9.1 If You are successful You must enter into a legally binding Grant Agreement with the Commonwealth represented by the ARC.
9.2 We use the ARC Centres of Excellence agreement that has standard terms and conditions that cannot be changed. Any additional conditions attached to the grant will be identified in the Grant Offer.
9.3 You will have thirty [30] days from the date of a written offer to execute this Grant Agreement with the Commonwealth.
9.4 We must execute a Grant Agreement with You before We can make any payments. We are not responsible for any of Your expenditure until a Grant Agreement is executed. You must not start any ARC Centre of Excellence activities until a Grant Agreement is executed and agreements are in place with all Other Eligible Organisations and Partner Organisations contributing to the Centre and You notify the ARC.
9.5 Notwithstanding the above, once You have executed the Grant Agreement, but prior to all partner organisations executing agreements with You, You may expend up to $100,000 of the grant funding in the first year of the Centre to assist in the establishment of the Centre. You must request Our approval to use this grant funding and outline the purposes to which it will be put. If We approve the request, You must not use this grant funding for any other purpose. Allowable expenses include: salary of a Chief Operating Officer or other senior administrative personnel.
9.6 If the grant amount awarded is different from that requested in the full application, but at 90 per cent or more than that requested, You may not make pro rata adjustments to the stated contributions of the Administering, Eligible and/or Partner Organisation contributions.
9.7 If the grant amount awarded is less than 90 per cent of that requested in the full application, You may make pro rata adjustments to the stated contributions of the Administering, Eligible and/or Partner Organisation contributions. These adjusted contributions must not be at a level lower than the value of the ARC grant as a proportion of the requested funding.
9.8 If You enter an agreement for an ARC grant, You cannot receive other grants for the same activities from other Commonwealth, State or Territory granting programs.
9.9 You will be required to conduct the project substantially in accordance with the “Project Description’ contained in the application for that project.
9.10 We may recover grant funds if You fail to meet the obligations of the Grant Agreement and We may terminate the project.
Specific legislation, policies and industry standards
9.11 You and each project participant are required to be compliant with all relevant laws regulations, and policies. In particular, to be eligible, You must certify in Your application that You comply with the following requirements.
Ethics and Research Practices
9.12 All applications and ARC-funded research projects must conform to the principles outlined in the following and successor documents:
the ARC Research Integrity and Research Misconduct Policy (2016);
the National Principles of Intellectual Property Management for Publicly Funded Research (2017);
ARC Open Access Policy (2017);
the Australian Code for the Responsible Conduct of Research (2007);
as applicable, the National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research (2007, updated 2015);
as applicable, NHMRC Values and Ethics: Guidelines for Ethical Conduct in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Research (2003);
as applicable, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies Guidelines for Ethical Research in Australian Indigenous Studies (2012);
as applicable, Australia Council for the Arts Indigenous Cultural Protocols for Producing Indigenous Music; Writing; Visual Arts; Media Arts; and Performing Arts (2007); and
as applicable, the Australian Code for the care and use of animals for scientific purposes (2013).
9.13 If there is any conflict between a successor document and its predecessor, then the successor document prevails to the extent of any inconsistency.
Misconduct, Incomplete or Misleading Information
9.14 All research projects funded by us must comply with the ARC Research Integrity and Research Misconduct Policy, which is available on the ARC website.
9.15 If We consider that an application is incomplete, inaccurate or contains false or misleading information, or involves misconduct, We may in Our absolute discretion decide to recommend that the application not be approved for a grant.
9.16 A decision may be made by us at any stage during the assessment of the application and may result in non-progression of the application through the assessment process.
9.17 Examples of misleading information and misconduct include:
providing fictitious Research Opportunity and Performance Evidence;
plagiarism;
making false claims in relation to the authorship of the application;
failing to make adequate acknowledgement of intellectual, design or other significant contributions to the application;
making false claims in publications records (such as describing a paper as accepted for publication when it has only been submitted);
making false claims in relation to qualifications and/or appointments;
making false certifications; or
failing to disclose the existence, and nature, of actual or potential Conflicts of Interest of any of the parties involved in the application/project (such as any affiliations or financial interest in any organisation that has a direct interest in the matter or outputs of the project).
Intellectual Property
9.18 We do not claim ownership of any intellectual property in an application or in any research arising from a project.
9.19 You must adhere to an Intellectual Property policy, approved by Your governing body, which has as one of its aims the maximisation of benefits to Australia arising from publicly funded research. You should ensure that participants applying for ARC grants are familiar with the current Intellectual Property and patent landscape for the research areas included in the application. Unless otherwise approved by the Commonwealth, Your Intellectual Property policy must comply with the National Principles of Intellectual Property Management for Publicly Funded Research and/or any successor document(s). These document(s) are available on Our website at www.arc.gov.au/national-principles-intellectual-property-management-publicly-funded-research).
Publication and Dissemination of Research Outputs and Research Data
9.20 All research projects funded by us must comply with the ARC Open Access Policy on the dissemination of research findings, which is on our website www.arc.gov.au/arc-open-access-policy.
9.21 Participants and institutions have an obligation to collect and maintain research data in accordance with the Australian Code for the Responsible Conduct of Research (2007). The ARC strongly encourages the depositing of data arising from a Project in an appropriate publicly accessible discipline and/or institutional repository. Participants must outline briefly in their application how they plan to manage research data arising from a project.
9.22 We strongly encourage all participants applying for grants to have an Open Researcher and Contributor ID (ORCID) in their RMS Profile.
How We pay the grant
9.23 Payments will be made as set out in the Grant Agreement.
9.24 The grant offer will specify the approved amount for that Project specified in the Grant Offer, or as otherwise varied by us in accordance with the Grant Agreement.
9.25 Any Project expenditure incurred by You for a Project additional to the approved amount for that Project specified in the Grant Offer, or as otherwise varied by us, is Your responsibility. The Commonwealth will not reimburse You for such costs under any circumstances.
9.26 You are responsible for any and all financial and taxation implications associated with receiving funds. Grant funding may be indexed. Grant funding will typically be paid monthly through the ARC’s usual payment system.
9.27 Once the Grant Agreement is signed by the Commonwealth, payment will be made on the Grant Commencement Date or the next available date for scheduled grant payments.
9.28 Any grant awarded will be subject to sufficient funds being available for the project, the provisions of the ARC Act and continued satisfactory progress of the project.
9.29 All amounts referred to in these grant guidelines are to be read as exclusive of GST, unless expressly stated otherwise.
Grant Agreement variations
9.30 We recognise that unexpected events may affect the progress of a project. In these circumstances, You can request a project variation, including:
changing a project’s internal budget or research plan;
extending the timeframe for completing the project; or
changing participants or organisations named on the project.
9.31 You cannot request a project variation for an increase to the agreed amount of grant funds.
9.32 If You want to propose changes to the Grant Agreement, You must submit them through a Variation of Grant Agreement.
9.33 You should not assume that a variation request will be successful. We will consider Your request based on factors such as:
how it affects the project outcome; and
consistency with the grant opportunity objectives, the project’s aim and objectives and any relevant ARC policies.
Keeping us informed
9.34 You should let us know if anything is likely to affect Your Centre.
9.35 You must also inform us of any changes to Your:
nominated contact details; or
bank account details.
9.36 If You become aware of a breach of terms and conditions under the Grant Agreement, You must contact us immediately.