Preparing ARC Grants

Preparing ARC Grants

Research Office Mailing Lists

The Research-ARC mailing list is managed by the Research Office and used to communicate updates regarding grants and fellowships offered by the Australian Research Council (ARC). If you currently hold an ARC grant or fellowship, or intend applying for one, the Research Office strongly recommends subscribing to this list. Information about applying, changes to guidelines and conditions of award, progress report requirements etc. will be communicated via this list.

Documents

The ARC is required to publish Grant Guidelines and all associated scheme documents on GrantConnect, the Australian Government whole-of-government, web-based, grant information system. You will need to sign in or create a User Registration account in GrantConnect to access all relevant documentation for ARC applications.

Once you have signed in to GrantConnect, the essential documents can be found by searching for the relevant scheme under ‘grant opportunities’ (open schemes) or ‘forecast opportunities’ (upcoming schemes). As the ARC often updates documents after the scheme opens, it is highly recommended that you sign up for alerts by editing your profile.

If you encounter any problems accessing or downloading these documents please contact research-applications@newcastle.edu.au or phone 4921 7733.

The University of Newcastle Documents

RMS Access

RMS allows researchers requesting funding under the ARC National Competitive Grants Program to prepare and submit proposals electronically via the internet.

Each proposal is completed by researchers and consists of an electronic document generated from a combination of data entered directly into the proposal form, and PDF documents attached to the proposal form in RMS.

Note: The Admin Organisation will be The University of Newcastle

The RMS Information Page contains links to key documents such as:

  • RMS User Management Guide
  • Submitting a Proposal in RMS

All new applications as well as final reports will need to be submitted to RMS.

RMS minimum system requirements

RMS is compatible with the latest versions of Google Chrome and Microsoft Internet Explorer. Compatibility with different browsers or older versions of Google Chrome and Microsoft Internet Explorer is not guaranteed.

Research Outputs/Publications

RMS auto-population of Research Outputs and ORCID

As part of the ARC’s commitment to integrating ORCID into RMS, it is now possible to auto-populate research output data into ARC RMS profiles and application forms.

For more information on ORCID and your grant application, please see the below resources that the UON Library has kindly developed:

Research Liaison Librarians

Research Liaison Librarians offer a number of specialist research services and resources, including advice and support for undertaking literature searches, systematic reviews, referencing, citation analysis, current awareness, promotion of research, and management of research data.

Contact your school’s Research Liaison Librarian to discuss your research needs.

Preparing ARC Budgets

Information on how to calculate salary costs for your budget can found on our Preparing Research Budgets page.

  • 30% on-costs must be included in all salary requests.
  • Indexation cannot be included.
  • Salary increase due to increase in HEW step levels can be included.

Eligibility Matters

The ARC has developed an Eligibility Matters webpage which address some of the most common eligibility requirements for ARC schemes. It covers items including:

  • Researcher Roles
  • Fellowships/Awards
  • Number of Applications, Funded Projects and Cross-Scheme Eligibility
  • Organisational types
  • Incomplete or Misleading Information
  • Medical Research
  • Submission of applications

Visit the ARC Eligibility Matters webpage for more details.

ARC Medical Research Policy

Applications that involve medical research under the definitions in the ARC Medical Research Policy are not eligible to be funded by the ARC. It is strongly recommended that you review the current ARC Medical Research Policy.

If you believe there is any chance your application could be identified as involving medical research, we recommend you select ‘Yes’ at the relevant question within the application and provide a clear justification. Please be aware that eligibility against the Medical Research Policy is assessed on the intention of the project, and the way the application is written in addition to your justification.

Please contact the Research Office by email at research-applications@newcastle.edu.au if you suspect your application may be considered as medical and we can provide additional support.

Eligibility and Compliance Checks

The Research Office uses an online booking process to manage optional Eligibility and Compliance Checks (E&C Checks) on applications for ARC Schemes.

In these checks, scientific content is not reviewed but rather, this check will look at your application to make sure it meets the grant guidelines and ensure that you won’t be ruled out due to an ineligible proposal. It is recommended that you also seek Peer Review of your application either via your College/School or through the UON Academy of Reviewers where available.

A booking must be made within the allocated E&C Check period for each scheme. Applicants are strongly encouraged to commence their application in RMS ASAP after the scheme opens so they can book their preferred day for an E&C Check. Bookings without a RMS Application ID will be cancelled.

Please note: To enable the allocation of appropriate resourcing, bookings must be made prior to the defined scheme E&C Check period. Access to book an E&C Check will no longer be available once the Check period has commenced. This does not apply for schemes with continuous rounds (i.e. ARC Linkage Projects and NHMRC Partnership Projects).

Written Evidence for ARC Projects - Certification

The University of Newcastle is required to obtain written evidence of all Other Eligible organisations included on applications under the relevant Grant Guidelines. Certification for individual participants is now requested in RMS as part of the application.

Download the Certification Proforma (DOC) and follow the guidelines on the first page for submission.

The completed ARC Certification Proforma is required for ALL Eligible Organisations listed in an ARC application.

Please attach and send ALL responses in ONE (1) email to research-applications@newcastle.edu.au by the University deadline for final application (at least 1 week prior to submission date).

Participation on externally-led ARC applications

If you are participating on an ARC application being led by another university, you will need to provide the Project Leader (CIA) with a Certification form signed by the DVCRI delegate from the University of Newcastle. Many universities will have their own form, based on the ARC proforma. Please ask the CIA to provide this to you in advance with a deadline for its return. The University of Newcastle ARC Certification form can be used if the lead university does not have their own form.

In addition, you will need to complete and then seek the signature of your Head of School (HoS) and College Assistant Dean of Research (ADR) on the Application Coversheet. Once approved, the signed Coversheet and the submission-ready application should be emailed to research-applications@newcastle.edu.au by the Internal Deadline to allow review and approval of your participation.

Conflict of Interest and Confidentiality Policy

The ARC Conflict of Interest and Confidentiality Policy outlines the obligations that apply to individuals involved in ARC business including. Researchers are requested to provide this information as a named participant for ARC research funding (both CIs and PIs).

This information is gathered via a researcher’s profile in RMS, and is designed to support transparency of personal interests and to provide a mechanism to declare relationships and support to the Administering Organisation and the ARC.

It is important to note that RMS blocks submission of applications until all questions have been answered by all participants (both CIs and PIs) named on the application. As such, the Research Grants team strongly recommends that you maintain an up-to-date RMS profile to avoid any potential delay with submission. The Research Grants team is required to review these responses prior to submitting applications to the ARC.

A researcher’s responses will not be visible to other participants on the application or assessors who review the application. ARC peer review processes will continue to be based on assessing the merit of each application against the assessment criteria set out in Grant Guidelines. Please refer to the relevant Instructions to Applicants for the funding scheme for ARC directions on completion of these profile questions and complete them to the best of your knowledge.

If you have an international collaborator on an ARC application or hold an honorary appointment at an international university please note that:

  • ‘Foreign’ in this context means outside of Australia. If an international collaborator is receiving local research support then this would be considered Foreign support when responding to the ARC questions.
  • The ARC have advised that a government-funded university in a country other than Australia would be considered a 'foreign state owned enterprise'. Appointments with such universities will require the answer ‘Yes’ to the relevant ARC question.

Confidentiality and IP

We recommend that if submitting a research project with potential IP which could be patented/exploited or involves an Industry Partner which requires confidentiality, applicants should clearly identify the information as confidential or commercially sensitive within the application.

Applicants should insert the following sentence at the start of the Project Description within their application: "The following project is disclosed to the ARC in confidence for the purpose only of applying for ARC Funding."

National Interest Test (NIT) Statement

All ARC applications require a National Interest Test (NIT) Statement. The purpose of the NIT is to explain the societal benefits (economic, commercial, environmental, social and/or cultural) of the proposed research beyond the academic community. The audience of the NIT is the general public - a different audience than the Application Project Summary, which is addressed to the applicant’s peers. Further information is in the Guidelines and Instructions to Applicants for each scheme.

The NIT is assessed by the ARC Chief Executive Officer prior to recommendation to the Minister. It will not be visible to Assessors or within the application PDF.

Please see the ARC webpage Articulating National Interest in grant applications for more details.

Submission Process

Please see the ARC Submission Procedure on the ARC Grants webpage and the Online Booking System User Guide for instructions on how to make a booking for an Eligibility and Compliance Check.

Once complete, the CI submit the final, submission ready application in RMS via the 'Submit to Research Office' button and forward all associated documentation (e.g Cover Sheet and Organisation Certifications) to research-applications@newcastle.edu.au.

ARC Reporting and Eligibility

If you have a current ARC grant with outstanding reports, this may affect your eligibility for current ARC applications. Please see the ARC Reporting Requirements webpage.

RMS now has improved functionality to detect and prevent applications from being submitted where any participant has not met their ARC reporting requirements or where project or application limits have been breached.

Please see the scheme-specific Grant Guidelines and the ARC Reporting Requirements webpage.

Requirement for Acknowledgement of ARC Funding

For all research projects that are either partially or fully supported by ARC funding, the ARC Grant/Funding Agreements require that the ARC contribution to research and other activities must be appropriately acknowledged. The acknowledgement should include mention of the ARC as a funding body and where the Research Output is a publication, in addition to acknowledging ARC support, the relevant Project ID must be included.

Whilst this acknowledgement most often occurs within research outputs, such as journal publications, efforts should also be made if participating in dissemination activities such as conferences or interviews with media outlets.

The ARC provides further details on the acceptable forms for acknowledgement of ARC funding on their website, including advice on use of the ARC logo and recommended wording.

Access to Successful Applications

Research Services can provide researchers with access to view successful applications where the lead Chief Investigator has provided consent.

Applications must be viewed in hard copy in the Research Services office or by arrangement at HMRI.

How to Arrange to View a Successful Application

Contact research-applications@newcastle.edu.au to request access to view successful applications for a specific scheme. Please include preferred date(s), time(s) and location.

Confirmation of the date, time and venue will be provided to you by Research Services staff.

Presentations

The Research Advantage team have developed a Resources Hub which provides recordings and slides of recent presentations.