Archived Grant Opportunity View - GO6492

Future Fellowships reflect the Australian Government’s commitment to excellence in research by supporting excellent mid-career researchers to undertake high quality research in areas of national and international benefit.  

The Future Fellowships scheme objectives are to:  

• support outstanding mid-career researchers, with demonstrated capacity for high-quality research, leadership, research training and mentoring; 
• support excellent basic and applied research by outstanding mid-career researchers to be recruited and retained by universities in continuing academic positions; 
• foster national and international research collaboration; 
• support excellent and innovative research that addresses a significant problem or gap in knowledge and represents value for money; 
• create new or advanced knowledge resulting from the outcomes of the research with economic, commercial, environmental, social and/or cultural benefits for Australia, and enhances the scale and focus of research in Australian Government priority areas. 

The intended outcome of the Discovery Program is to contribute to the growth of Australia’s research and innovation capacity. Increasing Australia’s research and innovation capacity generates new knowledge and results in the development of new technologies, products and ideas, the creation of jobs, economic growth and an enhanced quality of life in Australia.

An application may only be submitted through the Research Office of an Eligible Organisation listed in the Grant Guidelines. 

Eligibility 

 A Future Fellowship candidate must satisfy the eligibility criteria as listed in the Grant Guidelines. 

 A previous recipient, or an individual who has been nominated for a Future Fellowship on three previous occasions, is not eligible to apply for another Future Fellowship. This includes withdrawn and ineligible applications. 

To be eligible, the Future Fellowship candidate must, as at the grant opportunity closing date: 

• have an award of PhD date on, or between, 1 March 2009 and 1 March 2019; or 
• have a PhD award date together with an allowable period of career interruptions that would be commensurate with an award of PhD date on, or between, 1 March 2009 and 1 March 2019. The allowable career interruptions set out, and the period allowed for each are in Table 5 of the Discovery Program Grant Guidelines – Fellowships (2023 edition).

A Future Fellowship candidate can be concurrently funded through the Discovery Program for a maximum of: one ARC Fellowship and one project as a Chief Investigator (CI); or one ARC Fellowship or project if the individual is also a Director on an active ARC Centre of Excellence or a Special Research Initiative project. 

 Applications for Future Fellowships don’t need to meet the project limit requirements at the grant opportunity closing date. If successful, project limits must be met before the project can start. Refer to the Instructions to Applicants for more information.

Future Fellowship funding and grant duration is four consecutive years on a full-time basis. The Future Fellowship may be undertaken on either a full-time, or a part-time basis subject to the employment conditions of the Administering Organisation and provided that the Future Fellowship does not exceed eight years from the project start date (excluding any approved periods of suspension).

From $683,392.00 to $1,211,132.00

The application must be submitted as a mature research plan presenting the proposed project ready for implementation and must contain all the information necessary for its assessment without the need for further written or oral explanation, or reference to additional documentation, unless requested by the ARC.

The ARC reserves the right to change these criteria in future funding rounds. Grant Guidelines for all ARC schemes may be found attached to the relevant Grant Opportunity. Administering Organisations must submit Applications through the Research Management System (RMS) unless otherwise advised by the ARC.

All applications must meet the format and content requirements, including certification, as set out in the RMS online form and the relevant scheme Instructions to Applicants.

The RMS is a web-based system used to prepare and submit research applications, assessments and rejoinders for the Australian Research Council's (ARC) National Competitive Grants Program (NCGP). 

Registered users can log in using their email address and password at https://rms.arc.gov.au. 

To request a new account, please go to https://rms.arc.gov.au and click on the Request New Account link.