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10.        Successful grant applications

The grant agreement

10.1.              If You are successful, You must enter into a legally binding grant agreement with the Commonwealth represented by the ARC.

10.2.              We use the ARC Centres of Excellence grant agreement which contains standard terms and conditions that cannot be changed. A sample grant agreement is available on GrantConnect. Any special conditions attached to the grant will be identified in the grant offer.

10.3.              You will have 30 calendar days from the date of the grant offer to execute this grant agreement with the Commonwealth.

10.4.              We must execute a grant agreement with You before We can make any payments. We are not responsible for any Centre 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.

10.5.              Once You have executed the grant agreement, but prior to all Other Eligible Organisations and 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. Further information is available in the Establishment Toolkit—ARC Centres of Excellence document on the ARC website.

10.6.              You are encouraged to work with Us and refer to the Establishment Toolkit—ARC Centres of Excellence on the ARC website to facilitate the effective establishment of the Centre.

10.7.              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, Other Eligible and/or Partner Organisation contributions.

10.8.              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, Other 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.

10.9.              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.

10.10.          You will be required to conduct the Centre substantially in accordance with the ‘Program Description’ contained in the application for the Centre.

10.11.          We may recover grant funds if You fail to meet the obligations of the grant agreement and We may terminate the Centre.

Specific research policies and practices

10.12.          You and each participant are required to be compliant with all relevant laws, regulations and have regard to any relevant guidelines.

Responsible and ethical research practices

10.13.          All applications and ARC-funded research projects must comply with the requirements for responsible and ethical research practice specified in the Australian Code for the Responsible Conduct of Research and the codes, guidelines, practices and policies on the ARC website.

10.14.          An ethics plan must be in place prior to the commencement of the project in line with the grant agreement.

Intellectual Property

10.15.          We do not claim ownership of any intellectual property in an application or in any research arising from a Centre. All research projects funded by Us must comply with practices and policies on the ARC website.

Publication and dissemination of research outputs and research data

10.16.          All research projects funded by Us must comply with the ARC Open Access Policy on the dissemination of research findings, which is on the ARC website.

10.17.          A data management plan must be developed prior to the commencement of the project in line with the grant agreement.

10.18.          We strongly encourage the depositing of data arising from a project in an appropriate publicly accessible discipline and/or institutional repository.

10.19.          All participants applying for grants are encouraged to have a persistent digital identifier such as an Open Researcher and Contributor Identifier (ORCID ID) in their RMS Profile.

How We pay the grant

10.20.          Payments will be made as set out in the grant agreement. Grant funding will typically be paid monthly through Our payment system.

10.21.          The grant offer will specify the approved grant amount to be paid.

10.22.          We will not pay more than the approved grant amount under any circumstances. If you incur extra costs, You must meet them.

10.23.          Grant funding may be subject to indexation.

10.24.          Once the grant agreement is executed by the Commonwealth, payment will be made on the next available date for grant payments after the grant commencement date.

10.25.          Any grant awarded will be subject to sufficient funds being available, the provisions of the ARC Act and the continued satisfactory progress of the Centre.

Grant payments and GST

10.26.          All amounts referred to in these grant guidelines are exclusive of the Goods and Services Tax (GST), unless expressly stated otherwise.

10.27.          You are responsible for any and all financial and taxation implications associated with receiving funds.