Archived Grant Opportunity View - GO5056

The Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA) grant opportunity provides focused research support for early career researchers in both teaching and research, and research-only positions. 

The objectives of the DECRA scheme are to:

• support excellent basic and applied research by early career researchers
• support national and international research collaboration
• enhance the scale and focus of research in Australian Government priority areas
• advance promising early career researchers and promote enhanced opportunities for diverse career pathways
• enable research and research training in high quality and supportive environments.

The intended outcomes of the DECRA scheme are:

• expanded knowledge base and research capacity in Australia; and
• economic, commercial, environmental, social and/or cultural benefits for Australia.

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

Eligibility

A DECRA candidate must satisfy the eligibility criteria as listed in the grant guidelines.

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 This includes withdrawn and ineligible applications.

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

• not be nominated for more than one DECRA in a grant opportunity;
• have met their obligations regarding previously funded projects, including submission of satisfactory final reports to the ARC at the grant opportunity closing date;
• have an award of PhD date on, or after 1 March 2017; or
• have an award of PhD date together with an allowable period of career interruptions that would be commensurate with an award of PhD date on, or after 1 March 2017. The allowable career interruptions set out and the period allowed for each are in Table 9 of the Grant Guidelines for the Discovery Program (2021 edition).

Career Interruptions due to COVID-19: researchers who were in their final year of eligibility for DECRA and chose not to apply for DECRA 2022 can utilise the automatic one-year extension to apply for DECRA 2023.

If a DECRA candidate has more than one PhD, the earliest awarded PhD must fall within this timeframe.

A DECRA 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 and/or a Special Research Initiative project. Limits will be calculated at the grant opportunity closing date.

Named participants on successful applications for DECRA must meet the project limit requirements.

It is anticipated that up to 200 three-year Discovery Early Career Researcher Awards, including up to $50,000 per annum in project funds, may be awarded each year.

From $324,318.00 to $474,318.00

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.

Applicants should note the eligibility criteria for access to other funding schemes, as expressed in the Grant Guidelines for those schemes. 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 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 Research Management System (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, click on the Request New Account link.