Australia
119
14
11.8%
$5,058,013
Curtin University of Technology
34
2
5.9%
$720,000
Edith Cowan University
4
0
0.0%
$0
Murdoch University
9
2
22.2%
$696,744
1
0
0.0%
$0
71
10
14.1%
$3,641,269
1394
200
14.3%
$70,567,494
Administering Organisation
The University of Notre Dame
Australia
The University of Western
Australia
Total
Page 8 of 8