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Writing Successful Applications

The aim of this page is to provide guidelines to staff and students on the key issues to be addressed when applying for research grants, fellowships and awards. The purpose is to create an awareness of what is required to write competitive applications to external funding agencies across all disciplines.

Success in obtaining research grants is one of the measures used by the Commonwealth Government and the University to allocate operating grant funds. At a Commonwealth level, the University's success in attracting Australian Competitive Grants (ACGs) and other research income, relative to the success of other universities, is a factor in determining the level of funds received in the operating grant (via the Institutional Grants Scheme (IGS) and the Research Training Scheme (RTS)) and for basic research infrastructure (through the Research Infrastructure Block Grant (RIBG)). Within the University, success in attracting ACGs and other research income is an input factor in the calculation of the research component, which forms part of the one-line budget allocation to faculties.

The range of factors used by the Government to calculate the IGS and the RTS includes all research grants and contracts, including income received for research purposes from government, industry, donations and bequests, as well as the output of research publications and higher research degrees completed. Success in attracting ACGs continues to be the basis for calculating the research infrastructure block grant.

The University's ability to win research grants and contracts is a crucial factor in determining the amount of IGS, RTS and RIBG funds it will receive from the Government in future years.

A Competitive Process

Whether you are applying for a research grant under a formal granting scheme, or seeking funds from industry for a research contract, it is important to realise that it is a competitive process. In the first case, your application will be considered in competition with other applications for a grant from a finite pool of funds. It is really no different if you are seeking contract funds. Although your proposal may not be competing directly with other research proposals, it will be competing against proposals for an alternative use of company or government funds.

It takes time to develop a research proposal properly. Try not to leave it to the last minute. Allow time to enable your colleagues to review and comment on it. Sometimes you may be so absorbed by the project itself that you fail to get the message across to others. The time to find out about a proposal's shortcomings is before you submit it, not when you are told that it was unsuccessful and you read the assessors' comments! Remember, too, that if you submit the proposal to the Research Grants and Finance Office on time, staff in the Office will also look out for any apparent administrative deficiencies and contact you about them. However, colleagues in your discipline are the best people to consult about your research proposal.

If you fail to win a grant, that is not necessarily the end of the road. Try to accept the assessors' comments constructively, so that the next time you do succeed.
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