Selection Report: Discovery Early Career Researcher Award 2021

[TOC]

Overview

The (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 2021 opened on 16 October 2019 and closed on 12 March 2020. Applications were submitted through the Australian Research Council (ARC) Research Management System (RMS). This report outlines the outcomes from the selection process for that round.

These recommendations 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 Unless otherwise specified, data represented in this report exclude withdrawn applications.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 2021 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 2021 involved 80 College of Experts members across five discipline panels and was managed in RMS. A total of 4097 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 $104,316 (2019$), 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 1179 applications for Discovery Early Career Researcher Award for funding commencing in 2021, of which six applications were withdrawn. 

Two hundred Discovery Early Career Researcher Awards are approved for funding commencing in 2021, shown in Table 1. The overall success rate for Discovery Early Career Researcher Award for funding commencing in 2021 is 17.1%.
Of the unsuccessful applications in 2021, 17 were found not to meet eligibility requirements.

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 Early Career Researcher Award applications from 2020 to 2021

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 (%)
2020	1248	200	16.0	$507,777,318	$81,972,769	$81,838,415	99.8
2021	1173	200	17.1	$506,629,691	$87,483,735	$84,041,533	96.1

 *May include indicative funding amounts

Outcomes by discipline 

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

Table 2. Number of applications, success rates and requested and allocated funds for approved Discovery Early Career Researcher Award 2021 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	228	39	17.1	$101,082,210	$17,622,888	$17,283,974	98.1
EIC	331	56	16.9	$142,744,019	$24,344,551	$23,389,501	96.1
HCA	166	28	16.9	$70,190,285	$12,218,703	$11,649,670	95.3
MPCE	233	40	17.2	$99,119,433	$17,137,900	$16,606,779	96.9
SBE	215	37	17.2	$93,493,744	$16,159,693	$15,111,609	93.5
Total	1173	200	17.1	$506,629,691	$87,483,735	$84,041,533	96.1

*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 2021 applications by Science and Research Priorities

Science and Research Priorities	Applications considered	Applications approved	Success rate (%)	Approved funds over project life ($)
Advanced manufacturing	175	34	19.4	$14,211,934
Cybersecurity	47	5	10.6	$2,052,376
Energy	81	12	14.8	$5,005,505
Environmental change	161	36	22.4	$15,483,875
Food	40	11	27.5	$4,880,771
Health	125	18	14.4	$7,649,288
Resources	28	3	10.7	$1,267,994
Soil and water	47	6	12.8	$2,531,329
Transport	27	5	18.5	$2,108,029
Unspecified	442	70	15.8	$28,850,432
Total	1173	200	17.1	$84,041,533
Total within Science and Research Priorities	731	130	17.8	$55,191,101
Percentage within Science and Research Priorities (%)	62.3	65		65.7

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 2021 applications by Administering Organisation

Administering Organisation	Applications Considered	Applications approved	Success rate (%)	Funds over project life for approved applications ($)
Australian Capital Territory	91	20	22%	$8,617,059
The Australian National University	84	18	21.4%	$7,753,024
University of Canberra	7	2	28.6%	$864,035
New South Wales	397	72	18.1%	$29,857,583
Australian Catholic University	7	0	0%	$0
Charles Sturt University	3	0	0%	$0
Macquarie University	37	4	10.8%	$1,531,119
The University of New England	7	0	0%	$0
The University of New South Wales	124	22	17.7%	$9,045,907
The University of Newcastle	24	4	16.7%	$1,652,848
The University of Sydney	105	24	22.9%	$10,100,149
University of Technology Sydney	36	7	19.4%	$2,978,604
University of Wollongong	39	6	15.4%	$2,590,542
Western Sydney University	15	5	33.3%	$1,958,414
Queensland	192	40	20.8%	$17,024,708
Central Queensland University	2	1	50%	$407,679
Griffith University	22	3	13.6%	$1,247,408
James Cook University	15	6	40%	$2,569,630
Queensland University of Technology	31	6	19.4%	$2,398,627
The University of Queensland	110	21	19.1%	$9,114,200
University of Southern Queensland	8	2	25%	$866,164
University of the Sunshine Coast	4	1	25%	$421,000
South Australia	59	6	10.2%	$2,527,237
Flinders University	10	0	0%	$0
The University of Adelaide	38	4	10.5%	$1,674,218
Torrens University Australia	1	0	0%	$0
University of South Australia	10	2	20%	$853,019
Tasmania	21	2	9.5%	$851,128
University of Tasmania	21	2	9.5%	$851,128
Victoria	353	55	15.6%	$23,089,801
Deakin University	39	5	12.8%	$2,171,266
Federation University Australia	2	0	0%	$0
La Trobe University	13	4	30.8%	$1,693,473
Monash University	109	17	15.6%	$7,076,818
RMIT University	25	3	12%	$1,220,140
Swinburne University of Technology	28	1	3.6%	$350,898
The University of Melbourne	135	24	17.8%	$10,164,462
Victoria University	2	1	50%	$412,744
Western Australia	60	5	8.3%	$2,074,017
Curtin University	21	1	4.8%	$425,775
Edith Cowan University	1	0	0%	$0
Murdoch University	3	0	0%	$0
The University of Western Australia	35	4	11.4%	$1,648,242
Total	1173	200	17.1%	$84,041,533

Career age and gender

Of the 1173 Discovery Early Career Researcher Award candidates in this round, 458 were female, 710 were male and five candidates did not specify their gender. The success rate for female, male and unspecified candidates is 19.0 per cent, 15.6 per cent and 40.0 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 (0.43%) are not represented in the figure below.

At the closing time of submission of applications, of the 1173 candidates, 969 were within five years of the award of their PhD and 204 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, 168 candidates were within five years of the award of their PhD and 32 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 2021 by gender and career age*^

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 2021 candidates and approved Awardees

Citizenship/residency status	Applications considered	Applications considered	Applications approved	Success rate
Foreign Nationals	313	26.7%	40	12.8%
Resident Australians	783	66.8%	145	18.5%
Returning Australians	77	6.6%	15	19.5%
Total	1173	100%	200	17.1%

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

International Collaboration

Among 1173 of the applications considered, applicants foreshadowed 2519 instances of collaboration with researchers in 88 overseas locations. Of the applications approved for funding, 183 foreshadowed 459 instances of collaboration with researchers in 55 overseas locations (Figure 2).

Figure 2. International collaborations by location in approved Discovery Early Career Researcher Award 2021 applications*

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