KEY POINTS
- The mission of the ARC is to advance Australia’s research excellence to deliver policy and programs that advance Australian research and innovation globally and benefit the community.
- The ARC was established by the Australian Research Council Act 2001. It is a statutory authority under the Public Service Act 1999 and a prescribed agency under the Financial Management and Accountability Act 1997.
- Its statutory role is to:
- provide high-quality advice to the Minister about matters related to research;
- make high-quality recommendations to the Minister on the allocation of financial assistance for research under the National Competitive Grants Program; and
- administer the National Competitive Grants Program.
- An ARC Advisory Council provides the ARC CEO with non-binding strategic and policy advice on research.
- The ARC is characterised by a unique blend of public service and academic research expertise—a key factor in its success in effectively performing its statutory roles.
- In 2009–10 the ARC has a total Operating Budget of $25.683 million which includes additional funding of $5.377 million for implementation of the Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) initiative. The ARC has also received $4.548 million to fund IT systems to support the development of the ERA initiative.
- The ARC is the primary agency responsible for administering Australian Government competitive funding for research in universities. In 2009–10, it is administering $652.831 million for the National Competitive Grants Program. Together with the ERA funding, this accounts for 7.7 per cent of the $8.587 billion Australian Government financial assistance for science and innovation in that year.
- In addition to its current fellowships programs under the National Competitive Grants Program, the ARC will administer $27.2 million over four years to run two rounds of three-year Super Science fellowships, to build Australia’s research strengths in three key areas: space and astronomy, marine and climate, and future industries.
- A new fellowship introduced in 2009 for senior Indigenous researchers, the Australian Research Fellowship Indigenous, will be administered by the ARC under its Discovery Indigenous Researchers Development scheme.
- Under its Special Research Initiatives Scheme the ARC will administer $50 million over four years for research grants in Bionic Vision Science and Technology. The ARC is managing funding to almost 4650 research projects Australia-wide, involving more than 10 200 researchers. The ARC is responsible for the development and implementation of the Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) initiative. It will assess research quality within Australia's higher education institutions using a combination of indicators and expert review by committees comprising experienced, internationally-recognised experts.
- A trial of ERA will occur this year. The trial will evaluate the Physical, Chemical and Earth Sciences (PCE) and Humanities and Creative Arts (HCA) clusters.
- The outcomes of these trials will inform the full ERA process in 2010.
FACTS AND FIGURES
The ARC advises the Australian Government on research funding and policy and, through its management of the National Competitive Grants Program, promotes the conduct of research and research training that is of the highest quality for the benefit of the Australian community.
The National Competitive Grants Program consists of two elements—Discovery and Linkage. Within these elements is a range of funding schemes designed to support researchers at different stages of their careers, build Australia’s research capability, expand and enhance collaborations, and develop centres of research excellence.
National Competitive Grants Program funding is allocated competitively on the basis of research excellence determined by peer review—competition allows the identification and targeting of financial support to those activities that are most likely to deliver outcomes of the highest quality.
The ARC is the only Australian Government agency that has the role of supporting research and research training across the broad spectrum of research—from the sciences and engineering through to the social sciences and humanities. In this way, the ARC:
- has a watching brief on the state of Australian research within and across all disciplines;
- is able to support multidisciplinary approaches to finding solutions to important research questions that are increasingly problem-based (rather than discipline-specific);
- administers national infrastructure and Australia’s participation in international ventures; and
- is able to collaborate with agencies across government to establish centres of excellence and other research initiatives in areas of national priority, for example NICTA.
The ARC is located within the Brindabella Business Park at Canberra Airport.