Australian Laureate Fellowships
Selection Report
For Funding Commencing in 2015
Australian Laureate Fellowships
Selection Report for Funding Commencing in 2015
Overview
The Australian Laureate Fellowships scheme reflects the Commonwealth’s commitment to
support excellence in research by attracting world-class researchers and research leaders to key
positions in Australia.
The objectives of the Australian Laureate Fellowships scheme are to:

attract and retain outstanding researchers and research leaders of international reputation

strengthen Australia’s international research standing and increase world-class research
capability in Australia

provide an excellent research training environment and exemplary mentorship to nurture
early-career researchers

expand Australia’s knowledge base by supporting ground-breaking, internationally
competitive research

forge strong links among researchers, the international research community and/or industry

support research that will result in economic, environmental, social and cultural benefits for
Australia.
Selection Process
The ARC has prepared funding recommendations for submission to the Chief Executive Officer
(CEO). The outcomes were based on advice from an ARC Selection Advisory Committee (SAC)
which:

assessed proposals and reviewed assessments made by independent readers

reviewed applicants’ comments on assessors’ reports

ranked each proposal relative to the others on the basis of the proposal and the assessors’
reports and applicants’ responses to those assessments

assessed and recommended budgets.
and, advice from the ARC Eligibility Committee which:

considered eligibility issues identified by ARC staff or the members of the ARC SAC

sought advice from institutions with respect to issues raised

made recommendations to the CEO in respect of ineligible proposals.
The ARC assessment and subsequent reporting process for Australian Laureate Fellowships
2015 was managed in the Research Management System (RMS), and used a total of 16 Selection
Advisory Committee members on one multi-discipline panel. A total of 407 independent
assessor reports were submitted to the ARC for Australian Laureate Fellowships 2015.
This report reflects the recommendations of the ARC CEO to the Minister. Unless otherwise
specified, figures presented in this report exclude withdrawn proposals.
Selection Criteria
Selection criteria and corresponding weightings for Australian Laureate Fellowships proposals
are:

Investigator
(40%)

Project/Program of Research Activity
(30%)

Mentoring/Capacity Building.
(30%)
Summary of Outcomes
The ARC received a total of 115 proposals for Australian Laureate Fellowships for funding
commencing in 2015, of which none were withdrawn. This is an increase from the 90 proposals
received for Australian Laureate Fellowships for funding commencing in 2014. Of the
unsuccessful proposals, one was found not to meet eligibility requirements.
The overall success rate for the Australian Laureate Fellowships scheme for funding
commencing in 2015 is 13.04 per cent.
Funding Levels and Duration
Australian Laureate Fellowships projects are funded for five years on a full-time basis, subject to
sufficient funding being available for the Australian Laureate Fellowships scheme, the
provisions of the Australian Research Council Act 2001 (the ARC Act), and continued
satisfactory progress of the Australian Laureate Fellowships project.
In addition to the Australian Laureate Fellowship salary supplement and salary-related (on-cost)
support, the ARC may provide Australian Laureate Fellows with:
a. additional funding for up to two postdoctoral research associates for five years each and
up to two postgraduate researchers for four years each
b. project funding of up to $300 000 per annum (for up to five years).
Of the 15 approved Australian Laureate Fellows, the average amount of approved funding is
$2 801 667 in total over five years. In addition to the total Australian Laureate Fellowship salary
support of $11 291 550, a total of $16 914 420 is approved for postdoctoral research associates
and postgraduate researchers and a further $13 819 030 for general project funding. While
funding is awarded for Australian Laureate Fellowships proposals for five years, the ARC Act
applies limits in relation to the amount and years for which the Minister may approve funding.
At the time of award, funding is approved only up to and including the 2016–2017 financial
year. Subsequent years and associated funding limits are added by amendment to the Act,
following which funding for the additional years may be made available. Accordingly, the term
‘indicative funding’ is used throughout this report to denote the total level of funding which it is
proposed to be made available, once all years to which funding proposals relate have been
legislated.
It is a requirement of the Funding Rules for schemes under the Discovery Program for the years
2015 and 2016 for the Administering Organisation to provide a salary of Level E professorial
appointment (or equivalent) to the successful candidate, with the ARC providing the salary
supplement of $117 620 per annum plus 28 per cent on-costs.
Table 1. Indicative funds for approved Australian Laureate Fellowships proposals for
funding commencing in 2015
Budget item
2015–16
2016–17
2017–18
2018–19
2019–20
TOTAL
$
$
$
$
$
$
Laureate Salary support + oncosts
2,258,310
2,258,310
2,258,310
2,258,310
2,258,310 11,291,550
ARC Postdoctoral Researchers
2,773,140
2,773,140
2,773,140
2,773,140
2,773,140 13,865.700
ARC Postgraduate Researchers
508,120
762,180
762,180
762,180
Project Funding
3,022,430 2,768,370,
2,768,370
2,768,370
2,491,490 13,819,030
TOTAL
8,562,000
8,562,000
8,562,000
7,777,000 42,025,000
8,562,000
Approved Australian Laureate Fellows:
Table 2: Australian Laureate Fellows approved for funding
Fellowship candidate
Administering Organisation
Prof B Andrews
The Australian National University
Prof M Bailes
Swinburne University of Technology
Prof D Craik
The University of Queensland
Prof J Gooding
The University of New South Wales
Prof P Hugenholtz
The University of Queensland
Prof L Kewley
The Australian National University
Prof P Lam
The Australian National University
Prof Z Li
Curtin University of Technology
Prof T McDougall
The University of New South Wales
Prof K Mengersen
Queensland University of Technology
Prof A Orford (Kathleen
Fitzpatrick Award)
The University of Melbourne
Prof R Rapee
Macquarie University
Prof B Sherman
The University of Queensland
Prof S Sherwood
The University of New South Wales
Prof L Tilley (Georgina Sweet
Award)
The University of Melbourne
* Biographies for the 15 Australian Laureate Fellows are available on the ARC Website
254,060
3,048,720
Attracting and Retaining Outstanding Researchers
Proposals were open to Eligible Organisations to nominate candidates who are outstanding
researchers of international repute, resident either within Australia or overseas. The Australian
Laureate Fellowships scheme encourages proposals involving Australian or non-Australian
researchers.
Of the 115 proposals considered, one was for an Australian citizen intending to return to
Australia—this proposal was not approved for funding. Five proposals were for foreign nationals
who were not permanent residents—of these, none are approved for funding. One hundred and
eight proposals were for Australian citizens or permanent residents (one proposal did not provide
a residency status)—of these, 15 are approved for funding.
Administering Organisation
The Administering Organisations of the 15 proposals approved for funding are:
Curtin University of Technology (1)
Macquarie University (1)
Queensland University of Technology (1)
Swinburne University of Technology (1)
The Australian National University (3)
The University of Melbourne (2)
The University of New South Wales (3)
The University of Queensland (3)
Strategic Research Priorities
Of the 115 Australian Laureate Fellowship proposals submitted 102 (88.70%) of the proposals
fall within one of the Strategic Research Priority areas while of the 15 approved proposals, 12
(80.0%) fall under a Strategic Research Priority, with total funding approved over five years of
$34 338 867.
Table 3: Numbers and success rates for Australian Laureate Fellowships proposals for
funding commencing in 2015, by Strategic Research Priority
Strategic Research Priority
Proposals Proposals Success
considered funded rate (%)
Allocated funds
(over project life)
Lifting productivity and economic growth
40
5
12.5
14,222,565
Living in a changing environment
21
2
9.52
5,753,148
Managing our food and water assets
11
1
9.09
2,764,590
Promoting population health and
wellbeing
17
2
11.76
5,982,659
Securing Australia's place in a changing
world
13
2
15.38
5,615,905
Unspecified
13
3
23.08
7,686,133
115
15
13.04
42,025,000
Total
ABS fields of Research
Table 4: Field of Research division details of proposals for the Scheme Round
FoR Code Classification Name
01
Mathematical Sciences
02
Submitted Approved
Allocated Funding
8
2
$4,493,212
Physical Sciences
14
3
$8,921,644
03
Chemical Sciences
5
2
$5,852,407
04
Earth Sciences
9
3
$8,453,151
05
Environmental Sciences
4
0
06
Biological Sciences
20
2
07
Agricultural and Veterinary
Sciences
1
0
08
Information and Computing
Sciences
8
0
09
Engineering
10
0
10
Technology
4
0
11
Medical and Health
Sciences
1
0
14
Economics
2
0
15
Commerce, Management,
Tourism and Services
2
0
16
Studies in Human Society
8
0
17
Psychology and Cognitive
Sciences
7
1
$3,030,714
18
Law and Legal Studies
8
2
$5,339,213
20
Language, Communication
and Culture
2
0
21
History and Archaeology
2
0
115
15
Total
$5,934,659
$42,025,000
Stage in Career and Gender
As shown in Table 5, at the time of application, 13 of the Australian Laureate Fellowship
Candidates in this round are within 15 years of the award of their PhD. Of the approved
Australian Laureate Fellows, two are within 15 years of the award of their PhD.
Table 5: Years since the award of PhD (at time of submission)
Years since
award of PhD
No. of considered % of considered No. of approved
proposals
proposals
proposals
% of approved
proposals
0-15 years
13
11.30
2
13.33
More than 15
years and up to 20
years
26
22.61
4
26.67
More than 20
years
72
62.61
9
60.00
No PhD
4
3.48
0
0.00
TOTAL
115
100
15
100
Twenty six (22.61%) of all Australian Laureate Fellowship Candidates in this round are female.
Of the approved Australian Laureate Fellows, four (26.66%) are female.
Kathleen Fitzpatrick Australian Laureate Fellowship and Georgina Sweet
Australian Laureate Fellowship
Of the 26 female Australian Laureate Fellowship Candidates, 23 applied for a Kathleen
Fitzpatrick Australian Laureate Fellowship or a Georgina Sweet Australian Laureate Fellowship.
The recipients of the Kathleen Fitzpatrick Australian Laureate Fellowship (awarded to a
candidate from the Humanities, Arts and Social Science disciplines) and Georgina Sweet
Australian Laureate Fellowship (awarded to candidates from the Science and Technology
disciplines) are shown in Table 6 below. Recipients are provided with additional funding to
undertake an ambassadorial role to promote women in research and to mentor early career
researchers, particularly women, to encourage them to enter and establish careers in research in
Australia.
Table 6: Kathleen Fitzpatrick Australian Laureate Fellowship and Georgina Sweet
Australian Laureate Fellowship
Fellowship Type
Fellowship Candidate
Administering Organisation
Kathleen Fitzpatrick Australian
Laureate Fellowship
Prof A Orford
The University of Melbourne
Georgina Sweet Australian
Laureate Fellowship
Prof L Tilley
The University of Melbourne