Section 15 - Discovery Program (2019 edition) - Glossary

15. Glossary

15.1. For the purposes of the Discovery Program grant guidelines, acronyms have the meanings defined below.

15.2. For the purposes of the Discovery Program grant guidelines, terms have the meanings defined below.

| Term | Definition | | Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander person | a person of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent who identifies as an Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander person and is accepted as an Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander person by the community in which they live or have lived. | | active project | a project that is receiving funding according to the terms of an existing Funding Agreement or grant agreement, or has any carryover funds approved by the ARC, or an approved variation to the project end date. | | active project assessment date | the date on which active project eligibility will be considered for project and application limits per named participant. | | Administering Organisation | an Eligible Organisation which submits an application for a grant and which will be responsible for the administration of the grant if the application is approved for funding. | | applicant | the Administering Organisation. | | application | a request for funding submitted through RMS by an Administering Organisation seeking grant funding under an ARC grant program. It includes the specifics of a proposed grant activity as well as the administrative information required to determine the eligibility of the application. | | ARC assessor community | the Australian and international assessors that assess applications submitted to the ARC that are within their areas of expertise. | | ARC College of Experts | the body of experts of international standing appointed to assist the ARC to identify research excellence, moderate external assessments and recommend applications for funding. Its members are specialist and generalist experts in their knowledge fields drawn from the Australian research community.<br>The provides information on who is a member of the College of Experts. | | ARC Fellowship | a named Fellowship position within any ARC grant program where the salary is funded wholly or partly by the ARC. | | ARC website | the website accessed using . | | assessment criteria | the specified principles or standards, against which applications will be considered. These criteria are also used to assess the merits of applications and, in the case of a competitive grant opportunity, to determine application rankings. | | Australian researcher | an Australian citizen, permanent resident or New Zealand Special Category Visa holder. | | award of PhD date | the date of conferral of a PhD, not the date of submission of the thesis, nor the date the thesis was accepted by the examination board. | | bench fees | fees that an organisation charges for an individual to use infrastructure which would normally be provided by the organisation for their employees. This infrastructure may vary and could include, for example, an office or laboratory space with appropriate equipment, or access to non-specialised equipment owned by the organisation. | | candidate | the person nominated in an application for a Discovery Early Career Researcher Award, Future Fellowship, Australian Laureate Fellowship or Discovery Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Researcher Award. | | Chief Executive Officer | means the person holding the position of ARC CEO in accordance with the ARC Act or any person acting in that position. | | Chief Investigator | a participant who satisfies the eligibility criteria for a CI under these grant guidelines. | | Commonwealth | the Commonwealth of Australia. | | Commonwealth Fellowship | a position held by a participant where the salary is funded wholly or partly by the Commonwealth. | | date of effect | the date on which a grant agreement is signed or a specified starting date. | | Detailed Assessors | assessors drawn from the ARC assessor community who are assigned applications to review for their specific expertise in a field of research. | | Discovery Program | a program within the NCGP which comprises: Australian Laureate Fellowships, Discovery Early Career Researcher Award, Discovery Indigenous, Discovery Projects, Future Fellowships and other grant opportunities as updated from time to time. | | eligibility criteria | the mandatory criteria which must be met to qualify for a grant. Assessment criteria may apply in addition to eligibility criteria. | | Eligible Organisation | an organisation listed in Section 4 of these grant guidelines. | | Fellow | the holder of a research fellowship, such as the Australian Laureate Fellowship, Future Fellowship, Discovery Early Career Researcher Award or Discovery Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Award. | | field research | the collection of information integral to the project outside a laboratory, library or workplace setting and often in a location external to the participant’s normal place of employment. | | General Assessors | the members that make up a relevant grant opportunity’s Selection Advisory Committee. General Assessors utilise knowledge of their disciplinary areas and a broad understanding of intellectual and methodological issues and good research planning. Each application has a lead General Assessor (known as Carriage 1) who is typically close to the academic field of the application, and one or more General Assessors (known as Other Carriages) with supplementary expertise. | | grant activity | the project/tasks/services that the grantee is required to undertake. A project consists of a number of grant activities. | | grant agreement | the agreement entered into by the ARC and an Administering Organisation when an application from that organisation is approved for grant funding. This was previously referred to as a ‘Funding Agreement’. | | grant commencement date | the date on which grant funding may commence. | | grant offer | the details listed in the ARC’s RMS under ‘Funding Offers’ showing the project details and grant amount. | | GrantConnect | the Australian Government’s whole-of-government grants information system, which centralises the publication and reporting of Commonwealth grants in accordance with the CGRGs. | | grantee | the Administering Organisation which has been selected to receive a grant. | | grant opportunity | the specific grant round or process where a Commonwealth grant is made available to potential grantees. Grant opportunities may be open or targeted, and will reflect the relevant grant selection process. | | grant opportunity closing date | the last day on which applications for a grant opportunity will be accepted for consideration for a specific grant opportunity. | | grant opportunity opening date | the first day on which applications for a grant opportunity will be accepted for consideration for a specific grant opportunity. | | GST | the meaning as given in Section 195-1 of the A New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) Act 1999. | | Higher Degree by Research (HDR) | a ‘Research Doctorate or Research Masters course, for which at least two-thirds of the student load for the course is required as research work’ as defined by the Commonwealth Scholarships Guidelines (Research) 2017. | | honorary academic appointment | any honorary position that gives full academic status, as certified by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) (or equivalent) in the application. For ARC purposes this relationship must include access to research support comparable to employees e.g. an emeritus appointment. The person would not be considered to hold an honorary academic appointment for the purposes of these grant guidelines if they hold a substantive, paid position elsewhere. | | in-kind contributions | A contribution of goods, services, materials and/or time to the project from an individual, business or organisation. Values should be calculated based on the most likely actual cost, for example, current market, preferred provider or internal provider rates/valuations/rentals/charges (that is in the financial year of the date of the application) of the costs of labour, work spaces, equipment and databases. The calculations covering time and costs should be documented by the Administering Organisation. The ARC may require these calculations to be audited. | | Instructions to Applicants | a set of instructions prepared by the ARC to assist applicants in completing the application form. | | Key Performance Indicators | a set of quantifiable measures that the ARC uses to monitor and report on progress of research outcomes. | | legislative instrument | a law on matters of detail made by a person or body authorised to do so by the relevant enabling legislation. | | medical research | medical research as defined in the ARC Medical Research Policy available on the . | | Minister | the Minister responsible for the administration of the ARC Act. | | named participants | individual researchers nominated for particular roles in an application. | | national interest | the extent to which the research contributes to Australia’s national interest through its potential to have economic, commercial, environmental, social or cultural benefits to the Australian community. | | officials | officials of a Commonwealth entity. An official of a Commonwealth entity is an individual who is in, or forms part of the entity (see Section 8 of the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act). | | ORCID Identifier | a persistent digital identifier for an individual researcher available on the ORCID website, . | | Other Eligible Organisation | an organisation listed in Section 4 of these grant guidelines which is not the Administering Organisation on an application. | | Other Organisation | an organisation that is not an Administering Organisation or Other Eligible Organisation that contributes to the research project. | | participants | all named participants on an application (ie. CIs, PIs, candidates); and all unnamed researchers such as postdoctoral research associates and postgraduate researchers working on a project. | | Partner Investigator | a named participant who satisfies the eligibility criteria for a Partner Investigator under these grant guidelines. | | PhD | a qualification that meets the level 10 criteria of the Australian Qualifications Framework Second Edition January 2013. | | Postdoctoral Research Associate | a postdoctoral research associate funded by the Commonwealth through the Administering Organisation, who will be employed on the project. | | Postgraduate Researcher | a postgraduate research student funded by the Commonwealth through the Administering Organisation, who will undertake a HDR through the project. | | project | an application approved by the Minister to receive funding from the ARC through an application. | | project activity period | the period during which a project is receiving grant funding according to the original grant offer, or has any carryover funds approved by the ARC, or an approved variation to the project’s end date. During this period, the project is known as an active project. | | project end date | the expected date that the project activity is completed and by which all grant funding will be spent. | | Project Leader | the named participant from the Administering Organisation who is the first-named CI on an application. | | recipient | an individual or organisation who has received grant funding from the ARC. | | research | for the purposes of these grant guidelines, the creation of new knowledge and/or the use of existing knowledge in a new and creative way so as to generate new concepts, methodologies, inventions and understandings. This could include synthesis and analysis of previous research to the extent that it is new and creative.<br>This definition of research is consistent with a broad notion of research and experimental development comprising “creative and systematic work undertaken in order to increase the stock of knowledge – including knowledge of humankind, culture and society – and to devise new applications of available knowledge” OECD (2015), Frascati Manual 2015: Guidelines for Collecting and Reporting Data on Research and Experimental Development (p.378). | | research infrastructure | the assets, facilities, services, and coordinated access to major national and/or international research facilities or consortia which directly support research in higher education organisations and more broadly and which maintain the capacity of researchers to undertake excellent research and deliver innovative outcomes. | | Research Office | a business unit within an Eligible Organisation that is responsible for contact with the ARC regarding applications and projects. | | Research Opportunity and Performance Evidence (ROPE) | an ARC policy framework used to consider and assess the quality and research excellence of a named participant within the context of the participant’s career and life experiences. One key element is that the assessment process takes into account the quality rather than simply the volume or size of the research contribution. | | research output | all products of a research project. | | Science and Research Priorities | those priority research areas identified by the Australian Government, and available on the Australian Government’s . | | Selection Advisory Committee (SAC) | a group of experts from academia and industry appointed to assist the ARC to evaluate applications and to provide a recommendation for funding to the CEO. A SAC may be drawn from the ARC College of Experts. | | selection criteria | the eligibility criteria and assessment criteria. | | selection process | the method used to select potential grantees. This process may involve comparative assessment of applications or the assessment of applications against the eligibility criteria and/or the assessment criteria. | | Special Condition | a condition specified in a grant offer which governs the use of the funding provided by the ARC. | | technical workshop services | the specialised construction and maintenance activities carried out by a technician, often within a dedicated facility for working with materials such as wood, glass, metal, plastics or electronics. | | travel costs | the domestic and international economy travel costs associated with the project, including to foster and strengthen collaborations between researchers in Australia and overseas. | | value for money | ‘value for money’ is a judgement based on the grant application representing an efficient, effective, economical and ethical use of public resources determined from a variety of considerations: merit of the proposal, risk, cost and expected contribution to outcome achievement. | | Variation of Grant Agreement (Variation) | a request submitted to the ARC in RMS to agree a change in the grant agreement. | | We | the Australian Research Council (ARC). ‘Us’ and ‘Our’ are also used in this context. | | You | the Eligible Organisation that submitted the application. ‘Your’ is also used in this context. |

15Glossary

Get a plain-English read of 15