EARLY CAREER RESEARCHER GRANT SCHEME FUNDING

EARLY CAREER RESEARCHER GRANT SCHEME
FUNDING RULES
FOR FUNDING COMMENCING JANUARY 2016
CLOSING DATE:
4pm, Monday 31st August 2015
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Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION
3
2. SCHEME OBJECTIVES ........................................................................................................ 3
3. SCOPE OF THE SCHEME .................................................................................................... 3
4. CHIEF INVESTIGATOR ROLE AND ELIGIBILITY .................................................................. 3
5. MENTORS ......................................................................................................................... 4
6. APPLICATION ELIGIBILITY ................................................................................................ 4
7. BUDGET ............................................................................................................................ 5
8. SUBMISSION PROCESS ...................................................................................................... 6
9. CLOSING DATE .................................................................................................................. 6
10. APPLICATION ASSESSMENT ............................................................................................ 6
11 CRITERIA FOR ASSESSMENT ............................................................................................ 7
12. APPEALS ......................................................................................................................... 7
13. PROJECT FUNDS .............................................................................................................. 8
14. REPORTING .................................................................................................................... 8
APPENDIX 1: ECU AREAS OF RESEARCH ACTIVITY ............................................................... 9
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INTRODUCTION
The Early Career Researcher (ECR) Grant Scheme supports promising ECU early career
researchers to progress their independent research careers. Researchers who are within five
years of PhD conferral (i.e. from August 2010) can apply for funding to conduct a one year
research project that will help develop their track record and enhance competitiveness. The
scheme aims to provide ECU researchers with experience in applying for research funding
and in undertaking and managing a research project as a lead Chief Investigator.
IMPORTANT - Applicants must take note that applications are not assessed by experts
in the field and therefore need to ensure that the proposal is accessible to a broad audience.
Use of overly technical language, or language specific to a particular discipline, along with
jargon and acronyms should be avoided.
2. SCHEME OBJECTIVES
The objectives of the ECR Grant Scheme are to:
•
Support ECRs by funding high quality research projects and pilots
•
Provide an opportunity for ECRs to gain experience in developing a research proposal
and leading a research project
•
Assist ECRs to develop their track record and enhance their competitiveness for
external research grants
3. SCOPE OF THE SCHEME
•
•
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Applications must be aligned to ECU’s areas of research strength as identified in the
University’s Research and Research Training Functional Plan (please refer to Appendix
1)
Funding for successful applicants commences in January 2016 and will be awarded for
a maximum of 12 months. The maximum funding available for each award is $25,000,
including teaching support which may not exceed $10,000.
Applications are accepted from individuals or teams and each Chief Investigator must
meet the eligibility requirements.
4. CHIEF INVESTIGATOR ROLE AND ELIGIBILITY
Chief Investigators must take intellectual, administrative and ethical responsibility for a
research project, from its conception to its finalisation and the communication of its outcomes.
It should be clear how this project aligns with the CI’s career progression.
Each named Chief Investigator must qualify as an early career researcher at the time of
application and provide evidence of the date their PhD was awarded (e.g. photocopy of
parchment or academic transcript).
Where eligibility is in doubt or unclear, Chief Investigators must seek an eligibility
ruling from the Director of ORI, in writing, at least four weeks prior to submission of the
application.
At the closing date of submission, each Chief Investigator must:
•
have been awarded a PhD on or after 31st August 2010; or,
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•
have been awarded a PhD on or after 31st August 2007, together with periods of
significant career interruption (between the PhD award date and the closing time of
submission of Proposals) which if taken into account would be commensurate with a
PhD being awarded on or after 31st August 2010. Career interruptions of less than one
month will not be considered. The following types of interruption will be considered:
o
carer’s responsibility;
o
disruption due to international relocation for post-doctoral studies or other research
employment not exceeding 3 months per international relocation;
o
illness;
o
maternity or parental leave; and/or
o
unemployment, or non-research employment.
•
hold a full-time or fractional (half-time or greater) ECU academic appointment for the
duration of the funded project.
•
not have held an Australian Competitive Grant as the lead Chief Investigator.
•
have the time and basic infrastructure to undertake the project, within the context of
existing research, teaching and higher degree supervision responsibilities.
•
take an active role in, and make a serious commitment to the project, and in the case of
the lead Chief Investigator, undertake the role of project leader, with overall responsibility
for all aspects of the project.
•
provide a progress or final report on awards as required. Failure to do so may result in
any future application being deemed ineligible.
5. MENTORS
•
•
•
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Applications must include a mentor (preferably an ECU employee). It is expected that
the mentor would be a senior colleague with relevant expertise in the field. Additional
mentor(s) may be included, where appropriate, from industry or other research
institutions.
The Chief Investigator should justify their choice of mentor.
Mentors should provide guidance to the project, and advice and support to assist the
Chief Investigator in the development or advancement of their research career.
Mentors should not have a substantial role in the project and should not fulfil the role of
a Chief Investigator.
The application must clearly demonstrate that the Chief Investigator is the real
driver of the research.
6. APPLICATION ELIGIBILITY
•
Applicants may submit a maximum of one application as a lead Chief Investigator in
any one round of the ECR grant scheme. Applicants can receive a maximum of two
grants from the ECR grant scheme as a Chief Investigator. Researchers cannot be
named as a Chief Investigator on concurrent grants funded under the scheme.
•
A second grant will only be awarded subject to satisfactory progress on, or completion
of, the first project. This includes the submission of the final report, and an assurance
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that the second project will lead to the submission of an application to an external
funding agency.
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•
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Substantially unchanged applications that were previously submitted for funding under
this scheme will be ruled ineligible.
Applicants must disclose any related applications awarded, submitted or plans for
submission to other internal or external schemes.
Concurrent proposals to the ECR scheme and external funders may be submitted
provided that any funds received under the ECR scheme are relinquished, as
appropriate, on receipt of the external award.
7. BUDGET
All budget items must be fully justified and be shown in Australian Dollars. The total amount
should be rounded to the nearest hundred dollars. USC – This scheme is USC exempt. Do not
include USC in your budget.
The following costs are supported under this scheme:
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ECU personnel, excluding Chief Investigator salaries
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Equipment
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Maintenance/Consumables
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Travel and accommodation: Only economy class travel will be considered.
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All travel must be consistent with the Edith Cowan University Travel Policy.
•
Please note that conference attendance is not normally supported by this funding
scheme. Rather, ASPIRE rewards and School or Faculty funding schemes are the usual
sources of funding for this purpose.
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Teaching Support to a maximum of $10,000.
•
Budget requests for both teaching support and research assistance will not usually be
supported. Teaching support includes, for example, such practices as funding to pay for
another person to assume your teaching responsibilities, or to lead tutorials, or to mark
exam papers/assignments. Inclusion of teaching support must be discussed with your
Head of School or Institute as this can have implications for the School’s teaching
program.
The following costs will not be supported under the scheme:
•
Salaries of Chief Investigators
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Postgraduate research projects
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Basic facilities, resources and infrastructure (e.g. laboratory and office accommodation,
IT, photocopying and printing, etc.) except where there is a clearly demonstrated,
project-specific requirement (e.g. specialised IT requirements, printing and mailing of
questionnaires, etc.)
•
Capital works
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Student stipends and fees
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Duplication of research costs for ongoing projects
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•
Research support for non-ECU investigators
•
Shortfalls on other awards
Please note: The proposed budget should be checked by the relevant Faculty Finance
Coordinator before your application is submitted. Please liaise with your Faculty’s Research
Administration Officer (RAO) [email protected] to arrange this.
8. SUBMISSION PROCESS
All Lead Investigators must have completed an Expression of Interest (EOI) via the ECU
Research Management System (ECU RMS) prior to developing their application. Once the
EOI has been approved by the Head of School, applicants can continue to develop their
application.
Instructions on how to log onto the ECU RMS and create an Expression of Interest can be
found at:
Submitting an Expression of Interest (EOI) Guide
Please note that the RAO and relevant Faculty Finance Coordinator will need to review the
final copy of your application prior to submission as outlined in the Instructions to Applicants.
Your final application will be submitted by your RAO via the ECU RMS. Once submitted on the
ECU RMS, the Head of School will be required to approve the final application prior to
acceptance by the Office of Research and Innovation.
Assistance with your EOI and/or the administrative aspects of your application, as well as any
queries regarding the funding rules, instructions or application form is available from your RAO
[email protected]
9. CLOSING DATE
4pm on Monday 31st August 2015.
LATE APPLICATIONS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED.
10. APPLICATION ASSESSMENT
Applications will be assessed on a competitive basis by a Committee chaired by the Deputy
Vice-Chancellor (Research), with membership including the Associate Deans of Research for
each Faculty, the Dean or representative from the Faculty of Regional Professional Studies
and the Director of ORI. Additional membership may be sourced as appropriate.
IMPORTANT - Applicants must take note that applications are not assessed by experts
in the field and therefore need to ensure that the proposal is accessible to a broad audience.
Use of overly technical language, or language specific to a particular discipline, along with
jargon and acronyms should be avoided.
The Committee reserves the right to adjust the level of financial support provided to successful
applicants.
Occasionally, the Committee will identify applications could be funded on the provision that
amendments are made. This is in keeping with the developmental nature of the scheme. In
such cases the application will be returned to the first named Chief Investigator with feedback.
The Chief Investigator will then have two weeks to submit a revised application. The revised
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application must be accompanied by a covering letter explaining the changes that have been
made, in response to the feedback provided. The final assessment will then be carried out on
the resubmitted application by the Committee. The invitation to resubmit is not a guarantee
that a revised application will be funded. On occasion, the committee may decide that
applications would benefit from assessment by an independent specialist in the field so may
be sent for external assessment. Applicants will be informed of this.
11 CRITERIA FOR ASSESSMENT
Applications will be assessed against the following criteria:
Project Quality and Innovation (30%)
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Does the project address an important issue?
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Are the aims and conceptual/theoretical framework original and innovative?
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Will the aims, concepts, methods and results advance knowledge within the field(s)?
Approach and Methodology (30%)
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Is the proposed design, method and analysis adequate to achieve the stated aims?
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Are the aims achievable within the proposed time frame, and given the skills, experience
and time commitment of the Chief Investigators?
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Is the budget appropriate and fully justified?
Researcher(s) Track Record and Future Prospects (30%)
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Any recognised research performance background in terms of academic record, awards
or refereed publications will be considered.
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Will the project contribute to the researcher(s) career development goals; are there clear
and reasonable plans?
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Will the project outcomes enhance competitiveness in securing future external funding to
support their research program?
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Will the project enhance capacity and provide the opportunity to develop the
researcher(s) track record in innovative, high quality research?
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Are the mentoring arrangements appropriate?
Research Benefit (10%)
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Will the project produce economic, environmental, social and/or cultural benefit?
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Does the research align to ECU areas of research activity?
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Are there adequate strategies to communicate research outcomes, including
commercialisation (if appropriate)?
12. APPEALS
Appeals will only be considered against the implementation or exercise of the selection
procedures. Appeals will not be considered against the merits of a decision not to fund an
application, or against any academic feedback provided to the applicant.
Applicants wishing to lodge an appeal must do so in writing to the Deputy Vice-Chancellor
(Research) within two weeks of advice of the outcome of the application.
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13. PROJECT FUNDS
A project may not begin, nor may the funds be expended, until the Chief Investigator has
accepted the award via the ECU Research Management System and all required ethical and
other clearances have been obtained.
The funds will be available in January 2016, and the project must commence by 31st March
2016. All funding must be fully expended by December 31 2016.
Expenditure on the project must be in accordance with the Budget section of this document
and with the aims and research plan of the project.
Any over-expenditure on the project will be the responsibility of the first-named Chief
Investigator and the School.
Any unspent funds will be recovered by the University. However, if in exceptional
circumstances the project cannot be completed within twelve months, the Manager of
Research Operations, Office of Research & Innovation (ORI), Carol Beetles
[email protected] , in consultation with the Head of School or Centre, may approve a
request to carry forward unspent funds for a limited time. Only one extension request will be
granted.
Likewise, any significant changes to the project must be approved by the Manager of
Research Operations, Office of Research & Innovation.
14. REPORTING
The first-named Chief Investigator is required to provide a written report on the outcomes to
ORI, no later than three months after the completion of the project, using the report pro-forma
available from the Office of Research & Innovation website.
The report must be signed by the Head of School and include a 100 word summary written for
an informed lay reader. This summary may be used for promotional purposes and should not
contain any confidential information, or information likely to impede the translation or
commercialisation of the project’s intellectual property.
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APPENDIX 1: ECU AREAS OF RESEARCH ACTIVITY
Business and Society
Communications and Creative Arts
Education
Engineering
Environment and Sustainability
ICT
Health and Wellness
Security
Law and Justice
Social and Community
Indigenous Culture, Education and Health
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