Archived Grant Opportunity View - GO5323

The ARC Centres of Excellence are prestigious focal points of expertise through which high quality researchers collaboratively maintain and develop Australia’s international standing in research areas of national priority.

The ARC Centres of Excellence grant opportunity facilitates significant collaboration which allows the complementary resources of universities, publicly funded research organisations, other research bodies, governments and businesses to be concentrated to support outstanding research in all fields (except Medical Research).

The ARC Centres of Excellence scheme objectives are to:

• undertake highly innovative and potentially transformational research that aims to achieve international standing in the fields of research envisaged and leads to a significant advancement of capabilities and knowledge;

• link existing Australian research strengths and build critical mass with new capacity for interdisciplinary, collaborative approaches to address the most challenging and significant research problems;

• develop relationships and build new networks with major national and international centres and research programs to help strengthen research, achieve global competitiveness and gain recognition for Australian research;

• build Australia’s human capacity in a range of research areas by attracting and retaining, from within Australia and abroad, researchers of high international standing as well as the most promising research students;

• provide high-quality postgraduate and postdoctoral training environments for the next generation of researchers;

• offer Australian researchers opportunities to work on large-scale problems over longer periods of time; and

• establish Centres that have an impact on the wider community through interaction with, and beneficial outcomes for, higher education institutions, governments, industry and the private and non-profit sectors.

An EOI application must have been shortlisted by the ARC for the Administering Organisation to be eligible to submit a full application in the second stage of the application process. A full application must be submitted through the Research Office of the Administering Organisation (an Eligible Organisation listed in the grant guidelines).

To be eligible, a full application must:

• include at least one Other Eligible Organisation;

• include one or more Partner Organisations; 

• nominate a Centre Director, who is the first-named Chief Investigator (CI) on Your application;

• include at least one other CI; and

• include one or more Partner Investigators (PI).

Eligible Organisations may be involved in more than one full application but must consider their capacity to contribute if all full applications are successful.

The Administering Organisation and each Other Eligible Organisation must commit a significant contribution of cash and/or in-kind and/or other material resources to the full application having regard to the total cost of the proposed Centre and the relative contribution of any Chief Investigators or Partner Investigator(s) at the organisation. The ARC does not specify the type or level of contribution.

Each Partner Organisation must make a contribution of cash and/or in-kind and/or other material resources that is specific to the Centre, and having regard to the total cost of the project and not be part of a broader contribution to the Administering Organisation or an Other Eligible Organisation.

ARC Centres of Excellence funding duration is up to 7 years.

From $1,000,000.00 to $5,000,000.00

The application 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 proposals, assessments and rejoinders for the Australian Research Council’s (ARC) National Competitive Grants Program (NCGP).

Registered users can login using your email address and password at https://rms.arc.gov.au. To request a new account, go to https://rms.arc.gov.au and click on the Request New Account link.