Archived Grant Opportunity View - GO2093

The Linkage Program promotes national and international research partnerships between researchers and business, industry, community organisations and other publicly funded research agencies. By supporting the development of partnerships, the ARC encourages the transfer of skills, knowledge and ideas as a basis for securing commercial and other benefits of research.

The Linkage Projects grant opportunity supports projects which initiate or develop long term strategic research alliances to apply advanced knowledge to problems, acquire new knowledge and as a basis for securing commercial and other benefits of research.

To facilitate successful collaboration between higher education institutions and other parts of the innovation system, Linkage Projects applications can be submitted at any time and funding outcomes are recommended to the Minister within six months of application submission.

The objectives of the Linkage Projects grant opportunity are to:

• support the initiation and/or development of long-term strategic research alliances between higher education organisations and industry and other research end-users, in order to apply advanced knowledge to problems to provide opportunitie to achieve national economic, commercial, environmental, or social benefits;
• provide opportunities for internationally competitive research projects to be conducted in collaboration with organisations outside the higher education sector;
• encourage growth of a national pool of world-class researchers to meet the needs of the broader Australian innovation system; and
• build the scale and focus of research in the Australian Government’s Science and Research Priorities.

An application may only be submitted through the Research Office of an Eligible Organisation listed in the Grant Guidelines. The application must nominate at least one Chief Investigator (CI); the first named CI will be the Project Leader. Additional CIs and Partner Investigators (PIs) may be nominated in the application.

To be eligible to apply as a CI or PI the individual nominated must as at the grant opportunity closing date have met their obligations regarding previously funded projects, including submission to the ARC of satisfactory final reports.

To be eligible to hold, the CI must meet at least one of the following criteria: be an employee for at least 20 per cent of full time equivalent (0.2 FTE) at an Eligible Organisation; or be a holder of an honorary academic appointment at an Eligible Organisation; a CI must reside predominately in Australia for the project activity period; a CI must not be undertaking a Higher Degree by Research (HDR) during the project activity period.

A CI can apply for and be concurrently funded through the Linkage Program (as defined in the glossary of the Grant Guidelines) for a maximum of four Linkage Program projects (not including the Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities scheme) as a CI.

The maximum number of projects a CI can be involved in will be calculated at the date of submission of an application by totalling the number of Active Projects at the grant commencement date and the number of applications submitted for Linkage Projects funding for which the outcome has not yet been announced (excluding any applications previously announced as not recommended for funding).

To be eligible to apply as a PI, the individual nominated must at the grant commencement date: not be eligible to be a CI.

To be eligible to hold, a PI: must not meet the eligibility criteria for a CI during the project activity period. An employee of an Eligible Organisation who does not reside predominately in Australia may be a PI.

An application may be applied for and awarded funding for a minimum of two to a maximum of five consecutive years.

From $50,000.00 to $300,000.00

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 grant opportunities, as expressed in the relevant Grant Guidelines. 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 ARC’s 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 in the Instructions to Applicants for the relevant grant opportunity. 

All queries by researchers should be directed to the Administering Organisation of the application.