Commonwealth Media | 23 October 2013 The government has announced more than $559 million in funding to Australian health and medical research through the National Health and Medical Research Council. This is over $100m less than the previous government allocated in each of the past two years. The Gillard government spent $652m in last year’s October round and a record $674m in 2011, funding some 1140 grants each year. However, NHMRC funding allocations are staggered through the year, with another substantial round expected in December. This round's funding will support 963 grants across three NHMRC research support schemes and five fellowship schemes. It includes 652 … [Read more...]
Guess who defines ‘waste’ in ARC-funded research
06/09/2013 by
The Conversation | 5 September 2013 By Rod Lamberts (ANU) I doubt anyone truly believes governments are infinitely resourced. Even the most rabid, single-issue monomaniac can appreciate that to take public money from bucket X, it must come from bucket Y. So it’s perfectly understandable the Coalition, like any party, must prioritise government spending of taxpayer money. The question is, how to prioritise. What are the criteria for good spending versus bad spending? More specifically, what constitutes wasted spending? When it comes to research funded by the Australian Research Council (ARC) at least, it seems the Coalition has it all worked out. In a Daily … [Read more...]
This week in Campus Review – 26 November 2012
27/11/2012 by
This post has been removed at the request of Campus Review … [Read more...]
550 years, $66m “lost” in R&D cash fight
16/11/2012 by
The Australian | 14 November 2012 A survey by Queensland University of Technology of 285 applicants for National Health and Medical Council (NHMRC) research funding reveals applicants spent an average 34 working days writing an application. The Australian suggests this adds up to an estimated cost in salaries of $66 million and a seemingly astonishing 550 work “years” in research time. The NHMRC received 3727 applications, of which only about 20% were funded. Another way of looking at it is that it takes about 7 weeks to prepare an “average” application and costs $17,700. Is this unreasonable, given that funded projects extend over a number of years, often at a cost of … [Read more...]
ARC research grants announced
08/11/2012 by
Commonwealth Newsroom | 5 November 2012 The Australian | 6 November 2012 Australian universities will receive almost $360 million in Australian Research Council funding for 1014 research programs. Funding of $3,2 million is being provided to establish a National Indigenous Research and Knowledges at Queensland University of Technology (QUT), in partnership with other Australian universities and the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS). The projects span a variety of topics - mapping the universe, reducing Indigenous incarceration, gravitational waves, energy efficient lighting, the role of mentoring, local and … [Read more...]