Applying to the ARC ITRP; ITRH & ITCC Schemes – Hints and Tips
Professor Fiona Cameron | JULY 2022
Photo by Sascha Bosshard on Unsplash
The ARC ITRH and ITCC schemes aim to fund research hubs and training centres, supporting higher degree by research and postdoctoral researchers in gaining real-world practical skills and experience through placement in industry. ARC ITRH’s are academic-led, in partnership with industry, with a focus on research outcomes that are transformative for industry. ITCC centres focus on training, also in partnership with industry in order to support transformation in the industry.
When putting together an application to either of these schemes it is critical to properly understand their purpose. The following are some general principles:
Excite the reader: underline and focus the areas of innovation, especially where it will be transformative to the industry.
Be as explicit as you can, bearing in mind that assessors are likely to be both academic and industry associated and may not have in depth knowledge of your industry.
Give specific examples of any previous industry outcomes from your research where available.
Clearly outline new and older Partner Organisation relationships. This will help the assessor to determine how well you manage such relationships.
Structure the content strictly around the proffered ARC headings from the ARC criteria. This will make it easier to follow, and will help to reduce the redundancy and page numbers, thus making the job of the assessors easier. This is a big step to a higher score.
Try and keep the ‘story’ as simple as possible, so that a tired assessor can take in your message clearly and thus give a high score.
Consider structuring your application toward your intended ‘impact’.
ITRH Proposals
Deliver a consistent and clear hierarchy of your research program structure. Lead the assessors through carefully and make sure that they don’t get confused. Use consistent language and research levels/hierarchy. A graphic of the hierarchy can be really helpful both to make the structure clear and to break up a section of dense text.
Clearly articulate the importance and transformative nature of the proposal for greater industry and not just the partner organisations.
Give key personnel a role such as Leader Theme 1 or Node leader. Note that 0.2 FTE is a minimum that most panels find acceptable as a level of commitment from a CI.
Demonstrate or provide evidence of mentoring through the next career steps and awards of your past graduates and provide PI academic credentials (if available), indicating whether they have agreed to actively mentor students or ECRs in the Hub. For the PIs, a commitment across the board of 0.1 probably indicates a serious commitment from the companies, particularly as these are senior personnel.
Avoid ‘rounding’ numbers in your budget and justification, since they look like ambit claims rather than well costed ones. The more specific the budget numbers, the more difficult it is for a panel to cut budget without obviously affecting the project. Justify every item in detail, including any investigator salaries/payments that are higher than academic/industry standard rates.
ITCC Proposals
It should be clear that the overall outcomes from training will transform the industry. Make sure the proposal reads as though the ITCC will function as a Centre rather than a collection of loosely related projects. The panel will focus on the transformational aspect of the proposal.
Aim for a ‘working title’ that might fit on a business card.
When providing personnel details start with the Centre Director: this is who the panel is really interested in as the leadership will make or break the success of the Centre. Consider dealing with the CIs first and then the PIs. Ensure that you address all the ARC dot points in the section for each CI and most certainly for key personnel. Gender balance is important, as is having CIs with previous experience in the ITRP or industry space where possible.
Provide evidence against each and every ARC dot point for the investigator criterion for each key CI: evidence of experience in managing distributed and/or collaborative industrial and end-user focussed research; evidence of significant outcomes on industry related projects; and evidence of experience in and capacity to provide effective supervision, support and mentoring for HDR candidates and postdoctoral researchers over the life of the Training Centre. FTE commitment should not be any less than 0.2.
Relationships are the number one problem in a program of this size and breadth and ultimately the Director is responsible for these. Make it clear that each partner is genuine and committed to the program. Include a high level Centre Manager as there will be a lot of relationships to manage. Well thought out and practical governance is really important.
In the project quality criterion section, be explicit as to how the research projects/themes will deliver on the Centre aims/objectives.
Use headings for structure and presume that the assessor knows little of the area and may be from industry not academia.
Discuss how the Centre will function as a Centre, in terms of annual conference, exchange of students between nodes, building student networks and interactions between the nodes and node leaders.
Keep the focus on transformation in all sections of proposals to either the ITRH or ITCC schemes. You need to stress that your proposal will really make a difference to industry and not just deliver a few project outcomes.
Professor Fiona Cameron worked at the Australian Research Council (ARC) as the Executive Director (ED) for Biological Sciences and Biotechnology and as Senior Executive Director between 2012 and 2018. Throughout her time at the ARC, Fiona was responsible for the large investment schemes Centres of Excellence (CoE), Industrial Transformation Research Program (ITRP) and Special Research Initiatives (SRI).
