5Changes from last year

5                          Changes from last year

5.1.1               A number of clarifications and revisions have been made in these Funding Rules for funding commencing in 2008 (the 2008 Federation Fellowships Funding Rules). Significant changes from the 2007 Federation Fellowships Funding Rules include:

1. The Interpretation Section contains a definition of Medical and Dental Research. This replaces the use of the term “clinical medical and dental research and training” used in previous funding rules.
2. Subsection 4.4.3 stipulates the right of the ARC to not recommend Proposals for approval if, in the opinion of the ARC, any party involved in or associated with the Proposal has failed to disclose a conflict of interest.
3. A new section has been added which deals with the dissemination of research outputs (subsection 4.4.5).
4. The amount of Start-up Project Funding that the ARC may provide to eligible Federation Fellows has been increased to $500,000 (subsection 6.1.3).
5. Clarification has been provided about the agreements, signatures and certifications Administering Organisations must obtain and be able to provide to the ARC (Section 10.3).
6. Provision has been made for the ARC, in deciding whether or not to recommend a late Proposal for approval, to take into account whether the documents were despatched by the Administering Organisation sufficiently in advance of the closing time to enable the documents to have been delivered to the ARC by the closing time in the normal course of events (providing the Administering Organisation is able to provide such evidence to the satisfaction of the ARC) (subsection 10.4.5.3).
7. The selection criteria and descriptors have been modified and the weighting of the revised criteria has been specified. The former criterion “National Benefit” is now covered under the “Project/Program of research activity” criterion and the overall weighting of the latter criterion has been increased. The descriptors relating to outstanding leadership ability have also been strengthened (Section 11.1).
8. If a candidate already holds a Federation Fellowship at the time he/she is nominated for a subsequent Federation Fellowship, the candidate and the relevant Administering Organisation must have agreed, prior to the submission of the Proposal, to relinquish any salary-related funding (including on-costs) associated with the existing Federation Fellowship which is payable by the ARC or unexpended, as at 1 January 2009 (subsection 8.1.10).
9. Provision has been made for a Federation Fellowship candidate who had commenced a Federation Fellowship which was terminated early for reasons other than to take up a subsequent Federation Fellowship to be eligible to be nominated for a subsequent Federation Fellowship if he or she has obtained the prior written approval of the ARC. The Funding Rules specify that in deciding whether to give such approval the ARC will take into account whether, in the opinion of the ARC, exceptional circumstances applied to the termination (subsection 8.1.11).