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5.              What the grant money can be used for

Eligible grant activities

5.1.                  The Linkage Program supports research activities that meet the definition of ‘research’.

Ineligible grant activities

5.2.                  The Linkage Program does not support applications that involve medical research as detailed in the ARC Medical Research Policy on the ARC website.

5.3.                  We will not consider any application that utilises ARC funds for clinical trials.

5.4.                  We will not consider applications for a grant where one or more Organisation(s) is seeking expert external assistance, not available within their own organisation, in order to develop specific applications or outputs that involve little innovation or are low risk. We consider such applications to be contracted research or a consultancy arrangement and these are ineligible.

5.5.                  We cannot fund the same research activities, infrastructure or project previously funded or currently being funded through any other Commonwealth grant.

5.6.                  The Linkage Program does not support activities leading solely to the creation or performance of a work of art, including visual art, musical compositions, drama, dance, film, broadcasts, designs and literary works, unless those works are directly related to the project activities and demonstrably research based.

5.7.                  The ARC Centres of Excellence grant opportunity does not support applications that involve Antarctic research (see Glossary for definition).

What grant funds can be used for

5.8.                  You can only spend the grant on eligible expenditure items that directly support the Centre and in accordance with any additional special conditions in the grant agreement.

5.9.                  Eligible expenditure items are:

1. personnel, which may include:
2. salary support for Centre personnel who perform research or activities that support the research, for example research associates and assistants, a Centre Manager or Chief Operations Officer, technicians and laboratory attendants but excluding the Centre Director, CIs and PIs. Salary support must be at an appropriate level, including 30 per cent on-costs, at the employing organisation;
3. stipends for HDR students, in whole or in part, at an appropriate level for the Eligible Organisation;
4. expert services of a third party if the services are directly related to and essential for the Centre. Such services include, but are not limited to:

-            language translation services, transcribing services;

-            purchase of bibliographical or archival material (electronic or hard copy); and

-            data collection and analysis services;

b.              travel costs essential to the Centre research program or Centre governance, including economy travel costs for domestic and/or international travel and accommodation for Centre personnel and visitors to the Centre;

c.              expenditure on field research essential to the Centre, including technical and logistical support, travel expenses (including accommodation, meals and incidental costs);

d.              equipment (and its maintenance) and consumables essential to the Centre. Funding will not be provided for equipment or consumables that are considered to be for broad general use; and

e.              other, which may include:

1. access to national and international research and infrastructure facilities including specialist archives, collections and databases;
2. access to technical workshop services necessary for the Centre (for example, machine tools and qualified technicians);
3. publication and dissemination of Centre outputs and outreach activity, including the development and maintenance of the Centre’s website costs;
4. specialised computer equipment and software essential to the Centre;
5. workshops, focus groups and conferences that are essential for the conduct of the Centre (including reasonable hospitality costs such as morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea);
6. reasonable essential costs to allow a participant who is a carer, or who personally requires care or assistance, to undertake travel essential to the Centre; and
7. professional development and training for students and early career researchers only.

What grant funds cannot be used for

5.10.              Unless the following activities meet the definition of ‘research’, the Linkage Program does not support production of:

1. computer programs, research aids and tools;

b.              data warehouses, catalogues or bibliographies; or

c.              teaching materials.

5.11.              You cannot request or use grant funds for the following activities:

1. basic facilities that should normally be funded by an Administering Organisation, Eligible Organisation and/or Partner Organisation (including standard refurbishment costs of a laboratory);

b.              capital works and general infrastructure costs;

c.              costs not directly related to the Centre, including but not limited to professional membership fees, professional development courses which are not offered by the Centre, fees for patent application and maintenance, equipment for live music or drama performances, equipment for gallery and museum exhibitions, visas, relocation costs, entertainment costs, purchase of alcohol, insurance, mobile phones (purchase or call charges) and other indirect costs;

d.              fees for international students or the Higher Education Contribution Scheme (HECS) and Higher Education Loan Program (HELP) liabilities for students;

e.              salaries and/or on-costs, in whole or in part, for the Centre Director, CIs or PIs on the Centre or any other ARC grant;

f.               teaching relief;

g.              cost of investigations that are more appropriately undertaken by way of a consultancy;

h.              direct development of products and other commercialisation activities;

i.                indirect costs, including basic facilities and equipment, organisational overheads, and/or infrastructure costs; and

j.                research support for PIs, apart from short-term project support for investigators visiting from overseas and domestic and international travel associated with the Centre.

What basic facilities must be provided

5.12.              The following basic facilities must be provided (where relevant) and funded by You, or the Other Eligible Organisation(s), or Partner Organisation(s) and are not funded by the ARC:

1. bench fees or similar laboratory access fees;

b.              access to a basic library collection;

c.              access to film or music editing facilities;

d.              work accommodation (for example, laboratory and office space, suitably equipped and furnished);

e.              basic computer facilities such as desktop computers, portable computer devices, printers, word processing and other standard software;

f.               use of photocopiers, telephones, mail, email and internet services; and

g.              standard reference materials or funds for abstracting services.

5.13.              We may determine whether any grant funds involve items not permitted as identified above. If such a determination is made, then We may decide to not recommend part or all of the application for funding.