International Science Linkages (ISL) Program Fact Sheet 

KEY POINTS 

• The ISL program supports the Government's commitment to its longstanding bilateral and multilateral international science relationships.
• The program contributes to Australia’s economic, social and environmental well-being by:
• facilitating Australia’s access to the global science and technology (S&T) system; and
• enabling Australian scientists, from both the public and private sectors, to collaborate with international partners.
• The ISL program consists of five components:
• Competitive Funding comprising of:
• Competitive Grants: supports Australian participation in strategically focussed, leading edge, international research collaborations with priority countries and in priority fields of research. Competitive Grants also provides support for staging major international scientific conferences in Australia. There have been 13 rounds held with an average of $3.2 million awarded per round. 
• Australia-China Special Fund for S&T Cooperation: supports Australian participation in bilateral collaborative research projects which draw on the complementary strengths of researchers from Australia and China. There have been nine rounds held with an average of $1.25 million awarded per round.
• French-Australian Science and Technology Program: supports Australian participation in bilateral collaborative research projects which draw on the complementary strengths of researchers from Australia and France. Up to $250,000 is awarded per round.
• Strategic Policy: provides a vehicle for the Australian Government to establish, reinforce and leverage strategic links and relationships with key overseas counterparts.
• Australia-Europe Research Collaboration Fund: provides a vehicle for the Australian Government to establish, reinforce and leverage strategic research links and relationships with the European Union, and with European countries as appropriate.
• ISL – Science Academies Program: provides targeted support for specific activities using the networks and expertise of the Australian Academy of Science and the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering.
• ISL Humanities and Social Sciences Academies Program: will provide support for international collaboration in the humanities and social sciences. Activities to be supported under this program are currently being developed by the Australian Academy of the Humanities and the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia.
• The program has helped increase the quality of Australian science by enabling Australian researchers to collaborate with leading international colleagues: 
  - ISL has funded over 600 projects which have enabled 3,000 Australian researchers to collaborate with leading researchers in 40 countries on diverse topics of strategic importance.
• The focus of ISL supported activities at this stage of the program is on targeted, strategic activities that can be implemented by the scheduled end date in 2011.
• Originally, funding for the program was to total $94.5 million over the nine financial years 2002-03 to 2010-11.
• In the 2009-10 Budget, the Government announced that it will not proceed with funding for the 2009 competitive grants round under the International Science Linkages program.   Therefore there will be no Competitive Grants round in 2009. 
• This year’s budget contained a savings measure which has cut ISL funding by $2 million in 2009-10.
• Current funding and forward estimates for the ISL program are:

 FACTS AND FIGURES

Currently, there are 253 projects active totalling $48.8 million. These projects include collaborative research projects, scientific workshops and symposia, missions, fellowships and access to international research facilities not available in Australia.

Under the Europe Fund component, $4 million of funding has been allocated to support activities in the period 2008-9 to 2010-11 including:

• $200,000 (managed by the Australian Academy of Science) to support Australian involvement in the International Research Staff Exchange Scheme (IRSES), which is a project also being funded through the EU’s Seventh Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development (FP7).
• $300,000 (managed by National ICT Australia) to support collaboration with European partners, within FP7 projects, in the areas of trustworthy infrastructure and embedded systems.  This project will also develop an Australian ICT research capability map.
• $120,000 (managed by the Australia Academy of Science) to support Australian involvement with European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) Actions.  COST is one of the longest-running European instruments supporting cooperation among scientists and researchers across Europe and internationally.

Under the Humanities and Social Sciences Academies Program, the Australian Academy of the Humanities (AAH) and the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia (ASSA) have each been provided $540,000 to promote access and participation for Australian HASS researchers in strategically focussed, leading edge, international research in the HASS disciplines and to increase strategic alliances between Australian and overseas HASS researchers.

AAH and ASSA are developing a program of strategic initiatives for 2009 – 2011 through a series of stakeholder consultations and workshops with the wider HASS community. Initiatives are expected to include a mix of researcher exchanges, fellowships, workshops and symposia designed to bring together the best researchers from Australia and around the world.

There have been 13 rounds of Competitive Grants, 9 rounds of the Australia–China Special Fund and 7 rounds of the French–Australian S&T Program.  Details on the most recent funding rounds are: