Submission to the National Competitive Grants Program Review Discussion Paper

Ensuring Australia’s research ecosystem is as strong as possible is foundational for Australia’s future prosperity. The National Competitive Grants Program (NCGP), as the largest funder of non-medical fundamental research, is a core component of this ecosystem. The NCGP is currently underfunded, with success rates as low as 9.5% for some schemes – meaning a significant amount of work is being wasted each year as high-quality, viable projects go unfunded. This position is unsustainable for Australia’s research sector. More investment would only benefit Australian research and development, and the advances it brings in economic growth, social resilience, and health and wellbeing.

ATSE considers that changes to the system should champion fundamental/discovery research, and that grant rules and criteria should not be so onerous as to limit the freedom required to genuinely derive the most impactful benefits of discovery research. Along with its responsibility to fund research, the ARC also has statutory responsibilities to support research careers as the essential building block of Australia’s future research sector.

To support these goals, ATSE makes the following recommendations:

Recommendation 1: Engage with the expert panel of the Strategic Examination of Research and Development to ensure changes to the National Competitive Grants Program are aligned with the broader research and development ecosystem.

Recommendation 2: Amend grant assessment criteria to better incentivise genuine and respectful collaboration with Traditional Knowledge holders.

Recommendation 3: Ensure early career researchers have access to grant opportunities by guaranteeing allocations of the proposed Initiate and Breakthrough grants.

Recommendation 4: Amend the proposed Initiate Grants to allow for a longer funding period.

Recommendation 5: Redesign the Lead and Mentor Grants to allow greater support for early career researchers or redirect funding towards grant opportunities early career researchers can apply for.

Recommendation 6: Adopt a 40-40-20 model for Chief Investigator gender to support equitable funding outcomes.

Recommendation 7: Streamline grant application processes to reduce burdens on researchers.

Recommendation 8: Integrate the NCGP with state and territory near-miss funding schemes to leverage more high-quality research without needing additional grant applications.

Recommendation 9: Ensure support for research on Australia’s research ecosystem by continuing with the Learned Academies Special Projects grants.