Australian Research Council (ARC)
The Australian Research Council (ARC) administers the National Competitive Grants Program (NCGP), which supports the highest-quality fundamental and applied research, and research training through nationally competitive grant schemes.
The NCGP supports:
- high quality research leading to the discovery of new ideas and the advancement of knowledge
- facilities and equipment that researchers need to be internationally competitive
- researchers at different stages of their careers, including training and skills development of the next generation of researchers
- incentives for Australia’s most talented researchers to work in partnership with leading researchers throughout the national innovation system and internationally, and to form alliances with Australian industry.
The NCGP comprises two funding programs Discovery and Linkage.
Discovery program supports fundamental research, essential to Australia’s innovation system, for the development of new ideas, job creation, economic growth, and an enhanced quality of life in Australia.
Linkage program promotes national and international collaboration and research partnerships between key stakeholders in research and innovation, including higher education providers, government, business, industry and end-users. Research and development is undertaken to apply advanced knowledge to problems, acquire new knowledge and as a basis for securing commercial and other benefits of research.
Experimental Development
The Australian Research Council Act 2001 (amended 2024) excludes the use of ARC funding for activities classified as ‘experimental development’. The updated advice clarifies that experimental development research may be included in an application, where these activities are to be funded from non-ARC sources. The application must make clear this differentiation.
The ARC Experimental Development Policy is located on the ARC website.
ARC Assessors
Peer review is central to the assessment of applications for ARC grants. The ARC engages both General and Detailed assessors to review applications.
Becoming an ARC assessor can be a great experience – more details can be found on their website.
College of Experts
To support the advancement of knowledge and contribute to national innovation, the ARC engages an ARC College of Experts to play a key role in identifying research excellence. Its members are experts of international standing drawn from the Australian research community: from higher education, industry and public sector research organisations.
Research Services will put out a call annually as nominations are not accepted directly from nominees. The DVCR will review the list of nominees prior to nominations progressing.
ARC Guidance on Applications and Grant Management in response to COVID-19
If you are planning to apply for an ARC grant consideration should be given to the potential impact of COVID-19 on the research methodology.
If you have a funded ARC project any impact of COVID-19 on the conduct of the project needs to be actively managed and where appropriate variations to the project methodology or timeframes (especially project end dates) considered, and approval sought.
- ARC Post Award Guidance including Major Investments: Responding to the impact of COVID-19
- Principles of Guidance for the COVID-19 Pandemic
For any of your application specific questions please contact research-preaward@ecu.edu.au.
For any questions about managing awarded projects please contact research-grants@ecu.edu.au.
ARC News
Keep up to date with the latest ARC news and administration alerts.
