Future Fellowships Fact Sheet 

Key Points

• The Future Fellowships scheme is administered by the Australian Research Council (ARC).
• The Future Fellowships scheme is providing $844 million over five years for for outstanding mid-career researchers.
• The internationally competitive scheme provides an incentive for Australian researchers based overseas to return home to continue their work and also to attract the best international researchers to Australia.
• Over five years, the scheme offers 1000 talented Australian and international mid-career researchers four-year fellowships with salaries of up to $141,000 a year. Administering organisations will receive an additional $50,000 a year to support related infrastructure, equipment, travel and relocation costs.
• The Future Fellowships scheme is intended to enable highly qualified mid-career researchers to pursue a career in Australia, rather than overseas.
• The scheme will seek to encourage those researchers who can demonstrate a capacity to build collaboration across industry and/or research institutions and/or with other disciplines.
• Applicants are expected to demonstrate a link between their Fellowship and the Administering Organisation's research strengths to ensure that they align with planning for renewal and expansion of the research workforce.
• The Future Fellowships scheme funds researchers conducting all types of research (including pure basic research, strategic basic research and applied research) and particularly in areas of national priority that will deliver significant economic, environmental, social health or cultural benefits to Australia, for example renewable energy, manufacturing technologies, the sciences, medical research, education and Indigenous health and wellbeing.
• In 2010 the Future Fellowships scheme will target the following priority areas of research:
  • National research capacity
  • Targeted discipline areas such as mathematics, earth sciences, history, English, sociology, education and economics
  • Targeted research areas, such as Indigenous health and well-being, community and preventative health, environment and climate change, land-based transport systems, immigration, Asian studies, social inclusion and systemic disadvantage, and manufacturing innovation.

Facts and Figures

• The inaugural round of 200 Future Fellows was announced 9 September 2009. Funding totalling $147.4 million was awarded over the next four years (2009–2013).
• The closing time for submission of Proposals for the second round of Future Fellowships was 21 April 2010.
• More information about the Future Fellowships scheme is available at the ARC website > National Competitive Grants Program.