Australia: ARC's expressions of interest system knocks out 3,000 Discovery Project hopefuls (free to read): researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-austra…

Here's a report on the #DiscoveryProjects Expressions of Interest stage, by Jenny Sinclair Jenny Sinclair for ResearchProfessionalNews.

TL;DR: Seems OK so far but let's get a proper assessment later.

Features Palli Thordarson Royal Australian Chemical Institute (& me)

[No paywall]
researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-austra…

Could we improve the research funding ecosystem in Australia by giving funding bodies a more explicit, year-on-year memory, to catch repeat near miss high performers before we lose them?

linkedin.com/posts/michaelj…

Igor Aharonovich Macroarc

#AcademicChatter #AcademicTwitter

We thank Jason Clare MP
for addressing the letter Australian Institute of Physics Astro. Soc. Aus. and Royal Australian Chemical Institute wrote re ARC board ARC ARC Tracker The clarification received is an improvement but the gunes for board members are still quite restrictive. #ozchem

The AIP wrote to the Education Minister regarding the ARC board.

We received a response providing clarification.

The original wording has been improved, though is still restrictive.

Read our letter and the response: aip.org.au/Advocacy/13341…

Royal Australian Chemical Institute Astro. Soc. Aus.

The problem with trying to assess whether #DiscoveryProjects EOI process was good/bad/better/worse is we don't have proper data.

Here’s a perspective from someone with a different vantage point👇

ARC should do proper analysis of scoring disparities vs previous years🤞

#ARCSenateOrder Mar24:

The ARC made no grant recommendations in March.

See arc.gov.au/about/our-orga…

/bot

ARC Tracker I like the idea of getting a more international board and the associated expertise from around the world - that's not a bad thing and was lacking a bit in my view. But yeah excluding active researchers working in Oz does not seem right - surely they need to be represented.

Say you had to recruit ARC Board members.

Do you:

a) Exclude *all uni researchers* coz they'll be conflicted with a few individual grant apps (& despite ARC's existing systems for managing conflicts)

or

b) Maximise pool to follow the new legislation👇

🤔

Jason Clare MP :

Surely having active researchers hold board positions at ARC is an important part of making sure that ARC is funding research in an effective way.

We support Australian Institute of Physics position. Diversity on the board of the ARC is important. This includes people that have or had ARC funding. Resulting potential conflict of interest can easily be managed without excluding active researchers with ARC funds. #ozchem ARC Tracker

We are pleased to see the ARC Review Act pass into law and the ARC Board formed. However, we believe it is important for active research practitioners to be represented on the ARC Board.

Read our feedback here: aip.org.au/Advocacy/13341…

Royal Australian Chemical Institute  Astro. Soc. Aus. ARC