The Australian Institute of Physics welcomes the final report from the Australian Research Council on the revised National Competitive Grants Program. The 15 current schemes will be consolidated to 7 new ones, with the grant guidelines and assessment processes still open for consultation.
One particular choice stands out. Dedicated salaried fellowships for senior and mid-career researchers will no longer be available, with the funds allocated instead to project-based funding (and a continuation of ECR fellowships). This will support project participation for up to 20% more researchers at all career stages, and is part of a broader effort to prioritise ECRs. This is a welcome attempt to address the precarious position of junior researchers. However, it will squeeze further personnel funding from a university system which – under the Job-ready Graduates package - has already lost $4 billion since 2021. It may even impede ECR career trajectories, which are often opened by backfill positions for senior fellowships. We will therefore need to closely monitor the impact on physics departments.
The other headline change relates to infrastructure funding, which will eventually be removed from the National Competitive Grants Program entirely. Until a long-term solution is worked out, a temporary version of the Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities scheme will apparently operate. ARC and NHMRC funding has decreased by 19% in real terms over the past 12 years, and we have to hope that this long-term infrastructure solution will supplement project funding rather than competing for it.
Elsewhere, there is much welcome material on simplifying the administrative burden of applications, in order to reduce the turnaround time from application to award. This will hopefully avoid recent issues such as a Discovery Project processing time of 435 days.
There are multiple references in the report to further engagement with the research sector. We have therefore written to the ARC to request an ongoing dialogue, and strongly encourage members to share their thoughts by emailing our policy committee: spo@aip.org.au.
