1. Research Services Office
ARC LINKAGE PROJECTS 2012 R2
GUIDELINES
BUDGET
KEY DATES
RSO CONTACTS
Christine Maher
Research Services Office

2. ARC LINKAGE PROJECT OBJECTIVES
Promote long term strategic research alliances between higher education institutions and industry (must contain industry contribution: cash + in-kind)
Apply advanced knowledge to problems and/or to provide opportunities to obtain national economic, social or cultural benefits;
Provide outcome –oriented research training with industry for PhD students and postdocs

3. ARC GUIDELINES Funding Rules Instructions to Applicants
Selection Criteria – Section 4
Eligibility:
Funding & types of Expenditure supported - Section 5
Eligible Institutions and Partner organisations including evaluation of required cash and in-kind contribution – Section 6
Investigators - Section 7, 8 and 9
Instructions to Applicants
Frequently Asked Questions

4. FUNDING Minimum request from ARC is $30,000 per annum – S5.1.2
Period of funding is from years – Section 5.1.3
Typically maximum request from ARC is $500,000 per annum – S5.1.2
more if an outstanding case is made and there is high level commitment and very significant cash contribution – S5.1.2
Funding is subject to indexation and updated salary levels will be available annually on the ARC website at

5. PARTNER ORGANISATIONS
Each application must have at least 1 Partner Organisation – S6.2 and Section 6.4
Who is eligible?
a private sector organisation
a private non-profit organisation
a Government organisation - State, Territory or Commonwealth Government organisations
an overseas organisation – proposal must address the economic or social benefit to Australia, and the intended use of the research outcomes in Australia
cannot be a government funded research organisation

6. PARTNER CONTRIBUTION – S6.4
The combined Partner Organisation contributions for a Proposal (i.e. the total of the cash and in-kind contributions of the Partner Organisations) must at least match 100% the total funding requested from the ARC
If Proposal seeks less than $500,000 per year from the ARC, the combined Partner Organisation Cash Contribution must be at least 20% of the total funding requested from the ARC eg
If ARC request is $100,000
Partner Cash must be at least $20,000
Total of the combined Partner cash and in-kind contributions must be at least $100,000

7. Research Activities not supported by the Linkage Projects scheme
descriptive data compilations, catalogues or bibliographies;
teaching materials
compilation of data, computer programs, research aids and tools.
S 5.4.2
Projects where one or more Partner Organisations is seeking expert external assistance with little innovation potential or low risk
are mainly for the benefit, and align with the priorities or objectives, of the Partner Organisation(s)
and/or
the ARC deems to be essentially contracted research or a consultancy arrangement.
S c
Medical and dental research, including but not limited to projects that deal substantially with any of the areas of research outlined in Section c

8. SECTION 5.2.1 - BUDGET ITEMS SUPPORTED
Personnel: APDIs, Research Associates, technicians, lab attendants, PhD stipends, Linkage Industry Fellowships (LIF)*
Teaching and/or teaching relief to allow CIs to interact with POs
Equipment
Maintenance
Access to workshops services
Travel for CIs, PIs, APDI fellows and research support personnel
Relocation costs, for an APDI Fellow
*LIF – salary support associated with short-term transfers for CIs or PIs involved in a temporary transfer of CI to Partner Organisation (or vice versa)

9. Personnel
Salary support must be requested at an appropriate fully justified salary level, including 28% on-costs
PhD stipends, at a minimum of $27,651 (2011$) – note PhD Stipend award is no longer APAI or Special Condition
Travel costs:
i. economy, domestic and international travel for CIs and APDI Fellows, and research support personnel, to foster and strengthen collaborations between researchers in Australia and overseas;
ii. economy, domestic and international travel for PIs living overseas to travel to and from Australia, once per year, to work on the Project.
Teaching Relief
for up to two CIs, per Proposal;
b. for up to six months, per CI, over the duration of a two or three year Project; OR
for up to 12 months, per CI, over the duration of a four or five year Project;
for up to $69,758 per year (2011$) per CI, or pro rata for a lesser period,
Note: TR is a Special Condition and request must be fully justified.

10. Section 5.3 Budget Items Not Supported
salaries and/or on-costs for CIs and PIs (excluding APDI and LIF);
capital works and general infrastructure costs;
fees for international students
costs not directly related to research, for example, visas, insurance, and mobile phones (purchase or call charges).

11. Personnel Cost Calculations
Calculation steps
1. Determine appropriate time in-put
project leader (CI1) - typically EFT depending upon size of project
other CIs – typically EFT
0.05 EFT (~1 day/month) for a Prof who would attend fortnightly project meetings, six monthly workshops and edit reports and publications.
0.1 EFT (1 day/fortnight) – specialist role
0.2 EFT (1 day/week) – active and regular contributor role possibly involving some supervision
ARC funded staff / fellows
EFT
Student(s)
1.0 EFT

12. Personnel Cost Calculations
2. Determine appropriate level
Predetermined if current staff member or PI
If to be recruited, consider qualification and experience required
If with PhD – level A/6 and above (note A/level 6 is PhD holder entry level)
Research assistant – level A 1-5
Technical support – HEO
Student or staff??
Salary level values
ARC provide PhD stipend and fellowship values
Otherwise use Flinders salary scales and 28% on-costs

13. Non Personnel budget Items
Teaching Relief
Provision for CI to interact with Partner Organisations (PO)
Equipment
Major items to be purchased
Maintenance
Technical support (remember Uni in-kind)
Basic items (inc. PO in-kind)
Travel
Travel to Partner Organisations or PI travel to CIs, field trips etc
inc. PI in-kind
Conference travel requests must include conference details
Other
Consultants eg. translator, statistician
Workshops, focus groups

14. BUDGET JUSTIFICATION
Use same budget headings and order as budget table - eg
Personnel
- identify which personnel are being funded (level, %) + on-costs. Staff member/PI responsible for …
Equipment
Two important and low cost pieces of equipment for the project are requested: X
Y (discussed in section z).
Maintenance
Consumable, glassware and material costs are estimated to be $... ($.. cash and $1.. in-kind) pa.
Travel
To allow researchers to travel from … to … to undertake ….
Figure reflects the cost for travel between …. and …., return. The estimated cost per person is: $a return airfare, $b/day car hire, daily meal allowance of $c/day and accommodation expenses of $d/day.
Other
Costs calculated on internal, cost-recovery payments and include:

15. IMPORTANT DATES

16. RESEARCH SERVICES OFFICE SUPPORT
Useful resources:
RSO website
Faculty peers
Grants library: contact RSO Grants Officers
Budget tool:
Salaries:
Flinders Partners Partnering Program
a service package (including market research, workshops, mentoring and funding) designed to enable researchers to develop a partnership over a period of up to 12 months, culminating in a collaborative grant submission.

17. Contact Amy Petty (X15173) for assistance with RMS ID
ALL Applications MUST be accompanied by a fully signed Flinders Certification Form, and relevant ARC Certification Forms, signed
RSO Contacts
Contact Amy Petty (X15173) for assistance with
RMS ID
Flinders Certification Form
Contact Christine Maher (X12045) for assistance with
funding rules
eligibility
access to ARC Discovery Proposal library etc. 17