2Changes from last year

2         Changes from last year

2.1.1              A number of clarifications and revisions have been made in these Funding Rules for funding commencing in 2007 (the 2007 Discovery Projects Funding Rules). Significant changes from the 2006 Discovery Projects Funding Rules include:

a. A definitions section has been added to the 2007 Discovery Projects Funding Rules (pages 7 - 8).

b.  The Introduction Section (page 10) alerts Applicants and other parties involved in Proposals that a Proposal may be not recommended for approval if any person nominated as a CI, PI or ARC Fellow on the Proposal has caused or significantly contributed to the failure of an Administering Organisation to meet its obligations under a current or prior funding agreement.

c.  The aims of the Discovery Projects scheme explicitly include the intention to foster the international competitiveness of Australian research (subsection 1.3.2e).

d.  Subsection 3.5.2j. stipulates that the ARC will not pay for costs not directly related to the research Proposal, such as those of a personal nature.

e. Subsection 5.1.5 now states that ‘A researcher nominated in a Proposal as a CI, PI or ARC Fellow must take significant intellectual responsibility for the proposed project, its conception, and any strategic decisions called for in its pursuit and the communication of results. The researcher must have the capacity to make a serious commitment to the project and cannot assume the role of a supplier of resources for work that will largely be placed in the hands of others. The ARC reserves the right to determine whether a person has the requisite capacity to perform the role.’

f. Section 5.3.1 includes a change to the timing for satisfying eligibility criteria for Chief Investigators.

g. The rate for on-costs for Discovery Projects Fellowships has increased from 26% to 28% (Appendix 3).

h. Generic information on the Eligibility Ruling process has been moved to Section 7.1. Requests must now be submitted on a form available on the ARC web site. A registration number will be supplied by the ARC and must be quoted in the application form.

i.  Researchers who hold or have previously been awarded an ARF, QEII or APF or equivalent Fellowship under a previous ARC scheme, are now entitled to reapply for a subsequent Fellowship of the same type, at a 50:50 salary option. (Note: ARF and QEII are considered for these purposes to be one type.) Salary support as a 100% option will be available only for researchers being awarded their first ARF/QEII/APF (subsections 5.5.5 - 5.5.6). The 100% and 50:50 salary options for ARFs/QEIIs and APFs are set out in subsections 5.5.5 - 5.5.6.

 

j.  A researcher who holds a continuing research-only position at a professorial level or equivalent at an Eligible Organisation is not eligible to apply for an APF (subsection 5.5.6.2d).