Australian Research Council Act 2001 - Federation Fellowships - Funding Rules for funding commencing in 2008
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4.1.1 This document sets out the funding rules for the Federation Fellowships scheme funded under the Australian Research Council’s National Competitive Grants Program (NCGP), which comply with the requirements of the ARC Act.
4.1.2 All parties involved in Proposals should read and understand the Funding Rules and the ARC’s standard Funding Agreement (which is available at the ARC’s Web Site) before submitting a Proposal to the ARC. Applicants are responsible for ensuring that their Proposals are complete and accurate.
4.1.3 These Funding Rules are current as at August 2007 and have been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the ARC Act in force then. These Funding Rules are subject to change at any time, for reasons including any subsequent amendment, replacement or supplementation of the ARC Act.
4.1.4 Funding under the Federation Fellowships scheme is provided to Administering Organisations, not to researchers. That is, the ARC will accept a Proposal only from an Eligible Organisation and not from any individual researcher or researchers.
4.1.5 However, if, in the opinion of the ARC, any researcher nominated in a Proposal as a Federation Fellow has caused or has significantly contributed to the failure of an organisation to meet its obligations under any current or previous funding agreement with the ARC, the ARC may in its absolute discretion decide to not recommend for approval any or all Proposals involving that researcher.
4.2 NCGP objectives
4.2.1 The ARC is a Commonwealth Government statutory authority established under the ARC Act. The primary functions of the ARC, as specified by the ARC Act, are to make recommendations regarding the funding of research programs, to administer funding to support research programs, and to provide policy advice related to research.
4.2.2 The ARC has established a range of competitive funding schemes for the support of research and research training under the framework of the NCGP. A list of current NCGP funding schemes is available on the ARC’s Web Site.
4.2.3 By the operation of a range of funding schemes under the NCGP, the ARC aims to:
maintain and build on existing research and research training;
build the scale and focus of research and research training;
encourage cross-disciplinary approaches to research and research training;
facilitate collaborative approaches to research and research training; and
support research and research training of national benefit, including in the following National Research Priority Areas:
An Environmentally Sustainable Australia;
Promoting and Maintaining Good Health;
Frontier Technologies for Building and Transforming Australian Industries; and
Safeguarding Australia.
4.2.4 Descriptions of these National Research Priorities and their associated Priority Goals can be found in Appendix 1, and on the ARC’s Web Site.
4.3 Federation Fellowships scheme
4.3.1 The ARC Federation Fellowships scheme reflects the Australian Research Council’s commitment to support excellence in research by attracting world-class researchers and world-class research leaders to key positions, and creating new rewards and incentives for the application of their talents in Australia.
4.3.2 The objectives of the Federation Fellowships scheme are to:
a. attract and retain outstanding researchers of international renown;
b. build and strengthen world-class research capability in Australia;
c. expand Australia’s knowledge base by supporting ground-breaking, internationally competitive research;
d. forge strong links among researchers, industry and the international research community; and
e. support research that will result in economic, environmental, social or cultural benefits for Australia.
4.3.3 Open to applications from outstanding researchers of international renown, the Federation Fellowships scheme particularly encourages Proposals involving Australian and non-Australian researchers currently working overseas by providing eligible Federation Fellows with Start-up Project Funding in addition to salary and salary-related (on-cost) support.
4.3.4 Up to 25 Federation Fellowships may be awarded for funding commencing in 2008.
4.3.5 Preference will be given to early- to mid-career researchers who will play a leadership role in building Australia’s internationally competitive research capacity.
4.4 Fundamental principles and requirements
4.4.1 Ethics and research practices
4.4.1.1 The National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) website, http://www.nhmrc.gov.au, provides a series of publications which outline principles of ethical conduct in research. All Proposals and ARC-funded research projects should conform to the principles outlined in the following and their successor documents:
a. the Joint NHMRC/AVCC Statement and Guidelines on Research Practice (1997);
b. as applicable, the NHMRC/ARC/AVCC National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research (2007); and
c. as applicable, the NHMRC’s other codes on animal research.
4.4.2 Non-duplication
4.4.2.1 The ARC will not provide financial assistance to meet the costs of a project to the extent that those costs have been, or are likely to be, met by Commonwealth funding obtained from another source (including other ARC funding). The ARC reserves the right to determine if a Proposal includes such costs and to deem a notional amount for such costs.
4.4.2.2 Where a significant portion of the costs for a proposed project has been, or is likely to be, funded by the Commonwealth from other sources (including other ARC sources), the ARC may decide to recommend that the Proposal not be funded at all. In other cases, the ARC may decide to recommend a reduced amount of funding for the proposed project.
4.4.3 Conflict of interest
4.4.3.1 All parties involved in or associated with Proposals and ARC-funded research projects are required to disclose to the ARC, and the other parties involved in the Proposal, affiliations with or financial involvement in any organisation which has, or is likely to have, a direct interest in the subject matter or outputs of the project. Such parties are required to disclose to the ARC at the time of the submission of a Proposal, and in reporting on ARC-funded research projects, any conflict of interest which has the potential to influence, or appear to influence, their research and activities, publications and media reports, or requests for funding related to the Proposal/project. All parties involved in a Proposal are required to disclose to the other parties involved in the Proposal any such conflict of interest – they must advise the other parties as soon as possible if such a conflict of interest arises during the course of an ARC-funded project.
4.4.3.2 If, in the opinion of the ARC, any party involved in or associated with a Proposal has failed to disclose any such conflict of interest, the ARC may in its absolute discretion decide to not recommend for approval any or all Proposals involving that party.
4.4.3.3 If a conflict of interest exists or arises, the Administering Organisation must have established processes in place for managing the conflict of interest for the duration of the project. Such processes must comply with the Joint NHMRC/AVCC Statement and Guidelines on Research Practice (1997) and any relevant successor document. In the event of any inconsistency between the original and any successor document, the latter document is to apply.
4.4.4 Acknowledging ARC support
4.4.4.1 The Funding Agreement requires that any ARC contribution to research and other activities funded by the ARC be appropriately acknowledged. When, at any time during or after completion of a project, the researcher or any other party publishes or produces material such as books, articles, newsletters or other literary or artistic works which relate to the research project, the Administering Organisation must ensure (wherever possible) that the ARC’s contribution and support of the project is acknowledged in a prominent place and in an appropriate form. This acknowledgement should include the mention of the ARC as a funding body. Similar efforts should be made to acknowledge ARC support when participating in television and radio programs, when interviewed by the print media and when otherwise speaking publicly about the project.
4.4.4.2 Advice on acceptable forms of acknowledgement and use of the ARC logo is provided on the ARC’s Web Site.
4.4.5 Dissemination of research outputs
4.4.5.1 The Commonwealth makes a major investment in research to support its essential role in improving the wellbeing of our society. To maximise the benefits from research, findings need to be disseminated as broadly as possible to allow access by other researchers and the wider community.
4.4.5.2 The ARC acknowledges that researchers take into account a wide range of factors in deciding on the best outlets for publications arising from their research. Such considerations include the status and reputation of a journal or publisher, the peer review process of evaluating their research outputs, access by other stakeholders to their work, the likely impact of their work on users of research and the further dissemination and production of knowledge. Taking heed of these considerations, the ARC wants to ensure the widest possible dissemination of the research supported under its funding, in the most effective manner and at the earliest opportunity.
4.4.5.3 The ARC therefore encourages researchers to consider the benefits of depositing their data and any publications arising from a research project in an appropriate subject and/or institutional repository wherever such a repository is available to the researcher(s). If a researcher is not intending to deposit the data from a project in a repository within a six-month period, he/she should include the reasons in the project’s Final Report. Any research outputs that have been or will be deposited in appropriate repositories should be identified in the Final Report.