Selection Report: Discovery Early Career Research Award 2022

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Overview

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

The objectives of the Discovery Early Career Researcher Award 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; and
• enable research and research training in high quality and supportive environments

Selection process 

Applications for funding commencing in 2022 opened on 16 September 2020 and closed on 25 November 2020. Applications were submitted through the Australian Research Council (ARC) Research Management System (RMS). This report outlines outcomes from the ARC Chief Executive Officer (CEO) to the Minister.

These outcomes are based on advice from the ARC Selection Advisory Committee (SAC) which:

• assigned independent assessors to review the applications
• assessed applications and reviewed assessments made by independent assessors
• reviewed candidates’ comments on assessors’ reports
• ranked each application relative to the others on the basis of the application, the assessors’ reports and candidates’ responses to those assessments
• assessed and recommended budgets;

and, advice from the ARC’s National Competitive Grants Program (NCGP) Eligibility Committee which:

• considered eligibility issues identified by ARC staff, the members of the ARC College of Experts or independent assessors
• where required, sought advice from the ARC’s Medical Research Advisory Group
• made recommendations to the CEO in respect of ineligible applications.

This report reflects the outcomes approved by the Minister. Unless otherwise specified, data represented in this report exclude withdrawn applications.

Assessment criteria 

All applications that meet the eligibility criteria for the Discovery Early Career Researcher Award 2022 applications were assessed and merit ranked using the following assessment criteria:

Investigator/Capability (50%)

Describe the:

• Research Opportunity and Performance Evidence (ROPE) including record of high quality research outputs appropriate to the discipline/s.
• capability of candidate to build collaborations both within Australia and internationally.

Project quality and innovation (25%)

Describe the:

• contribution to an important gap in knowledge or significant problem;
• novelty/originality and innovation of the proposed research (including any new methods, technologies, theories or ideas that will be developed);
• clarity of the hypothesis, theories and research questions;
• cohesiveness of the project design and implementation plan (including the appropriateness of the aim, conceptual framework, method, data and/or analyses); and
• extent to which the research has the potential to enhance international collaboration.

Benefit (15%)

Describe the potential benefits including the:

• new or advanced knowledge resulting from outcomes of the research;
• economic, commercial, environmental, social and/or cultural benefits for Australia and international communities; and
• potential contribution to capacity in the Australian Government’s National Science and Research Priorities and other priorities identified by government.

Feasibility (10%)

Describe the:

• cost-effectiveness of the research and its value for money;
• feasibility of the research (including contribution of the project’s design, participants and resources to the timely completion of the project);
• supportive environment for the DECRA candidate and their project, and for HDR students where appropriate; and
• availability of the necessary facilities to complete the project.

If the project involves Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander research describe:

• the strategies for enabling collaboration with Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities where appropriate (for example, dialogue/collaboration with an Indigenous cultural mentor); and
• any existing or developing, supportive and high quality research communities.

Assessment process 

The ARC assessment process for Discovery Early Career Researcher Award 2022 involved 64 College of Experts members across five discipline panels and was managed in RMS. A total of 3104 independent assessors’ reports were submitted to the ARC.

Funding levels and duration 

Discovery Early Career Researcher Awards are funded for three consecutive years on a full-time basis. The annual salary contribution that may be awarded is fixed at $106,194 (2020$), including 30 per cent on-costs. In addition, the ARC may provide up to $50,000 in project costs per annum.

Summary of outcomes 

The ARC received a total of 997 applications for Discovery Early Career Researcher Award for funding commencing in 2022, of which one application was withdrawn.

One hundred and ninety-six Discovery Early Career Researcher Awards are approved for funding commencing in 2022, shown in Table 1. The overall success rate for Discovery Early Career Researcher Award for funding commencing in 2022 is 19.7%. A comparison of success rates and funding amounts is shown in Table 1.

Of the unsuccessful applications in 2022, 25 were found not to meet eligibility requirements.

Table 1. Comparison of application numbers, success rates, requested and allocated funds for approved Discovery Early Career Researcher Award applications from 2021 to 2022

Funding year	Applications considered	Applications approved	Success rate (%)	Requested funds over project life for all applications considered ($)	Requested funds over project life for approved applications ($)	Funds allocated over project life for approved applications ($)	Return rate for approved applications (%)
2021	1173	200	17.1	$506,629,691	$87,483,735	$84,041,533	96.0
2022	996	196	19.7	$439,916,659	$87,547,551	$83,014,284	94.8

*May include indicative funding amounts

Outcomes by discipline 

A summary of outcomes by discipline panel is shown in Table 2. 

Table 2.    Application numbers, success rates and requested and allocated funds for Discovery Early Career Researcher Award 2022 by discipline

Discipline *	Applications considered	Applications approved	Success rate (%)	Requested funds over project life for all applications considered ($)	Requested funds over project life for approved applications ($)	Funds over project  life for approved applications ($)	Return Rate for approved applications (%)
BSB	195	38	19.5	$88,364,436	$17,500,092	$16,587,378	94.8
EIC	271	52	19.2	$120,847,185	$23,260,469	$21,964,034	94.4
HCA	152	33	21.7	$65,036,852	$14,519,674	$13,576,959	93.5
MPCE	193	36	18.7	$83,856,843	$15,943,107	$15,224,291	95.5
SBE	185	37	20.0	$81,811,343	$16,324,209	$15,661,622	95.9
Total	996	196	19.7	$439,916,659	$87,547,551	$83,014,284	94.8

*BSB – Biological Sciences and Biotechnology; EIC – Engineering, Information and Computing Sciences, HCA – Humanities and Creative Arts; MPCE – Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry and Earth Sciences; SBE – Social, Behavioural and Economic Sciences

Outcomes by Science and Research Priorities 

A summary of outcomes by Science and Research Priorities is shown in Table 3.

Table 3.    Approved funding and success rate for Discovery Early Career Researcher Award 2022 applications by Science and Research Priorities

Science and Research Priorities	Applications considered	Applications approved	Success rate (%)	Approved funds over project life ($)
Advanced manufacturing	145	35	24.1	$14,964,962
Cybersecurity	35	7	20.0	$2,844,626
Energy	90	13	14.4	$5,621,985
Environmental change	127	25	19.7	$10,576,247
Food	36	3	8.3	$1,311,939
Health	145	34	23.4	$14,629,486
Resources	33	6	18.2	$2,571,296
Soil and water	26	6	23.1	$2,616,037
Transport	26	8	30.8	$3,315,777
Unspecified	333	59	17.7	$24,561,929
Total	996	196	19.7	$83,014,284
Total within Science and Research Priorities	663	137	20.7	$58,452,355
Percentage within Science and Research Priorities (%)	66.6	69.9		70.4

Outcomes by Administering Organisation 

A summary of outcomes by Administering Organisation is shown in Table 4.

Table 4. Numbers of applications and success rates for approved Discovery Early Career Researcher Award 2022 applications by Administering Organisation

Administering Organisation	Applications considered	Applications approved	Success rate (%)	Funds over project life for approved applications ($)
Australian Capital Territory	76	14	18.4	$6,057,335
The Australian National University	70	14	20.0	$6,057,335
University of Canberra	6	0	0.0	$0
New South Wales	311	73	23.5	$30,547,508
Australian Catholic University	11	2	18.2	$765,227
Charles Sturt University	2	1	50.0	$410,523
Macquarie University	40	9	22.5	$3,761,114
Southern Cross University	3	0	0.0	$0
The University of New England	10	2	20.0	$799,368
The University of New South Wales	79	17	21.5	$7,238,735
The University of Newcastle	18	5	27.8	$2,031,108
The University of Sydney	88	22	25.0	$9,163,921
University of Technology Sydney	28	9	32.1	$3,791,740
University of Wollongong	18	3	16.7	$1,281,816
Western Sydney University	14	3	21.4	$1,303,956
Northern Territory	1	1	100.0	$455,766
Charles Darwin University	1	1	100.0	$455,766
Queensland	176	32	18.2	$13,760,655
Central Queensland University	2	0	0.0	$0
Griffith University	27	6	22.2	$2,652,739
James Cook University	2	0	0.0	$0
Queensland University of Technology	39	4	10.3	$1,697,823
The University of Queensland	100	21	21.0	$8,956,511
University of Southern Queensland	3	1	33.3	$453,582
University of the Sunshine Coast	3	0	0.0	$0
South Australia	59	10	16.9	$4,268,178
Flinders University	10	3	30.0	$1,344,637
The University of Adelaide	36	5	13.9	$2,050,541
University of South Australia	13	2	15.4	$873,000
Tasmania	15	3	20.0	$1,324,711
University of Tasmania	15	3	20.0	$1,324,711
Victoria	300	59	19.7	$25,002,816
Deakin University	40	9	22.5	$3,724,275
Federation University Australia	1	0	0.0	$0
La Trobe University	12	2	16.7	$880,948
Monash University	81	15	18.5	$6,252,740
RMIT University	33	6	18.2	$2,473,264
Swinburne University of Technology	16	2	12.5	$888,958
The University of Melbourne	116	25	21.6	$10,782,631
Victoria University	1	0	0.0	$0
Western Australia	58	4	6.9	$1,597,315
Curtin University	13	0	0.0	$0
Edith Cowan University	5	1	20.0	$413,482
Murdoch University	4	1	25.0	$386,708
The University of Notre Dame Australia	2	0	0.0	$0
The University of Western Australia	34	2	5.9	$797,125
Total	996	196	19.7	$83,014,284

Career age and gender

Of the 996 Discovery Early Career Researcher Award candidates in this round, 413 were female, 574 were male and nine chose not to specify their gender. The success rate for female, male and unspecified candidates is 19.4 per cent, 19.5 per cent and 44.4 per cent respectively.

Success rates of Discovery Early Career Researcher Award candidates by career age and gender in the current Discovery Early Career Researcher Award round are presented in Figure 1. Discovery Early Career Researcher Award candidates who did not provide gender information (0.90%) are not represented in the figure below.

At the closing time of submission of applications, of the 996 candidates, 842 were within five years of the award of their PhD and 154 candidates were beyond five years of the award of their PhD. To be eligible to apply for a Discovery Early Career Researcher Award, the latter group of researchers had their significant career interruptions certified by their Administering Organisation.

Of the approved Discovery Early Career Researcher Awards, 161 candidates were within five years of the award of their PhD and 35 candidates were beyond five years of the award of their PhD.

Figure 1.  Participation and success rate of candidates in Discovery Early Career Researcher Award 2022 by gender and career age*^

* Career age is calculated as years since PhD based on the relevant qualification as selected in the application.

^ Calculated career age does not take career interruptions into consideration.

Attracting and retaining outstanding researchers 

Applications were open to Eligible Organisations to nominate candidates who are promising early career researchers, resident either within Australia or overseas. (Table 5).

Table 5. Citizenship/residency status of Discovery Early Career Researcher Award 2022 candidates and approved Awardees

Citizenship/residency status	Applications considered	% of Applications considered	Applications approved	Success rate (%)
Foreign Nationals	252	25.3	50	19.8
Resident Australians	675	67.8	130	19.3
Returning Australians	69	6.9	16	23.2
Total	996	100	196	19.7

Note: All totals and percentages are shown using rounded figures, and as such may not sum.

International Collaboration 

Among 996 of the applications considered, applicants foreshadowed 2045 instances of collaboration with researchers in 91 overseas locations. Of the applications approved for funding, 180 foreshadowed 447 instances of collaboration with researchers in 52 overseas locations (Figure 2).

Figure 2. International collaborations by location in approved Discovery Early Career Researcher Award 2022 applications*

*The top 11 international collaboration locations are listed in Figure 2 and the remaining are grouped in the ‘Other’ category