Selection Report: Discovery Projects 2020

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Overview

The Discovery Projects scheme provides funding for excellent fundamental research projects that can be undertaken by individual researchers or research teams.

The objectives of Discovery Projects are to:

• support excellent basic and applied research by individuals and teams;
• encourage high-quality research and research training;
• enhance international collaboration in research;
• expand Australia’s knowledge base and research capability; and
• enhance the scale and focus of research in the Australian Government’s Science and Research Priorities.

Selection Process

Applications for funding commencing in 2020 opened on 10 December 2018, and closed on 27 February 2019. Applications were submitted through the Australian Research Council (ARC) Research Management System (RMS). This report outlines recommendations from the ARC Chief Executive Officer (CEO) to the Minister.

These recommendations are based on advice from the ARC Selection Advisory Committee which: 

• assigned independent assessors to review the applications
• assessed applications and reviewed assessments made by independent assessors
• reviewed applicants comments on assessors’ reports
• ranked each application relative to the others on the basis of the application, the assessors’ reports and applicants 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 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 reflect the funding recommendations to the Minister. Unless otherwise specified, data presented in this report exclude withdrawn applications.

Assessment Criteria

Assessment criteria and corresponding weightings for Discovery Projects 2020 applications are: 

Investigator(s)	(35%)
Project Quality and Innovation	(40%)
Feasibility	(10%)
Benefit	(15%)

The ARC assessment process for Discovery Projects 2020 used 80 ARC Selection Advisory Committee members across five discipline panels and was managed in the RMS. A total of 10,005 independent assessors’ reports were submitted to the ARC.

Funding levels and duration

Funding of between $30,000 and $500,000 per annum for up to five years may be awarded for each Discovery Project application.

Summary of Outcomes

The ARC received a total of 2877 applications for Discovery Projects for funding commencing in 2020, of which two applications were withdrawn. This represents a 1.6 per cent decrease from the 2924 Discovery Project applications received for funding commencing in 2019. Of the unsuccessful applications, 46 did not meet eligibility requirements.

The overall success rate for Discovery Projects for funding commencing in 2020 is 23.0 per cent, with a higher percentage of allocation of requested funds compared to funding that commenced in 2019. A comparison of success rates and funding amounts is shown in Table 1.

Table 1. Comparison of application numbers, success rates, requested and allocated funds for approved Discovery Project applications from 2019 to 2020

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 (%)
2019	2,921	654	22.4	$1,621,899,946	$371,198,944	$262,590,367	70.7
2020	2,875	660	23.0	$1,641,948,285	$387,282,768	$284,952,924	73.6

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 approved Discovery Projects 2020 applications 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	700	150	21.4	$467,381,014	$102,665,794	$77,894,232	75.9
EIC	743	169	22.7	$411,621,921	$99,068,951	$71,860,383	72.5
HCA	287	70	24.4	$135,957,239	$32,194,309	$23,356,618	72.5
MPCE	639	153	23.9	$365,943,319	$93,409,337	$68,033,262	72.8
SBE	506	118	23.3	$261,044,792	$59,944,377	$43,808,429	73.1
Total	2875	660	23.0	$1,641,948,285	$387,282,768	$284,952,924	73.6

† 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 Projects 2020 applications by Science and Research Priorities

Science and Research Priorities	Applications considered	Applications approved	Success rate (%)	Approved funds over project life
Advanced manufacturing	467	101	21.6	$46,950,098
Cybersecurity	117	35	29.9	$14,605,975
Energy	142	33	23.2	$14,954,157
Environmental change	349	85	24.4	$36,300,596
Food	136	31	22.8	$14,800,730
Health	305	61	20	$26,198,112
Resources	75	23	30.7	$9,153,531
Soil and water	76	9	11.8	$4,265,370
Transport	73	19	26	$7,416,654
Unspecified	1135	263	23.2	$110,307,701
Total	2875	660	23	$284,952,924
Total within Science and Research Priorities	1740	397	22.8	$174,645,223
Percentage within Science and Research Priorities (%)	60.5	60.2		61.3

Outcomes by Administering Organisation

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

Table 4.  Number of applications and success rates for approved Discovery Projects 2020 applications by Administering Organisation

Administering Organisation	Applications considered	Applications approved	Success rate (%)	Funds over project life for approved applications ($)
Australian Capital Territory	172	55	32	$23,615,509
The Australian National University	164	55	33.5	$23,615,509
University of Canberra	8	0	0	$0
New South Wales	945	218	23.1	$92,322,316
Australian Catholic University	9	2	22.2	$986,065
Charles Sturt University	4	0	0	$0
Macquarie University	105	23	21.9	$9,662,148
Southern Cross University	10	2	20	$712,487
The University of New England	18	1	5.6	$351,803
The University of New South Wales	296	72	24.3	$30,818,887
The University of Newcastle	70	13	18.6	$5,327,689
The University of Sydney	239	58	24.3	$25,506,240
University of Technology Sydney	99	20	20.2	$8,533,546
University of Wollongong	58	18	31	$6,860,255
Western Sydney University	37	9	24.3	$3,563,196
Northern Territory	4	1	25	$348,536
Charles Darwin University	4	1	25	$348,536
Queensland	420	95	22.6	$42,830,577
Central Queensland University	6	3	50	$1,494,719
Griffith University	63	7	11.1	$3,140,073
James Cook University	9	3	33.3	$1,375,082
Queensland University of Technology	82	18	22	$7,717,690
The University of Queensland	246	62	25.2	$28,216,725
University of Southern Queensland	6	0	0	$0
University of the Sunshine Coast	8	2	25	$886,288
South Australia	193	40	20.7	$16,628,229
Flinders University	46	8	17.4	$3,830,011
The University of Adelaide	122	27	22.1	$10,887,021
University of South Australia	25	5	20	$1,911,197
Tasmania	57	11	19.3	$4,395,063
University of Tasmania	57	11	19.3	$4,395,063
Victoria	875	198	22.6	$87,256,071
Deakin University	55	8	14.5	$3,294,577
Federation University Australia	5	0	0	$0
La Trobe University	52	9	17.3	$3,349,187
Monash University	311	83	26.7	$36,452,728
RMIT University	72	17	23.6	$7,370,629
Swinburne University of Technology	62	11	17.7	$4,624,325
The University of Melbourne	308	65	21.1	$29,817,574
Victoria University	10	5	50	$2,347,051
Western Australia	209	42	20.1	$17,556,623
Curtin University	76	11	14.5	$3,921,531
Edith Cowan University	10	1	10	$380,000
Murdoch University	9	3	33.3	$1,018,071
The University of Western Australia	114	27	23.7	$12,237,021
Total	2875	660	23	$284,952,924

Career age and gender

Of the 6555 Chief Investigators (CIs) in this round, 1883 were female, 4654 were male and 18 were unspecified. The success rate for female, male and unspecified CIs in this round of Discovery Projects is 25.0 per cent, 22.7 per cent and 16.7 per cent respectively. 
Success rates of CIs by career age and gender in the current Discovery Projects round are presented in Figure 1. CIs who did not provide gender information (0.3 per cent) and CIs who did not specify the date of completion of their PhD or who do not hold a PhD (1.1 per cent) are not represented in the figure below.

Figure 1. Participation and success rate of Chief Investigators (CIs) in Discovery Projects 2020 by gender and career age*

*Career age is calculated as years since PhD based on most relevant qualification.

International Collaboration

Among 2875 of the applications considered, applicants foreshadowed 4469 instances of collaboration with researchers in 117 overseas locations. Of the applications approved for funding, 523 foreshadowed 1114 instances of collaboration with researchers in 74 overseas locations (Figure 2).

Figure 2. International collaborations by location in approved Discovery Project 2020 applications*

*The top 10 international collaboration locations are listed in Figure 2 and the remaining locations are grouped in the ‘Other’ category.

Discovery International Awards

Discovery International Awards (DIAs) aim to enhance opportunities for collaboration among researchers, research teams and/or research centres in Australia and overseas, and to build Australia’s international research capability. A summary of the outcomes for DIA requests is shown in Table 5.

Table 5.  Number of Discovery Projects 2020 applications approved for one or more Discovery International Awards (DIAs)

Funding year	Number of submitted applications requesting one or more DIAs	Number of applications approved with one or more DIAs
2019	609	115
2020	521	98