Research Matters Archive

Research Matters

VOLUME 22

Vol. 22. No. 13
28th June 2017
20170628-RMFunding

The attached Funding Opportunities Spreadsheet covers the period 16th to 31st October 2017.

Funding Announcements

Congratulations to Sophie Calabretto from the Department of Mathematics! Sophie secured a place in the Top 5 under 40, a scheme run by the ABC in their never-ending search for talented science communicators, and she won her spot under stiff competition from young researchers across Australia.

If anyone has applied for funding from the Army Research Centre, they wish to advise that the assessment of the applications for the Army Research Scheme is taking a longer time than planned and will be continuing through to the end of July. Successful applicants will be able to amend their project schedules once advised.

Australian Research Council Important Dates – Please note there was an error in the PDF and Excel versions of the ARC schemes indicative dates which were released on Thursday, 22 June 2017. If you received a copy of this, please discard it and refer to the ARC website, which has been updated.

Some dates of interest:

Australian Laureate Fellowships 2018

Opening 27th September 2017
Closing 9th November 2017

Future Fellowships
2018Opening 2nd October 2017
Closing 22nd November 2017

Industrial Transformation Training Centres 2018

Opening 3rd October 2017
Closing 29th November 2017

Industrial Transformation Research Hubs 2018

Opening 3rd October 2017
Closing 29th November 2017

Discovery Projects
2019Opening 13th November 2017
Closing 21st February 2018

Discovery Early Career Researcher Awards (DECRA) 2019

Opening 8th January 2018
Closing 14th March 2018
PLEASE note change in closing date from 28th Feb 2018.

Linkage, Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities (LIEF) 2019

Opening 22nd January 2018

Closing 28th March 2018

The NSW Government can provide support of up to $15,000 per project through the NSW Technology Voucher Program (TechVouchers) to NSW small to medium enterprises. If you are interested in this scheme you would need an industry partner who is an SME to apply and provide $15,000 of co-funding. The scheme also requires $30,000 to come from the University on behalf of the SME in a collaborative research activity.

Priority will be given to:

companies which have not engaged with universities or other public sector research organisations in the past;
companies which have not been working with research organisations for more than two years;
companies with an existing relationship with a research organisation who can demonstrate that the allocation of a TechVoucher will drive transformative improvement in the existing collaboration.

The form is here: https://www.industry.nsw.gov.au/business-and-industry-in-nsw/innovation-and-research/techvouchers/techvouchers-application-form
The criteria here: https://www.industry.nsw.gov.au/business-and-industry-in-nsw/innovation-and-research/techvouchers

Please contact Professor Michael Heimlich if you are interested in this scheme.

Round 4 of the Cooperative Research Centres Scheme will open in July 2017. If you missed the recent CRC workshop held on the 7t June 2017 and would like pdf copies of the presentations, please contact sci.research@mq.edu.au.

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Drop-in Partnership Clinics

These are 15 minute clinics for researchers wanting to explore opportunities for research funding from non-ARC sources such as government organisations, commercial companies, NGOs, not-for-profits, trusts etc. If you have an idea for a partnership or you can see an opportunity and want help making it happen, please book in!

When: every second Wednesday starting from 3 May, 9-10 am (upcoming workshops: 12/7/17, 26/7/17, 9/8/17, 23/8/17, 6/9/17, 20/9/17, 4/10/14, 18/10/17, 1/11/17, 15/11/17, 29/11/17, 13/12/17).
Where: E6A-242 Fishbowl.

Bookings are essential. Please email sci.research@mq.edu.au and attach the drop-in clinics one-pager (template attached) which contains some background information about you and your research. For more information, contact Irina Zakoshanski in the FSE Research Office, Ext. 8912

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PURE Update – Please log in and check your profile!

If you have not already logged in to PURE RMS, please do so as soon as you can. For more information about PURE and instructions on how to check your profile and disclaim publications that are not yours, please visit the Research Hub. The profiles are due to go public next week.

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Faculty Visiting Researcher Scheme

The Faculty Visiting Researcher Scheme is open and this will be the final round for the year. The visiting period covered will be from the start of September 2017 to the end of February 2018. The forms have been updated and can be found on the Resources page of the Faculty Intranet – applications will close on Wednesday the 5th July 2017.

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Seminars and Workshops

Unconscious bias and outdated stereotypes: how thinking shortcuts lead to bad outcomes

Speaker: Professor Jennifer Martin

Professor Jennifer L Martin is the Director of the Griffith Institute for Drug Discovery (GRIDD) at Griffith University in Queensland, Australia. Registration is free, however please register to confirm your place, as space is limited.

Date and Time: 21th July 2017, 13:00
Location: Level 1 Lecture Theatre, Australian Hearing Hub

NSW Chief Scientist & Engineer Lecture

Professor Mary O’Kane AC, Chief Scientist and Engineer for the NSW Government, will visit MQ to talk about the science communication problem and how her office deals with highly politicized issues.

Date and Time: 17th July 2017, 13:00 – 14:00, followed by group discussions until 16:00
Location: The Australian Hearing Hub, Level 1 Theatre
RSVP: by 13th July 2017

Seminar: Publishing in Science and Nature

Chair: A/Prof Ian Wright
Panel: Prof Sue O’Reilly, Prof Mark Westoby, A/Prof Kira Westaway and Prof Jason Twamley

Publishing in the Science and Nature family of journals can be a big boost to your research career, as these journals have a massive impact in many fields. But how do you go about getting published when everyone else wants to publish here too? How do you know if your work is right for a big-name journal? What format should it be in? This workshop/seminar will feature the advice of authors successfully published in these venues.

Date and Time: 1st August 2017, 13:00 – 14:00
Location: E7B T2
Everyone welcome!

The ECR Network has several new events scheduled (you can register for all events now). These are held in South Australia, however they are live streamed:

Tuesday 15 August 2017 – Get Interdisciplinary!
Tuesday 12 September 2017 – Network Network Network
Tuesday 10 October 2017 – Why Every Scientist Should Be on Twitter

The “Pitch@Palace” event is coming to Sydney. The Duke of York will hold his Pitch@Palace in September at Bond, Macquarie, RMIT and Wollongong Universities. The event “is designed to support, enhance and add value to start-up and scale-up companies by providing a platform for entrepreneurs and audiences to meet, network and hear the great ideas that are being commercialised and built by the next generation of entrepreneurs.” This royal tour follows last year’s visit by the Duchess of York to MQ where she was guest of honour at a business school tea (CMM March 15 2016). The Australian winners of the Duke’s competition will go to the December finals at St James Palace in London. More information to come.

The deadline for abstracts for the 33rd American Society for Gravitational and Space Research Conferenc e has been extended to the 10th July 2017. The meeting will take place 25th – 28th October 2017 at the Hyatt Regency Lake Washington at Seattle’s Southport, Washington. The annual ASGSR meeting provides a forum for the Life and Physical Sciences communities to meet and discuss their latest findings in gravitational and space research.

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Other Funding Opportunities

The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation invites applications for the Sofja Kovalevskaja Award. This enables young researchers from abroad to establish their own research groups at research institutions in Germany. Researchers from all countries and disciplines who have completed their doctorates with distinction no more than six years ago may apply. Applicants must not have been living in Germany for more than 12 months in total in the 18-month period prior to the closing date for applications. Applications close on the 31st July 2017.

Pre-application proposals for the US Department of Defence CDMRP FY17 Spinal Cord Injury Research Program will close on the 8th August 2017.

Nominations for the ICM Agrifood Award opened on 15th June and close on 4th September 2017. The ICM Agrifood Award is an early career award for two outstanding agriculture or food scientists or technologists. The Award is sponsored by ICM Agribusiness, one of Australia’s major agribusiness groups, and administered by ATSE. The winners will be awarded at ATSE’s Oration Dinner on 24th November 2017 in Sydney. One female and one male winner will each receive a cash prize of $5000. The winners will have achieved substantial recognition for their work in a field critical to continued improvement of the Australian food sector in the past five years, and be under 40 at 1st January 2017.

MOVE muscle, bone & joint health invites applications for its PhD Scholarships. These support high quality musculoskeletal research, as well as the translation of existing or new evidence in musculoskeletal research into practice. Applicants must be Australian citizens or permanent residents who have obtained a bachelor’s degree with honours or equivalent qualification in a relevant area of study. The degree must have been obtained either within the last five years, or within the last ten years if the applicant is a recent medical graduate with further clinical training for a fellowship at a specialist medical college. Scholarships will be administered through Australian universities, but the research may also be undertaken in a hospital, research institute or relevant industry clinic. Applications close on the 4th September 2017. At least two scholarships, each worth AUD 30,000 per year for a duration of three years, are available.

The Wellcome Trust invites applications for its Conference Bursaries. These enable PhD students to attend the Target Validation using Genomics and Informatics Conference, to be held from 6th to 8th December 2017 in Cambridge. Bursaries cover up to 50 per cent of the registration fee. The deadline for applications is the 12th September 2017.

The European Commission Research Fund for Coal and Steel invites proposals for its call under the research programme. This supports research projects, pilot and demonstration projects, and accompanying measures in the coal and steel sectors. Proposals may address the following topics:

RFCS-01-2017 coal – including improving the competitive position of community coal, health and safety in mines, efficient protection of the environment and improvement of the use of coal as a clean energy source, management of external dependence on energy supply;
RFCS-02-2017 steel – including new and improved steelmaking and finishing techniques, research and technological development and the utilisation of steel, conservation of resources and improvement of working conditions.

Any undertaking, public body, research organisation or higher and secondary education establishment, or other legal entity, including natural persons, established within the territory of an EU member state may apply. Legal entities based anywhere in the world may participate in projects without receiving funding. Applications close on the 15th September 2017.

Student Research Awards from the Ecological Society of Australia will close to nominations on the 30th September 2017. These support postgraduate or honours students conducting ecological research. A total of 10 grants, worth up to AUD 1,500 each, are generally offered each year. Awards may cover expenses such as field travel, research assistance, equipment or consumables.

Lung Foundation Australia has announced their awards for the 2018 funding period are now open. Please note that these are respiratory awards and thoracic oncology/lung cancer awards will open on World Lung Cancer Day, 1st August 2017. Key dates:

Applications open: Wednesday, 21st June 2017
Applications close: Monday, 25th September 2017 – 5pm ESDT
Notifications of outcome: Thursday, 30th November

Vol. 22. No. 12
14th June 2017
20170614-RMFunding
Strategic Research Drop-in Clinics_Final

The attached Funding Opportunities Spreadsheet covers the period 1st to 15th October 2017.

Funding Announcements

Future Fellowships

Congratulations to Dr Darrell Kemp for his success in the 2017 ARC Future Fellowships round. Darrell is from the Department of Biological Sciences and his project will look at how dynamic colour signals broker information exchange by connecting stimulus design with perception through space and time.

Rejoinders

Assessments are available for Australian Research Council Discovery Projects and DECRA and rejoinders are currently being reviewed. Please submit your draft rejoinder in RMS and we will review and release it back to you. The due dates are available by following the links.

Drop-in Partnership Clinics

When: every second Wednesday starting from 3 May, 9-10 am (next date 14th June 2017)
Where: E6A-242 Fishbowl.

Macquarie University Research Excellence Awards

The Macquarie University Research Excellence Awards will close to nominations NEXT WEEK – on the 20th June 2017. PLEASE GET YOUR NOMINATIONS IN.

The categories are:

Excellence in Higher Degree Research Excellence in Higher Degree Research Supervision Macquarie University Early Career Researcher of the Year Excellence in Research – Five Future-Shaping Research Priorities Jim Piper Award for Excellence in Research Leadership (Nominations for this award must be made by the Executive Dean).

PURE Update – Please log in and check your profile!

Faculty Visiting Researcher Scheme

The Faculty Visiting Researcher Scheme is now open and this will be the final round for the year. The visiting period covered will be from the start of September 2017 to the end of February 2018. The forms have been updated and can be found on the Resources page of the Faculty Intranet – applications will close on Wednesday the 5th July 2017.

Successful Grants Library Update

The successful grants library for NHMRC Project grants has been updated to include:

Assessor Snapshots
Research Proposal
Assessor Comments
Applicant Responses (rebuttal)

All successful applications, which gave approval to be included in the successful grants library (2012-onwards), are available to any researchers who would like to see how other applicants responded to their rebuttals. Should researchers wish to access the grant library they can contact Courtney Bendall or the Proposal team (research.preaward@mq.edu.au).

Defence Trade Controls Act – Broken Link Fixed

The link to the Defence Trade Controls Act website in previous editions of Research Matters appears to have been broken – the correct link is: https://staff.mq.edu.au/research/integrity-ethics-and-approvals/defence-trade-controls-act

Please have a look at this website and access the iLearn Module from there – there is a link in the bolded section on that page – it appears there may also have been problems trying to access the iLearn module from other links and it needs to be done directly.

Seminars and Workshops

Developing Partnerships as a Part of Your Long-term Research Plan

Wednesday 21st June 2017
Senate Room C8A 310
Mark Berlage, Lisa Elliott and Carly Evans

This session aims to introduce researchers to working with external organisations (eg: industry, government and not-for-profit partners) on research projects. The Research Partnerships Managers will facilitate a session to frame how engagement with external partners can be developed, and specific tools to help researchers strategise their own potential partner links as a part of their long-term research plan.

Unconscious bias and outdated stereotypes: how thinking shortcuts lead to bad outcomes

Date: 21 July 2017
Time: 1pm
Location: Level 1 Lecture Theatre, Australian Hearing Hub
Speaker: Professor Jennifer Martin

Seminar: Publishing in Science and Nature

Chair: A/Prof Ian Wright
Panel: Prof Sue O’Reilly, Prof Mark Westoby, A/Prof Kira Westaway and Prof Jason Twamley

Date and Time: 1st August 2017, 13:00 – 14:00
Location: E7B T2
Everyone welcome!

The International Translational Cancer Research Symposium is an event being held by Sydney Catalyst and is scheduled for 8th August 2017. Sydney Catalyst is one of the seven Translational Cancer Research Centres funded by the Cancer Institute NSW. The keynote speakers are Professor Grant McAuthur, Professor Janet Hiller and Professor Derek Raghavan

Ethics Update

Online Ethics Form Closed

You will no longer be able to create a new human ethics application in RMENET. The Research Office has blocked access to that function in RMENET. Researchers who have draft applications in the system will still be able to access their applications. Researchers in all faculties are requested to complete the Macquarie University ethics application form instead of continuing to complete the human ethics RMENET online form. Note: the Animal Ethics RMENET online form will continue to function as usual and is not affected by this change.

Nation Ethics Application Form Replaced

The National Ethics Application Form (NEAF) has been replaced by the Human Research Ethics Application (HREA). Information about HREA is available from the HREA website. Users can access their NEAF accounts to copy or export any proposal data they wish to keep up until Friday 30 June 2017. The NEAF website will be decommissioned on Friday 30th June 2017 and users will no longer have any access to NEAF. NEAF proposal data will not be retained. Researchers who generate and submit applications to Australian public hospital Human Research Ethics Committees as part of the jurisdictional National Mutual Acceptance scheme, can continue to use Online Forms. A transition to the HREA for these public hospitals is anticipated to occur in mid to late 2017. More information about HREA is available from the HREA website.

Other Funding Opportunities

AAS NSW TRAVEL AWARD TO ATTEND ACOUSTICS 2017 PERTH

2017 Travel Grants are available to attend Acoustics 2017, Perth WA, 19-22 November 2017. Applications close Friday 18th August 2017. There are two different types of travel awards:

AAS NSW Travel Award for Research Students in Acoustics to attend Acoustics 2017. Up to two (2) awards to the value of $1,250 are open to all research students in acoustics who are AAS student members of the NSW Division as well as research students endorsed by AAS members of the NSW Division.

AAS NSW Travel Award for Early Career Researcher in Acoustics to attend Acoustics 2017. An early career researcher is a young professional who has completed his/her doctorate in acoustics in the past five years and is working in a research capacity in the field of acoustics. Two (2) awards to the value of $1,750 is open to all early career researchers in acoustics who are AAS members of the NSW Division. If not already a member, the applicant must apply to become a member of the Australian Acoustical Society before submitting his/her application.

The Toyota Foundation invites proposals for its joint research grants on exploring new values for society. These support joint research projects that seek new values for society by fundamentally exploring basic ways of thinking and methodologies to address difficult issues to be faced in the future. Proposals for interdisciplinary and cross-sectional projects that involve the participation or cooperation of those with diverse backgrounds, especially of those active in civil society movements, are welcomed. No limitations are placed on proposals with regard on the nationality, place of residence or host institution of participants. Grants are worth up to JPY 4 million per year for one to two years.

Future Research Leader (FRL) Fellowships 2018 from the Cancer Institute NSW is now open in the Grants Management System. Changes to the FRL scheme for funding to commence in 2018 include:

The 2018 FRL scheme will be a targeted call for applications submitted in 2017. Applications submitted in 2017 must be in the area of implementation research[1] and, more specifically, should address how research findings from the TCRCs can be taken up into routine cancer care.

The 2018 FRL scheme is open to international, interstate and NSW researchers. Please note that NSW applicants must be working in a non-cancer discipline and have appropriate skills and knowledge in Implementation Research. Stage 1 Expressions of Interest Close on the 15th September 2017.

The Sydney royal wine scholarship from the Royal Agricultural Society of New South Wales closes to applications on the 30th September 2017. This supports an individual in undertaking wine study in Australia. Scholarships are worth up to AU$5,000 for full-time study or AU$2,500 for part-time study.

Travel scholarships from the Applied Linguistics Association of Australia close on the 27th September 2017. These enable students to attend the forthcoming ALAA conference 27 – 29th Nov, 2017, Auckland University of Technology (AUT), Auckland, New Zealand. Five scholarships are available, worth up to AUD 800 each, to cover conference registration, travel and accommodation.

Nokia scholarships from the Nokia Foundation will open on the 1st August. These support individuals in pursuing a doctoral degree in information or telecommunications technology or in areas that support the development of these branches of science. Applications close 25th September 2017.

Vol. 22. No. 11
31st May 2017
20170531-RMFunding
Strategic Research Drop-in Clinics_Final

Congratulations to Thomas Williams and Briardo Llorente for their success in the CSIRO Future Science Fellowships. There were only eleven of these prestigious postdoctoral fellowships awarded in the Synthetic Biology Future Science platform, and Macquarie will be well represented by these two outstanding researchers.

High Performance Computing

Macquarie University is now a subscriber to the National Compute Infrastructure in Canberra – making available state of the art computational facilities to Macquarie researchers. For more details please visit: http://web.science.mq.edu.au/it/compute/nci/

And a message from IT regarding Nectar: Over the past few months Central IT have completed the transition of a number of projects from Intersect. Many users will choose to use Nectar as their preferred choice when setting up a trial project. Although this service is advertised as free of charge, at the back end the cost is directed to Intersect which MQ will be invoiced. In order to reduce the costs, could you please direct users to select the NCI option when setting up in Nectar as per the instructions in the link below. The NCI service is free. Follow the link for instructions on what to do when setting up a Project trail.

Australia-China Science Joint Research Centres (JRCs) are expected to open in the second half of 2017.

As it is not yet known whether there will be institutional limits to this scheme as there have been in the past, could you please email sci.research@mq.edu.au ASAP if you are thinking of applying.

Drop-in Partnership Clinics have been running for several weeks now, with many new partnership projects being discussed with Professor Michael Heimlich and Mark Berlage. These 15 minute clinics are for researchers wanting to develop research funding from non-ARC sources such as government organisations, commercial companies, NGOs, not-for-profits, trusts etc. If you have an idea for a partnership, or you can see an opportunity and want help making it happen, please book in!

When: every second Wednesday starting from 3 May, 9-10 am (next date 14th June 2017)

Where: E6A-242, fishbowl

The Macquarie University Research Excellence Awards remain open for nominations and we strongly encourage you to apply!

Applications close on the 20th June 2017.

The categories are:

Excellence in Higher Degree Research
Excellence in Higher Degree Research Supervision
Macquarie University Early Career Researcher of the Year
Excellence in Research – Five Future-Shaping Research Priorities
Jim Piper Award for Excellence in Research Leadership
(Nominations for this award must be made by the Executive Dean).

The Faculty Visiting Researcher Scheme will open next week and this will be the final round for the year. The visiting period covered will be from the start of September 2017 to the end of February 2018. The forms have been updated and can be found on the Resources page of the Faculty Intranet – applications will close on Wednesday the 5th July 2017.

Upcoming Seminar: Publishing in Science and Nature

Chair: A/Prof Ian Wright
Panel: Prof Sue O’Reilly, Prof Mark Westoby, Dr Kira Westaway and Prof Jason Twamley

Date and Time: 1st August 2017, 13:00 – 14:00
Location: E7B T2
Everyone welcome!

Please DO NOT USE RMENET for human ethics applications. The link has been removed from the Research Office Ethics website. Please use the Macquarie University ethics application form or the NHMRC HREA.

Early Entry Applications close TODAY for IMPACT7. IMPACT7 invites researchers, innovators, teams and start-ups to apply to present their exciting impactful project before panels of renowned Impact Leaders. Gain visibility, traction and potentially invaluable connections plus the opportunity to win valuable prizes including fast-tracked entry to the ‘Selection Bootcamp‘ for the national science and technology accelerator, ‘On, powered by CSIRO‘. Normal applications close on the 16th June 2017.

Jon Brock (Cognitive Science), Haidee Kruger (Linguistics) and Adam Dunn (Health Informatics) are holding a Research Enrichment Program (REP) workshop: Science, misinformation, and alternative facts for: Thursday 1st June, 10:30am – 4:30pm in the AHH building.

Upcoming Seminar: Developing Partnerships as a Part of Your Long-term Research Plan

Wednesday 21st June 2017
Senate Room C8A 310
Mark Berlage, Lisa Elliott and Carly Evans

Upcoming Seminar: Unconscious bias and outdated stereotypes: how thinking shortcuts lead to bad outcomes

Date: 21 July 2017
Time: 1pm
Location: Level 1 Lecture Theatre, Australian Hearing Hub
Speaker: Professor Jennifer Martin

Women have made up more than 50% of undergraduates at Australian Universities since the 1980s. Thirty years later, there has been little change in the proportion of women at senior levels. This high attrition represents a loss of talent and diversity, a waste of investment, and ultimately limits our productivity and innovation. This presentation will highlight the issues and some of the solutions that can be implemented including the SAGE Athena SWAN pilot in Australia. Professor Jennifer L Martin is the Director of the Griffith Institute for Drug Discovery (GRIDD) at Griffith University in Queensland, Australia. Registration is free, however please register to confirm your place, as space is limited.

Cicada Innovations has a number of upcoming training courses in 2017 in medical device and agricultural technology commercialisation, in partnership with NSW Health and MLA Donor Company respectively.

The Medical Device Commercialisation Training Program (MDCTP) is funded by NSW Health. Since the MDCTP has been delivered twice, the outcomes have been extremely successful with 32 graduates starting 9 companies and collectively raising $15M. Participants in next MDCTP course, Ignition Health, will have the opportunity to work on solving real world problems that exist in the NSW Health system that have been sourced from NSW Office for Health and Medical Research, NSW eHealth, NSW Pathology and NSW Agency for Clinical Innovation. I’ve attached two flyers on upcoming MDCTP courses to share more context with you. Feel free to immediately share these with anyone in your networks who may benefit from this opportunity.

The Agricultural Technology (Agtech) commercialisation program is a new program in 2017, adapted from the successful medical device program described above. This program is focused on commercialising deep technologies to support agricultural production, R&D as well as food processing and food production. This program is aimed at supporting the commercialisation of complex technologies for agricultural and food production for example robotics, new sensor technologies, remote sensing and IoT devices.

The Australian National Data Service (ANDS*) is facilitating a one day seminar/workshop and 2 x 1 hour webinars on the topic of drones and Big Spatial data:

Canberra: Drones and Big Spatial data

Challenges and Opportunities (1 day seminar/workshop) – Fri, 16 June, 9.15am-4.45pm, at ANU. Register

Webinar series: 2 x 1 hour webinars:

Drones in research: An eye on the legal, ethics, safety & privacy – Thur, 20 July, 12.30-1.30, AEST, Register

Drones in research: Rise of drones in Australian research space – Thurs, 27 July, 12.30-1.30, AEST, Register

Funding Opportunities

The attached funding list has opportunities with deadlines between the 16th and 30th of September 2017. There is an NIH round closing this fortnight. Where a date is listed as ‘Forecast’, the opportunity ran the previous year and is expected to run again, but no new dates have been announced.

Spreadsheets are separated into labelled sheets, “Grants,” “Awards,” “Travel,” and “Pre/Post-doctoral,” to allow more directed searching, but funding schemes that seem appropriate for more than one category are listed on both. The first column (02 FORC) allows refined searches using the filter button. A note on deadlines: the deadlines listed are the agency’s deadlines. Applications should be submitted to us ten days prior to allow processing time through us and the University Research Office.

Other Funding Opportunities

The Capstone Editing Conference Travel Grant for Postgraduate Research Students provides $3,000 for one postgrad student per year to assist in covering the costs of attending a conference in relation to their degree, while the the Capstone Editing Laptop Grant for Postgraduate Coursework Students provides $3,000 for one postgrad student per year to purchase a computer or laptop and software for their studies. Applications are open annually and close on the 1st June 2017.

The Huawei Innovation Research Program (HIRP) provides funding opportunities to leading universities and research institutes conducting innovative research in communication technology, computer science, engineering, and related fields. HIRP seeks to identify and support world-class, full-time faculty members pursuing innovation of mutual interest. Outstanding HIRP winners may be invited to establish further long-term research collaboration with Huawei. The program typically offers successful candidates between $30K-$70K USD for 1 year that may be extended. It is project based and focused around ICT-Engineering topics such as: Future Networks, Artificial Intelligence, Wireless Technology, Optical Technology, Storage & Compute Technologies, Media Technologies, IT Security, etc. Some of you may already have received a direct invitation to apply. Applications close 16th June 2017.

Health Professional Scholarships from the Heart Foundation support cardiovascular health professionals to undertake a PhD. Priority is given to health professionals working in cardiovascular healthcare, including allied health professionals, to further develop Australia’s cardiovascular health research capacity and encourage evidence-based health practice and research translation. the scholarships last for three years at AU$40,000 per year. Applications close 23rd June 2017.

The call for the 2017 Australia China Young Scientist Exchange Program (YSEP) is now open. The Program is funded by the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science and the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST). Up to 16 Australian participants will be selected to undertake a two-week program of visits in China 22nd October – 4th November 2017. Applications will close Monday 26th June 2017

FY17 funding opportunities for the Department of Defense (DoD) Gulf War Illness Research Program (GWIRP) and Peer Reviewed Cancer Research Program (PRCRP) are managed by the office of Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP) and will close to applications on the 30th June 2017.

GWIRP:
Gulf War Illness Research Program; Biorepository Resource Network Award; Clinical Consortium Award; Investigator-Initiated Focused Research Award; Qualitative Research Award

PRCRP:
Peer Reviewed Cancer Research Program; Idea Award with Special Focus; Translational Team Science Award

The American Association for the Advancement of Science invites nominations for the Newcomb Cleveland prize. This recognises an author or authors of a paper published in the research articles or reports sections of Science magazine. Each contest starts with the first issue of June and ends with the last issue of the following May. Papers should include original research data, theory or synthesis, contribute to basic knowledge or introduce a technical achievement, and be the first publication of the author’s own work. Self-nominations are not accepted. The award consists of a cash prize of USD 25,000, and complimentary registration, travel and accommodation expenses to attend the association’s annual meeting. Nominations close on the 30th June 2017.

Applications for the Team Science Award offered by the American Association for Cancer Research will close on the 2nd August 2017. This recognises either an interdisciplinary research team for innovative science that has advanced, or likely will advance, fundamental knowledge of cancer, or a team that has applied existing knowledge to advance the detection, diagnosis, prevention or treatment of cancer. The award includes a cash prize of US$50,000.

The Heart Foundation Collaboration and Exchange awards help funded scholars and postdoctoral fellows visit other research facilities to collaborate and share knowledge. The Collaboration and Exchange Awards offer funding to visit research facilities across Australia and overseas, to develop new national and international collaborations, and consist of a single payment of up to AU $5000 to support activities for up to 6 months.. Applicants must be Heart Foundation funded scholars or postdoctoral fellows. Applications are due on the 8th September 2017.

Vol. 22. No. 10
17th May 2017
20170517-RMFunding

Are you submitting a grant application or report to an international funding body? Are you collaborating with international researchers? Are you sharing unpublished research findings with international colleagues? Are you peer-reviewing a paper, or having your own work peer-reviewed, by an international colleague or collaborator? Are you submitting a paper to an international journal? Are you teaching a course containing DSGL technology that is available online to students overseas? Are you presenting at an international conference?

If you answered yes to any of the above questions, and your research relates to any of the following fields, the DTCA might apply to you: Munitions (military & related goods) or Dual Use (1. nuclear materials, 2. materials, chemicals, micro-organisms & toxins, 3. materials processing, 4. electronics, computers, 5. telecommunications & information security, 6. sensors & lasers, 7. navigation and avionics, 8. marine; and 9. aerospace & propulsion).

The Defence Trade Controls Act (DTCA) regulates the Supply, Publication or Brokering of goods and technology regulated by the Defence and Strategic Goods List (DSGL) between one person in Australia and another person currently located overseas. If you think the DTCA might apply to your project – or you are not sure – please refer to the DTCA webpage for further details, or contact defencetradecontrols@mq.edu.au. Researchers should sign up for the Defence Trade Control Act online workshop via iLearn.

MATLAB Version R2017a is now available to all Macquarie staff and students. R2017a introduces “Matlab Online” which provides the functionality of MATLAB within a web browser (without the need to install anything). See: https://science.mq.edu.au/it/software/matlab for details. As, always if you have any questions please feel free to contact Faculty IT.

The Outside Studies Program (OSP) has opened. The Faculty of Science and Engineering does NOT have a prior faculty deadline for this scheme, as assessments will take place after the Research Office closing date of Wed 21st June 2017. Please submit your application directly to: research.preaward@mq.edu.au.

Just in case you missed this earlier:

Counter Improvised Threats Grand Challenge – Call for Applications

This Grand Challenge is all about detecting and countering threats directed toward Australian and Allied Defence forces and the civilian community around them, through the development of technology solutions that together comprise “an integrated improvised threat defeat system”.

Specifically, proposals should address:

improvised threat defeat concepts;
the development of sensor and neutralisation concepts and technologies; and/or
algorithms for signal processing, data fusion, automatic target recognition and determining response options.

“Sensors should have high detection performance and specificity for improvised threats and response options should be tailored to defeat improvised threats in a controlled manner.”

Proposals are sought for funding for up to three years duration. Each project is expected to be funded in the range of $100,000 to $1,000,000 per year depending on scale, complexity and risk, and should include an in-kind contribution from the participant.

The first stage of the application closes on the 26th May 2016. First stage assessment criteria are:

the technological potential and alignment with the development of the improvised threat defeat system, and
the potential to offer game-changing capability.

This is an exciting opportunity for you and your colleagues across a range of disciplines to come up with new ideas that will work towards minimising harm and protecting others. We strongly encourage you to consider submitting a proposal for this challenge. If you are interested, please contact Mark Berlage in the Research Office to discuss your project ASAP.

The Next Generation Technologies Fund is managed by the Defence Science and Technology group, and is geared toward fundamental research. It is forecast to invest $730 million, across a range of priorities, up to 2026. The Defence Innovation Hub through the NGTF brings small agile companies, including start-ups, larger companies and academic researchers to work alongside Defence Science and Technology (DST) Group scientists, and all GC projects are mission-focused with clearly-defined end goals. For this reason, familiarity with the material on the Defence Innovation Portal and early engagement with leaders of relevant DSTG Research Divisions is essential.

Many areas of Macquarie University’s research strongly align with the priority areas of the NGTF, and Macquarie is already seeing success with preliminary proposals submitted to the Fund. Both the Faculty and the University are keen to offer support in order to grow this success, and would like you to consider how your research can be applied to the Defence environment. Please talk to Mark Berlage in the Research Office about how you can become involved.

The priority areas, as described in the 2016 Defence Industry Policy Statement, are:

Integrated intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance
Effective enterprise intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance integration and interoperability with our allies will provide a capability edge through superior battlespace awareness.
Space capabilities
De-risking Defence’s dependence on space based systems through technical expertise and enhanced capability agility.
Enhanced human performance
Including enhancing soldiers’ resilience and ability to interpret and use data in the battlefield.
Medical countermeasure products
Establishing and coordinating a national infrastructure for the rapid development of medical countermeasure products to provide effective protection of Defence personnel from a range of chemical, biological and radiological threats, pandemics and emerging infectious diseases.
Multidisciplinary material sciences
Investigating technological advances to reduce detection of ADF platforms and improve ballistic and shock protection. Exploring materials and processes that support advanced manufacturing.
Quantum technologies
Increasing the security of military and government communications and computing through strengthened encryption and exploring new types of sensors based on quantum systems.
Trusted autonomous systems
Researching developments in trusted autonomous systems that may have the potential to support ADF capability in the future, such as the use of autonomous vehicles for resupply.
Cyber
Establishing a research and development capability to address the threats presented by information and communications technology dependencies and vulnerabilities within military systems.
Hypersonics
Understanding the science behind hypersonic flight including propulsion, flight dynamics, control surfaces and materials that support flight systems.
Directed energy capabilities
Research to explore novel technologies and the basic sciences of devices to better understand and develop building blocks for future directed energy capabilities.

The Macquarie University Research Excellence Awards remain open for nominations. Applications close on the 20th June 2017. The categories are:

Excellence in Higher Degree Research
Excellence in Higher Degree Research Supervision
Macquarie University Early Career Researcher of the Year
Excellence in Research – Five Future-Shaping Research Priorities
Jim Piper Award for Excellence in Research Leadership (Nominations for this award must be made by the Executive Dean).

If you are thinking of applying for any of these awards, the Faculty Research Office would be happy to review your nomination prior to submission.

Jon Brock (Cognitive Science), Haidee Kruger (Linguistics) and Adam Dunn (Health Informatics) will be holding a Research Enrichment Program (REP) workshop: Science, misinformation, and alternative facts on Thursday 1st June, 10:30am – 4:30pm in the AHH building. This cross-disciplinary workshop will provide a forum for researchers and science communicators to discuss the representation of scientific evidence in the public domain. Experts from across human sciences will join application domain experts in vaccination, climate science, epidemiology, and health behaviours to discuss the challenges and potential solutions for closing the gaps between what the evidence says and what the public believes.

More details to come!

Developing Partnerships as a Part of Your Long-term Research Plan

Wednesday 21st June 2017
Senate Room C8A 310
Mark Berlage, Lisa Elliott and Carly Evans

The Conference features keynotes from Daniel Keim, Tamara Munzner, and Drew Berry, in addition to talks from 18 world-leading researchers showcasing visualizations transforming how life scientists view data, and driving key advances in molecular biology, systems biology, biomedical science, and ecology. The conference brings together a diverse community, including bioinformaticians, data scientists, computer scientists, and experimentalists, as well as medical illustrators, graphic designers, and graphic artists. VIZBI 2017 will be part of Vivid Sydney – a spectacular festival of light, music, and ideas – strong synergies between these events give extra incentive to make the trip to Sydney. Participants will be able to present a poster and lightning talk describing their work. Registration is now open. If you cannot join us in Sydney, you have the option of virtual registration, which allows participation via streaming video and chat.

Also held at the Charles Perkins Centre, The University of Sydney, Camperdown NSW on the 13th June 2017 from 9.00am – 5.00pm, is the Data Visualization Masterclass: Principles, Tools and Storytelling. The masterclass will teach you principles and practices for turning data into insightful visualisations that tell compelling stories. The class is for anyone working with data, including communicators, scientists, programmers, designers, and visual artists. Key themes include:

Visual perception principles – dos and don’ts
Key data visualisation methods and tools – a practical guide
Using visualisation and animation for storytelling

Meanwhile, at the Rocks…

VizbiPlus: Bridging Science with Art, Design & Animation,

With biomedical animator Drew Berry
12th June 2017, 5.00pm – 7.30pm
Museum of Contemporary Art Australia
Level 6, 140 George St, The Rocks, NSW, cost from $26.10

Retina International 2018 will be held in Auckland, New Zealand, on the 7th – 11th February 2018. The congress will include insight into retinal research in areas such as genes and gene therapy, cell therapy and regenerative medicine, retina implant technology, novel drug therapy and epidemiology. The congress will examine critical issues associated with expediting the development, accessibility and availability of treatments for retinal disorders. Early Bird Registrations will close on the 1st November 2017.

Funding Opportunities

The attached funding list has opportunities with deadlines between the 1st and 15th of September 2017. There is another NIH round closing this fortnight. Where a date is listed as ‘Forecast’, the opportunity ran the previous year and is expected to run again, but no new dates have been announced.

Other Funding Opportunities

The Peer Prize for Women in Science is open for applications from candidates at Macquarie University. There is $40k in research funding available and last year nearly 1,500 verified researchers from around the world openly voted to award the winners, making it a unique research prize that benefits all entries via engagement. Although the prize is open to all career levels, the organisation is particularly interested in helping early-career researchers. So please consider applying! Applications close 31st May 2017 here.

St John Ambulance Australia (St John) is Australia’s leading provider of first aid training, first aid services at public events, and supplier of first aid kits and equipment. St John runs the statutory ambulance services in Western Australia and the Northern Territory, and provides a range of community services and youth development programs. Surprisingly, there is relatively little research evidence to support first aid practice. In support of first aid-related research in Australia, St John is pleased to offer funding of up to $16,000 for relevant research projects—this funding is available for University Honours students commencing their research in 2017. Applications will close on Thursday 1st June 2017. For more details, please contact:

Gabrielle Lhuede,
Human Research Ethics Committee, Secretariat
publications@stjohn.org.au

The National Institute of Mental Health invites applications for its From Genomic Association to Causation: a Convergent Neuroscience Approach for Integrating Levels of Analysis to Delineate Brain Function in Neuropsychiatry (collaborative U01) funding opportunity announcement. This aims to stimulate innovative convergent neuroscience approaches to establish causal or probabilistic linkages across contiguous levels of analysis in an explanatory model of psychopathology. Research should focus on how specific constituent biological processes at one level of analysis contribute to quantifiable properties at other levels, either directly or as emergent phenomena. Applications close 5th June 2017.

The Fisheries Research and Development Corporation (FRDC) is calling for Expressions of Interest (EOI) that address the priority areas nominated by the Southern Rocklobster Industry Partnership Agreement (SRL IPA) and the Indigenous Fishing Subprogram. These priorities can be found here. Expressions of Interest need to be completed using Fishnet (www.fishnet.gov.au). Applications need to be finalised on Fishnet no later than the 10th June 2017.

The US Department of Defense invites applications for its Defense Sciences Office Office-wide broad agency announcement. This aims to identify and pursue high-risk, high-payoff research initiatives across a broad spectrum of science and engineering disciplines and to transform these initiatives into game-changing technologies for US national security. The DSO invites proposers to submit innovative basic or applied research concepts in one or more of the following technical areas: mathematics, modelling and design, physical systems, human-machine systems and social systems. Proposals must investigate innovative approaches that enable revolutionary advances. Organisations and individuals worldwide may apply. Applications close 22nd June 2017.

Proposals for the Ground Truth Programme, also from the US Department of Defence, are due on the 29th June 2017. This supports research in the area of new simulation capabilities to test the accuracy and robustness of causal modelling methods for understanding human social systems and behaviours. Proposed research should investigate innovative approaches that enable revolutionary advances in social science modelling, simulation, and causal inference. Specifically excluded is research that primarily results in evolutionary improvements to the existing state of practice. Again, organisations and individuals worldwide may apply.

The National Human Genome Research Institute and the National Cancer Institute invite applications for their Genomic Community Resources (U24) funding opportunity announcement. This FOA supports the development and distribution of genomic resources that are crucial for basic research, disease studies, model organism studies, and other biomedical research. Such resources may include databases and informatics resources, comprehensive identification and collections of genomic features and standard data types produced using central sets of samples that focus on cancer. Research projects should have the following characteristics: •they fill a demonstrable need and have a wide impact, well beyond the field of genomics itself; •they are comprehensive in scope, covering the entire genome or all genes of an organism; •they make data or materials broadly available to all researchers in a user-friendly manner; •they use standards, such as for metadata, formats and documentation to enable aggregation, integration and broad use; •they use established, state-of-the-art, cost-efficient and robust production methods to generate and distribute high-quality products of lasting value; •they are unique and do not duplicate resources that are otherwise available. US and foreign for-profit and non-profit organisations and public and private organisations may apply. Applications close on the 13th July 2017.

Postgraduate Scholarships from the Australian Coal Association Research Program (ACARP) close to applications on the 25th August 2017. Two full time postgraduate scholarships are available each year. These enable individuals who are working in the coal, or a closely related industry such as power generation, to undertake further studies and gain a PhD. Up to three scholarships worth AUD 100,000 each per year for a period of three years are available. An additional contribution may be made to the host university to cover supervision costs.

Travel Awards from the CASS Foundation will close on the 25th August 2017. These support early-career researchers (PhD between 25th Aug 2010 and 25th Aug 2015) in attending international conferences of significance to their research to present their current research findings. For this round of Travel Awards, the conference commencement date, published on the official conference website must fall within the specified time frame of 1 November 2017 to 31 May 2018. Grants are worth up to AU$4,500 covering up to 80 per cent of the total cost.

Vol. 22. No. 09
3rd May 2017

From the Faculty of Human Sciences: “Some time ago the University was contacted by the ARC in relation to the University’s poor response rates to requests to review applications. Over the last few days a number of staff alerted us to the fact that they had found ARC request to assess emails in their Clutter folder. Can I suggest that you please ask staff in your Faculties to check their Clutter folders for requests? There may be other reasons for a poor response rate, but let’s make sure that it is not because of, shall we say, ‘over-zealous Clutter filters’.”

We also advise those who are expecting ARC request to assess emails to check RMS for notifications – please do so as soon as you can.

As you will already be aware from the Executive Dean’s recent email, the PURE Implementation team will be hosting PURE TRAINING FOR ACADEMIC STAFF of the Faculty from Tuesday 9th May to Friday 12th May 2017. These will be in the form of ‘drop-in clinics’, during which you will be asked to:

Login to PURE
Check your profile information
Add a personal profile (including uploading a profile photo)
Check publication accuracy
Add missing publications
Configure email and message preferences

You will also be shown the public portal and how to generate CVs which can be made accessible via the public portal. For most people, 30-40 minutes should be all you will need. Please bring your laptop!

When and Where: Drop into any sessions:

9 May, E8A-280 (Biology Tea Room), 10 am – 3 pm
10 May, E6B-149, 10 am – 3 pm
11 May, E8A-280 (Biology Tea Room), 10 am – 3 pm
12 May, E8A-280 (Biology Tea Room), 10 am – 3 pm

If you have any questions, please email rms.support@mq.edu.au

The Macquarie University Research Excellence Awards are now open for nominations. Applications close on the 20th June 2017. The categories are:

Excellence in Higher Degree Research – recognises excellence in higher degree scholarly research. There are two awards in this category – Excellence in Higher Degree Research – Engineering, Medicine and Science or Excellence in Higher Degree Research in Business, Humanities and Social Sciences.

Excellence in Higher Degree Research Supervision – recognises our outstanding Higher Degree Research supervisors who enable our higher degree research candidates to achieve their highest potential.

Macquarie University Early Career Researcher of the Year – Recognises outstanding performance in research by an early career researcher who is within five years post-completion (formal award) of his/her PhD, MPhil or MRes degree. There are two awards within this category: the Award for Macquarie University Early Career Researcher of the Year – Engineering, Medicine, and Science or the Award for Macquarie University Early Career Researcher of the Year – Business, Humanities, and Social Sciences.

Excellence in Research – Five Future-Shaping Research Priorities – recognises the creation and application of research outcomes, the discovery of new knowledge or the use of existing knowledge in a new and creative way to generate new concepts, methodologies and understanding. The 5 awards in this category are directly aligned with the 5 future-shaping research priorities outlined in the Strategic Research Framework (2015 – 2024).

Jim Piper Award for Excellence in Research Leadership – to recognise, encourage and reward those researchers who are on a path to becoming research leaders at Macquarie. Nominations for this award must be made by the Executive Dean.

If you are thinking of applying for any of these awards, the Faculty Research Office would be happy to review your nomination prior to submission.

The Macquarie University Research Fellowship (MQRF) scheme, for researchers up to three years post PhD, is currently open and the Faculty is being inundated with inquiries. If you are considering applying for this scheme and have not yet forwarded your CV to the Faculty Research Office (sci.research@mq.edu.au), please do so as soon as possible – as EoIs will only be accepted from applicants who have the support of their proposed Department.

If you are a sponsor of an MQRF applicant, please remember that you can only sponsor one person in this round.

For approved applicants, complete drafts of approved EoIs will be due at the Faculty (you do not need to cc research.preaward) for compliance checking on the 10th May 2017, two weeks before the Research Office closing date (24th May 2017). Due to the expected volume of applications we will not be conducting routine reviews of drafts this year, but should you wish us to comment, please ask! We will be happy to provide a review for you on a first-come-first-served basis.

Upcoming Seminar: Philanthropic Grants workshop

Facilitated by Strategic Grants
Introduction by Professor Lesley Hughes
Date: Tuesday 9th May 2017
Time: 12:00-14:30
Location: Lecture Theatre, Level 1, Australian Hearing Hub, University Avenue

Topics to be covered will include:

The philanthropic funding landscape
Ensuring your research project is “philanthropy ready”
How to write a strong philanthropic application
The Macquarie University process for the identification of and communication with prospective philanthropic funders
Relationship-building and reporting

Faculty Seminar Series: Research Strategy Development – OSP 2018: The Practicalities

When: Wednesday 17th May 2016
Time: 12.00pm – 1.00pm
Location: Senate Room, C8A 310, Lincoln Building
Speaker: Prof. David Coutts, ADR, Faculty of Science and Engineering
OSP is an opportunity for academic staff to focus on research for an uninterrupted, extended period and produce both short- and long-term outcomes. This seminar will discuss the planning, managing and returning from OSP stages and detail the grant eligibility criteria. All welcome, no RSVP required. If you have questions about the time period of your planned OSP, whether or not you can take leave before or after, and

Up-to-date details of upcoming workshops and seminars can be found on the Training and Support page, which is maintained by the Research Office.

World-expert in computational neuroscience and biorobotics, Professor Barbara Webb, Head of the Institute for Perception, Action and Behaviour, University of Edinburgh, will lead the first of a series of public lectures with a talk on Navigation in Insects and Robots.

When: Wednesday 10th May 2017, 5.30pm for a 6pm start – 8pm
Where: Building E7A Level 8
Please RSVP by Friday 5th May.

The 8th International Conference on Visualizing Biological Data (VIZBI 2017) will be held on the 14th – 16th June 2017, 8.30am – 5.00pm, at the Charles Perkins Centre, The University of Sydney, Camperdown NSW. Registration costs start at $125. The Conference features keynotes from Daniel Keim, Tamara Munzner, and Drew Berry, in addition to talks from 18 world-leading researchers showcasing visualizations transforming how life scientists view data, and driving key advances in molecular biology, systems biology, biomedical science, and ecology. The conference brings together a diverse community, including bioinformaticians, data scientists, computer scientists, and experimentalists, as well as medical illustrators, graphic designers, and graphic artists. VIZBI 2017 will be part of Vivid Sydney – a spectacular festival of light, music, and ideas – strong synergies between these events give extra incentive to make the trip to Sydney. All participants will have the opportunity to present a poster and lightning talk describing their work. Registration is now open. If you cannot join us in Sydney, you have the option of virtual registration, which allows participation via streaming video and chat.

Visual perception principles – dos and don’ts
Key data visualisation methods and tools – a practical guide
Using visualisation and animation for storytelling

Funding Opportunities

The attached funding list has opportunities with deadlines between the 16th and 31st of August 2017. Where a date is listed as ‘Forecast’, the opportunity ran the previous year and is expected to run again, but no new dates have been announced.

Other Funding Opportunities

Bridging Grants from the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering close to applications on the 16th May 2017. These support international partnerships between researchers and SMEs, and enable them to grow beyond an initial level of engagement by targeting early stage proof of concept and knowledge transfer, product and services development and market testing, innovation and commercialisation activities. The following areas will be prioritised: advanced manufacturing, food and agribusiness, medical technologies and pharmaceuticals, mining equipment, technology and services and oil, gas and energy resources. Partnerships may be supported for the following activities: •product and service development; •product or service design; •software development and beta testing; •market testing and analysis; •internet protocol scanning – freedom to operate searches and provisional patent applications – up to AUD 5,000; •travel to enable specific project activities to occur – up to AU$3,000.

Proposals must involve a researcher or research group and a SME, one of which must be Australian and the other based in Brazil, China, European Union Member States, India, Israel, Japan, Republic of Korea, New Zealand, Singapore, Switzerland, Taiwan, US or Vietnam. Applications must be submitted by the Australian entity. Researcher applicants must be Australian citizens or permanent residents, currently living in Australia, who are employed by a tertiary education institution, a publicly funded research organisation, a non-profit research organisation or a cooperative research centre. SMEs must have less than 200 employees, have an Australian business number and be incorporated and registered for goods and services tax. Grants are worth between AUD 25,000 and AUD 50,000 each. Partners are required to match the grant with 50 per cent on a cash or in-kind basis.

Due to the impacts of Tropical Cyclone Debbie, the closing date for all applications to the CRC for Developing Northern Australia Project Funding Round have been extended. Applications now close at 5:00pm 22nd May 2017.

The Fundamental Physics Prize Foundation invites nominations for its Breakthrough Prizes in fundamental physics, life sciences and mathematics. These recognise individuals for their contributions to the fields of fundamental physics, life sciences and mathematics respectively. Self-nominations are not accepted. Each prize is worth US$3 million. Up to seven prizes are available, one in fundamental physics, one in mathematics and up to five prizes in life sciences. Nominations close on the 31st May 2017.

Applications are now being sought for research funding by Retina Australia for the calendar year 2018, for high quality scientific/medical research relevant to causes, treatments, prevention and/or cure of retinitis pigmentosa and other inherited retinal diseases. Applications may or may not be the subject of an application to the National Health and Medical Research Council in Australia or the Health Research Council of New Zealand. The closing date for all applications is 30th June, 2017.

Endeavour Australia India Education Council Research Fellowships close to applications on the 30th June 2017. This enables postgraduate students and postdoctoral fellows from Australia and India to undertake short-term research in each other’s countries. Priority is given to applications that align with the following objectives: •progress of work and support for the activities of an AIEC working group in an AIEC thematic area; •support for the mobility of researchers and the fostering of links that will underpin the bilateral relationship into the future.

Applicants must be citizens or permanent residents of Australia or India and must remain so for the duration of their program. Applicants may not hold dual citizenship with the country they undertake the program in. Applicants must be at least 18 years of age and not currently hold or, since 1 January 2016, have completed an Australian government sponsored scholarship or fellowship. Eligible Endeavour Research Fellowship applicants proposing to travel to or from India or Australia as part of their research proposal will automatically be considered. Two fellowships worth up to AUD 24,500 are available. They cover a travel allowance of AUD 3,000, an establishment allowance worth AUD 2,000, a monthly stipend worth AUD 3,000 as well as health and travel insurance. The duration of the research trip should be between four and six months.

Applications for the Endeavour Australia Cheung Kong Research Fellowships – for postgraduate students and postdoctoral fellows from Australia and from the participating Asian countries to undertake short-term research in any discipline in each other’s home countries – also close on the 30th June 2017. Participating countries are Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, China including Hong Kong and Macau, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Mongolia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Two grants in aid of travel of US$2500 have been approved between ISAM and NIDA (National Institute of Drug Abuse) which would enable the subsidizing of Young Investigators to Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates to attend and present at the 2017 ISAM Annual Meeting October 26-29, 2017. Applicants must be 45 or younger, be involved in addiction research and/or clinical and teaching activities in the field of addiction, and show promise of developing future research. Applications close the 1st July 2017.

ERA.Net RUS Plus invites proposals for its joint call for science and technology projects. This supports joint R&D projects designed to produce new knowledge through fundamental, experimental or theoretical scientific research. Proposals may address the following topics:

nanotechnologies, including advanced nano-sensors for environment and health, novel functional nanomaterials based on design and modelling and nanomaterials for efficient lighting;
environment and climate change, including the impact of climate change and extreme climate events on the environment and the prevention and remediation of pollution of aquatic systems;
health, including regenerative medicine, biomaterials and organ-on-a-chip-systems and drug discovery for cancer, cardiovascular and infectious diseases;
social sciences and the humanities, including demography, conflicts and security issues, traditional and non-traditional cultural values and opportunities for and challenges to regional development and social cohesion;
robotics, including robotics design and human-robot interaction, robots in agriculture, medicine, industry maritime and education.

Eligible organisations include research and higher education entities, research and innovation performing SMEs and other entities eligible for funding according to respective national legislation. A project consortium must include eligible partners from at least three different countries, including at least one team from Russia. Applicants from countries not participating in this call may participate if they cover their own expenses. The joint budget in 2014 was approximately €12.34 million. Project partners will be funded by their own national funding organisation.

Applications for the Holsworth Wildlife Research Endowment Postgraduate Research Grants close on the 31st July 2017. These enable postgraduate students to conduct research on ecology, wildlife management or natural history. Applications in three general areas are especially encouraged:

wildlife management relating to sport hunting, harvesting, pest control, management of non-game animals, and effect of land management on native species;
conservation biology and biodiversity, studies relating to the management of protected areas and rare or threatened species in Australia;
field work on Australian native plants and animals to gain understanding of ecological interactions, population dynamics, animal behaviour and species distribution.

Preference will be given to students in an early stage of a doctoral programme at an Australian university. Grants are not available to individuals but are made only to organisations to which gifts are deductible under section 30-15 of the federal income tax assessment act. Grants are worth up to AU$7,500 per year and renewable for a period of two to three years. The total conference travel budget for the project is limited to AU$3,000.

Applications for the Young Research Fellowship from the Asia-Oceania Neutron Scattering Association (AONSA) close on the 31st July 2017. This opportunity supports young scientists in the Asia-Oceania region and helps them to develop their expertise and careers in neutron science and technology. A total of three fellowship positions are available, one for each hosting facility. The possible duration of each fellowship visit is three to 12 months.

NASA requests your comments on the scope and content of a DRAFT solicitation entitled “Solicitation of Proposals for possible inclusion in the Russian Bion-M2 Mission”. This solicitation may be released in the future as an Appendix to the NASA Omnibus Research Announcement “Research Opportunities in Space Biology (ROSBio)–2016”.

NOTE: THIS IS NOT A CALL FOR PROPOSALS, and there is no funding associated with this DRAFT NRA.

Comments to this draft research announcement must be submitted by email to NASA-spacebiology@mail.nasa.gov, and received by the 5th September 2017. Please include in the subject heading the words “Bion M2 solicitation NNH17ZTT004J”. Please ensure that all email submissions have the appropriate subject headings to facilitate their proper review and consideration. Also, please include the page number of the solicitation document for each of your comments. When appropriate, NASA will respond to submissions by email, however, not all submissions may receive a response. Questions regarding these instructions or this draft solicitation may also be addressed to NASA-spacebiology@mail.nasa.gov, with your e-mail subject heading “Question regarding NNH17ZTT004J”.

Vol. 22. No. 08
19th April 2017

20170419-RMFunding
LAB17 Australia Poster
Australia-Germany Joint Research Cooperation Scheme_EoI Form_DAAD_2017

The Australia-Germany Joint Research Cooperation Scheme is now open. This is a joint initiative of Universities Australia and the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), Germany’s national agency for the support of international academic cooperation. The aims of the scheme are to:

foster research collaboration of the highest quality between Australian researchers from Universities Australia member universities and German researchers from German universities, research institutes; and
produce research outcomes and the exchange of skills and knowledge of mutual benefit to Australia and Germany.

MQ will provide funding for three (3) projects of up to AUD$12,500 p.a over two years starting in 2018 (AUD$25,000 in total). This funding is to support living and travel expenses for Macquarie researchers to spend time at partner institutions in Germany. Further details on the scheme’s aims and eligibility requirements are in the attached supporting information and available from the Universities Australia website.

An Expression of Interest (EoI) stage will be held to determine which proposals will proceed to the full application. The deadline for the EoI stage is 9:00am (AEST) Monday 1st May 2017. The attached EoI form must be used for this stage of the scheme. The EoI applications will be assessed by representatives from each Faculty – the composition of the panel is still being determined at present. Proposals selected to prepare a full application will be advised in mid-May to ensure adequate time to prepare a proposal for the deadline of 16 June 2017 set by Universities Australia.

If you are an ARC Assessor for the 2018 Discovery Projects round, please make careful note of the closing date for the completion of Detailed Assessments, which has been corrected to Friday the 19th May 2017. It is very important that you accept assessments and complete them on time.

The Macquarie University Research Fellowship (MQRF) scheme, for researchers up to three years post PhD, opens to Expressions of Interest TODAY (19th April 2017).

If you are considering applying for this scheme and have not yet forwarded your CV to the Faculty Research Office (sci.research@mq.edu.au), please do so as soon as possible – as EoIs will only be accepted from applicants who have the support of their proposed Department. If you are a sponsor, please remember that you can only sponsor one person in this round.

Complete drafts of approved EoIs will be due at the Faculty (you do not need to cc research.preaward) for compliance checking on the 10th May 2017, two weeks before the Research Office closing date (24th May 2017). Due to the expected volume of applications we will not be conducting routine reviews of drafts this year, but should you wish us to comment, please ask! We will be happy to provide a review for you on a first-come-first-served basis.

In case you missed it – everyone else did – Professor Mark Westoby was last week named as one of the 40 new foreign honorary members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Congratulations on making the list!

Upcoming Seminar: Advice to MQ Academics on Mentoring Early Career Researchers

Chair: Professor Lesley Hughes
Date: Tuesday 2nd May 2017
Time: 12:30-14:00
Location: Senate Room (C8A 310)

Topics to be covered will include:

How mentors have identified and recruited appropriate ECRs
Examples of how mentors have assisted ECRs in the transition from PhD to postdoctoral positions
Advice mentors have provided to ECRs on becoming independent researchers
The importance of encouraging ECRs to apply for competitive research funding
Considering the value of teaching duties in developing a well-rounded ECR track record
How mentors have provided ECRs with experience in HDR student supervision
Guidance and opportunities mentors have provided for ECR career trajectories
Challenges faced by both mentors and ECRs
Examples of the most outstanding achievements that have emerged from mentoring ECRs

Upcoming Seminar: Philanthropic Grants workshop

Introduced by: Professor Lesley Hughes
Date: Tuesday 9th May 2017
Time: 12:00-14:30
Location: Lecture Theatre, Level 1, Australian Hearing Hub, University Avenue

Topics to be covered will include:

The philanthropic funding landscape
Ensuring your research project is “philanthropy ready”
How to write a strong philanthropic application
The Macquarie University process for the identification of and communication with prospective philanthropic funders
Relationship-building and reporting

Remember that up-to-date details of upcoming workshops and seminars can be found on the Training and Support page, which is maintained by the Research Office.

The Australian Academy of Science has opened the calls for applications for the Australian-French Entrepreneurship Challenge, to be held in Adelaide on 11-12 July 2017 and the Falling Walls Lab Australia, to be held at the Shine Dome on 12th September 2017. Please see the attached flyer on the Falling Walls Lab Australia for more information. The closing date for applications for the Entrepreneurship Challenge is 9am (AEST) Monday 8th May 2017 and 5pm (AEST) Monday 12th June 2017 for the Falling Walls Lab Australia.

Cancer Research UK (CRUK) are actively seeking input from the worldwide cancer community to shape the challenges for Round 2. Please see a link here through which you can submit your ideas for the ‘Next Grand Challenge’ before the round opens in June 2017. Please read the guidelines for more information. The Grand Challenge is a £20m, international, multi-disciplinary grant designed to encourage international collaboration. While they normally fund 1 Grand Challenge each round, a number of high quality applications resulted in 4 projects being funded in the first round of 2017.

In the inaugural Australasian Open Access Strategy Group (AOASG) webinar, Macquarie University’s Dr Andy Pleffer & Susan Shrubb addressed the issues surrounding predatory behaviour in scholarly publishing in a presentation titled “Not the Beall and end-all: the death of the blacklist”.

World-expert in computational neuroscience and biorobotics, Professor Barbara Webb, Head of the Institute for Perception, Action and Behaviour, University of Edinburgh, will lead the first of a series of public lectures with a talk on Navigation in Insects and Robots.

When: Wednesday 10th May 2017, 5.30pm for a 6pm start – 8pm
Where: Building E7A Level 8
Please RSVP by Friday 5th May.

Engineers Australia and Defence Science and Technology (DST) Group are inviting members, professionals and the general public to attend a FOCUS Lecture on “Human Engineering: Maximising Australian Defence Force Personnel Performance in Austere Environments”. The speaker will be Dr Mark Patterson, Group Leader Physical Ergonomics, Land Division, DST, and he will be talking about measuring environmental heat stress.

Canberra: Thursday 15th June 2017, 6.00-7.30pm (UNSW at the ADFA, LT07 Lecture Hall, Building 32, Northcott Dr, Campbell)
Adelaide: Wednesday 28th June 2017, 5.30-7.00pm (Engineers Australia Adelaide, Auditorium Level 11, 108 King William St)
Melbourne: Wednesday 5th July 2017, 5.30-7.00pm (Engineers Australia Victoria, Innovation Hub Level 31, 600 Bourke St)

SCHEME POSTPONED: Calls for Expressions of Interest for the Cancer Council NSW Strategic Research Partnership (STREP) Grants have been postponed. Cancer Council NSW will advise the research community of future new grant opportunities.

Funding Opportunities

The attached funding list has opportunities with deadlines between the 1st and 15th of August 2017. There are very few opportunities closing in this period – even fewer than last time. Where a date is listed as ‘Forecast’, the opportunity ran the previous year and is expected to run again, but no new dates have been announced.

Other Funding Opportunities

Applications for the 2018 Grant Round from Diabetes Australia are now open and projects across all areas of diabetes research will be considered. Applications close Friday, 5th May 2017. Projects focused on self-monitoring & self-management of diabetes, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders and diabetes, and behavioural research are encouraged. Grants may be awarded in the following categories:

two AU$150,000 Millennium Awards – one for type 1 diabetes and one for type 2 diabetes; and
an unspecified number of General Grants, up to $60,000 per grant

The National MS Society is seeking proposals for their Career Transition Fellowships. Preliminary applications are due 10th May 2017; full applications due 16th August 2017. The Career Transition Fellowship targets current postdoctoral trainees who demonstrate both commitment and exceptional potential to conduct MS-related research. Applicants must hold a doctoral degree (M.D., Ph.D. or equivalent) and must be in a research-oriented postdoctoral training program at an academic, government, or non-profit research institution. Applicants must have between three to five years of postdoctoral research experience at the time of application. The award provides approximately $550,000 over five years to support a two-year period of advanced postdoctoral training in MS research and the first three years of research support in a new faculty appointment.

The Australian Academy of Science Travel Opportunities are open until the 1st June 2017. These are travelling fellowships for the exchange of scientific ideas, to promote Australian scientific capabilities internationally, and facilitate access to international research programs.

SpaceTech-REDDI-2017 Appendix F1(A): NASA Flight Opportunities – The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Headquarters has released a solicitation, titled “NASA Flight Opportunities (FO): Technology Advancement Utilizing Suborbital Flight Opportunities” as an Appendix to the Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) NASA Research Announcement (NRA), titled “Space Technology Research, Development, Demonstration, and Infusion 2017 (SpaceTech-REDDI-2017).” Applications are due on or before 2nd June 2017

Umicore Materials Technology PhD Award Fund for Scientific Research | Flanders (FWO) closes to applications on the 3rd July 2017. This recognises original contribution in one of the following fields: Recycling / resources scarcity (related to metals); materials for catalysis; and materials for batteries. The prize is worth €10,000.

Nominations for the Science and SciLifeLab Prize for Young Scientists from the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) close on the 15th July 2017. These are for outstanding life science research for which the scholar was awarded a doctoral degree in the previous two years. The topic of the entrant’s thesis research must be in one of the following categories: Cell and Molecular Biology, Genomics and Proteomics, Ecology and Environment, Translational Medicine. Eligible entrants must have been awarded their doctoral degree in 2015 or 2016, and the subject of their thesis should match one of the Subject Tracks below. The winners from each category will compete for the grand prize, which is US$30,000 for the grand prize winner, US$10,000 for each of the category winners. The grand prize winning essay will be published in Science and essays from the each of the category winners will be published online.

The Holsworth Wildlife Research Endowment Postgraduate Research Grants close to applications on the 31st July 2017. These research endowments enable postgraduate students to conduct research on ecology, wildlife management or natural history. Grants are worth up to AUD 7,500 per year and renewable for a period of two to three years. The total conference travel budget for the project is limited to AUD 3,000.

The John Maddox Prize is offered by Sense About Science and closes to nominations on the 31st July 2017. This recognises an individual who has promoted sound science and evidence on a matter of public interest. The prize is worth £2,000.

Vol. 22. No. 07
5th April 2017
20170405-RMFunding

The Macquarie University Research Fellowship (MQRF) scheme, for researchers up to three years post PhD, is due to open to Expressions of Interest on the 19th April 2017. Please don’t leave finding a sponsor until the last minute – the earlier you get your project details and potential sponsor sorted, the sooner we can let you know if you have the support of the Department and Faculty and can proceed with your EoI.

The ilearn module for the Defence Trade Controls Act (DTCA) has been activated for 2017. If you are doing research in any area which may be related to the development, production or use of a product or technology which may be listed on the Defence and Strategic Goods List, you need to be aware of your obligations under the Act. If you have not attended a DTCA workshop, it is recommended that you complete the iLearn unit.

Innovation and Science Australia (ISA) is seeking public views on the key challenges and opportunities in the Australian innovation system and has released an Issues Paper for consultation. The Issues Paper nominates six challenges we see as central to shaping the strategy, and suggests themes and questions for discussion. It welcomes feedback on these challenges:

are they the right ones?
have we missed something?
how can we move from ideas to actions?

This is a key opportunity to provide feedback and be involved as ISA develops its 2030 Strategic Plan. ISA welcome your views and encourage you to make a submission. Submissions are open until the 31st May 2017. Click here for more information.

MQ University Library is currently trialling Paperpile. This is a web-based reference management software with special integration with Google Docs and Google Scholar. It is fully supported on Chrome for Mac OS X, Windows, Linux and Chrome OS. It is also known to run on the open-source Chromium browser. Since Paperpile uses advanced features of the Chrome platform, it is not available on other browsers. Paperpile can retrieve and store publication PDF files to the user’s Google Drive account. It formats citations and bibliographies in Google Docs, which allows collaborative editing of academic papers. The trial will run from Monday, 27th March, 2017 to Thursday, 27th April, and will be available both on and off campus by signing in with your MQ account. Please submit feedback here: https://it-mqu.formstack.com/forms/trial_database_evaluation. Feedback is helpful in determining whether or not the University should purchase long term access to databases and software.

To use Paperpile :

Use Chrome to login to https://paperpile.com/app with your MQ account. If you are on campus Paperpile will automatically pick up your MQ email address.
Install/enable the Paperpile Chrome Extension when prompted. If you encounter problem installing Paperpile Chrome Extension, log off and log back in.
Your MQ email address should appear on the top right hand corner of the webpage.
Please note that newer staff may not have an MQ gmail account. They should follow the instructions below:

Go to Paperpile via the link https://paperpile.com/app
At the top right of the page Sign in using a personal gmail account.
Follow the instruction and add the Chrome extension.
At the top right of the page you will see your gmail address. Click the cog beside your address and click Settings.
Verify your institutional email address via the link that Paperpile emails to you.

Ø Getting started with Paperpile

Ø Paperpile – Help

Ø Importing other reference libraries to Paperpile

Ø Set up Library proxy access for off campus access to PDFs subscribed by MQ

Upcoming Seminar: Advice to MQ Academics on Mentoring Early Career Researchers
Tuesday 2nd May 2017, 12:30 – 14:00
Senate Room, C8A 310
Chaired by Professor Lesley Hughes

This workshop aims to provide strategic advice to MQ academics on mentoring early career researchers (ECRs). The workshop will be chaired by Prof Lesley Hughes, and along with 5 panel members from each of Macquarie’s faculties, the group will discuss their experience in recruiting, supporting and advising ECRs. The panel members have outstanding track records in mentoring the next generation of research leaders and will provide unique insights into their development of highly supportive and collaborative research environments. All Macquarie University academics and researchers are invited to attend the workshop. It is expected this topic will be of most interest to mid-career researchers who are building their research groups and who may have experienced some challenges in ECR mentoring. As part of the audience you will have the opportunity to address questions to the panel. The panel will be:

•Prof Catharine Lumby – Faculty of Arts
•A/Prof Fei Guo – Faculty of Business and Economics
•Prof Ron Rapee – Faculty of Human Sciences
•A/Prof Ian Blair – Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences
•Prof Simon Griffith – Faculty of Science and Engineering

Upcoming Seminar: Philanthropic Grants Workshop
Also chaired by Prof Lesley Hughes
Tuesday 9th May 2017, 12:00 – 14:30
Lecture Theatre, Level 1, Australian Hearing Hub

This workshop aims to provide strategic advice to MQ researchers and academics on the process and steps to be more successful in gaining funding from philanthropic foundations. The 2 ½ hour workshop will detail the various types of philanthropic funders and their expectations; how to position your work for this audience, with particular focus on the evaluation, outcomes and budget; and adapting a category one application (ARC or NHMRC) to a philanthropic foundation. The workshop will be facilitated by Strategic Grants, who provide grant strategies, research and training to build your organisation’s capacity to be ready and able to win grants.

In May, June and July, Science in Public will be holding their regular Media and Communication Workshops in venues around Australia. These cost money. Registration is via Eventbrite and the upcoming dates are:

Melbourne: Tuesday 2nd May, Thursday 22nd June
Canberra: Wednesday 17th May
Sydney: Thursday 25th May
Adelaide: Wednesday 31st May
Perth: Wednesday 5th July

The University will be holding an information session on Cooperative Research Centres (CRCs), currently slated for the 7th June 2017 – more details to come.

Funding Opportunities

The attached funding list has opportunities with deadlines between the 16th and 31st of July 2017. There is a very poor selection this fortnight! Where a date is listed as ‘Forecast’, the opportunity ran the previous year and is expected to run again, but no new dates have been announced.

Other Funding Opportunities

Closing this week! The NSW Government, through the Office of the Chief Scientist & Engineer, is again offering grants to support teams of university students attending science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) research competitions domestically and overseas. Funding will be awarded on a competitive basis to student teams participating in events held between July 2017 and June 2018. This grants round, funded from the NSW Research Attraction & Acceleration Program, is the primary mechanism by which OCSE will provide sponsorship for students taking part in research competitions. Applications close on Friday 7th April 2017.

The deadline for applications for Research Stays for University Academics and Scientists from Australia and New Zealand, offered by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), has been extended to the 22nd April 2017. This enables academics and scientists working in Australia or New Zealand to conduct research at a state or state-recognised higher education institution or non-university research institute in Germany. Grants are worth €2,000 per month for assistant teachers, assistant professors and lecturers, and €2,150 per month for professors. Additionally, the DAAD will pay a travel allowance, unless these costs are covered by another funding source. Visits usually last between one and three months.

The Rebecca L Cooper Medical Research Foundation invites applications for the Al and Val Rosenstrauss Research Fellowship. This supports early-career researchers in building credentials for a long career in research. Projects must align with the following research areas: •brain sciences such as psychiatry and neurology; •endocrinology and diabetes; •geriatrics; •lung disease other than cancer; •rheumatology; •vision sciences. Applicants must be located in Australia, employed by an Australian research institution and must be qualified MDs or hold a PhD in medicine for no less than five years and no more than 10 years. The fellowship is worth AUD 80,000 per year for four years. The fellow’s host institution must agree to commit AUD 20,000 additional funding per year to support their fellow. The closing date for applications is the 28th April 2017.

Diabetes Australia is the national body for people affected by all types of diabetes. We are committed to reducing the impact of diabetes. This year the Diabetes Australia Research Program should provide over $3.6 million to vital diabetes research projects across Australia. Applications for the 2018 Grant Round are now open and projects across all areas of diabetes research will be considered. Projects focused on self-monitoring & self-management of diabetes, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders and diabetes, and behavioural research are encouraged. Grants may be awarded in the following categories: • two $150,000 Millennium Awards – one for type 1 diabetes and one for type 2 diabetes; and • an unspecified number of General Grants, up to $60,000 per grant. Applications close Friday, 5th May 2017.

AMP Foundation’s Tomorrow Fund has just opened, and MQ staff have received funding from this source in the past. These are grants for determined people with big dreams who need some help to bring them to life. Australian citizens and permanent residents of all ages and abilities can apply for an AMP Tomorrow Fund grant. AMP is looking for people who have a talent or passion for something that will ultimately benefit Australia. While grants are only for individuals, organisations and groups are encouraged to spread the word. The funds go directly to the individual to support their work/dreams that will positively impact the Australian community. Applications will close Tuesday, 16th May at 4pm.

Please contact Caitlin Crockford from the Office of Advancement if you are interested in applying to this fund and she will advise you on the best way to proceed.

The Tres Cantos Open Lab Foundation, in collaboration with GlaxoSmithKline scientists, invites applications for its TCOLF Project Funding. This supports research projects at or in collaboration with the open laboratory at Tres Cantos in Spain. In addition to its traditional areas of interest, TCOLF is opening a call to include drug discovery for Shigellosis to evaluate the potential of supporting this infectious disease in the long term. Key areas of interest are:

exploitation of high throughput screening amenable screening approaches to identify hits and leads;
target based approaches on genetically and chemically validated targets;
medicinal chemistry optimisation of hits or leads towards drug candidates;
animal models that allow the quick evaluation, ranking and establishment of pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic relationships of leads against Shigellosis.

Visiting scientists must not have resided or carried out their main activity in the country of their longer stay for more than 12 months in the three years prior to the application date. PhD-holders with over 10 years postdoctoral experience will receive £76,087 per year and other candidates will receive £50,870 per year. Projects are expected to last between six and 24 months. The closing date for applications is the 17th May 2017.

The Canadian Institute for Advanced Research invites applications for its Azrieli Global Scholarships. These provide an opportunity for emerging researchers worldwide to accelerate their career through networking, research support, skill development and impact. Applications will be accepted for the following programs: •successful societies; •institutions, organisations and growth; •cosmology and gravity; •learning in machines and brains; •bio-inspired solar energy; •quantum materials; •genetic networks; •child and brain development; •humans and the microbiome; •molecular architecture of life; •the Azrieli program in brain, mind and consciousness.

Applicants must hold a PhD or equivalent. They should be no more than five years into their first full-time faculty position, at an institution of higher education or research, that should have started no earlier than May 1 2012. Applicants should be at an assistant professor level or equivalent, however, postdoctoral fellows are not eligible to apply. Candidates should be engaged in research that complements and contributes to the themes and goals of one of the research programs previously mentioned, and must be fluent in spoken and written English. Scholarships are worth CAD 100,000 over a two-year period. Funding may be used towards teaching release, student support, summer salary and research assistant salaries. Costs of attendance to meetings of the specific research programs and to the scholar’s annual meeting will also be covered. Applications close on the 23rd May 2017.

PLEASE NOTE *INSITUTIONAL APPLICATION LIMIT*

The Nina Buscombe Award from MND Victoria celebrates the contribution and commitment demonstrated by Nina Buscombe to the improvement of services, management and research for people with motor neurone disease. The Award is presented and administrated by MND Victoria. It is intended to provide funds for individuals to attend training courses, conferences or seminars within Australia or overseas. The course, conference or seminar must have content that will help to improve the quality of services, management or research for people living with motor neurone disease. Applications close on the 26th May 2017 – you must notify the Research Office if you are interested in applying.

The Microbiology Society (UK) has three prizes open which all close to nominations on the 7th June 2017:

The Marjory Stephenson Prize Lecture This award recognises an individual who has made an exceptional contribution to the discipline of microbiology. The prize is worth £1,000.

The Fleming Prize Lecture is awarded annually to an early career researcher who has achieved an outstanding research record within 12 years of being awarded their PhD. The recipient of the Fleming Prize Lecture will receive £1,000 and be expected to give a lecture based on the work for which the award has been made to a meeting of the Society.

The Prize Medal is awarded annually to an outstanding microbiologist who is a global leader in his or her field and whose work has had a far-reaching impact beyond the discipline of microbiology. The recipient of the Prize Medal will receive £1,000 and be expected to give a lecture based on the work for which the award has been made to a meeting of the Society.

The Australian Academy of Science invites applications from Australian researchers, postdocs and students, entrepreneurs, engineers and innovators from all areas to attend Australia’s Falling Walls Lab in 2017. This will be held on 12th September 2017 at the Shine Dome, Canberra. Twenty Australian and five New Zealand/Pacific Island Forum (PIF) Nations contestants will be invited to participate in the challenge, each giving a three-minute presentation on their research, business model or initiative based on the ‘Which walls will fall next?’ concept. For more information visit the Falling Walls Lab. Presentation templates and further instructions will be provided to successful applicants.

Application

Complete the Academy’s application form (Word 110kb)
Submit the Academy’s form to grants@science.org.au
Go to Falling Walls Lab website
Click on Falling Walls Lab Australia
Complete the Falling Walls Lab online form and attach your curriculum vitae
Follow the links to submit the form and CV to the Falling Walls Lab

Only complete and eligible applications submitted on the Falling Walls Lab website will be forwarded to the Academy for assessment by an evaluation panel. The deadline is 5pm (AEST) Monday 12 June 2017.

The US National Cancer Institute (NIH) invites applications for its Innovative Research in Cancer Nanotechnology (R01) grants. These support projects addressing major barriers in cancer biology or oncology using nanotechnology and should emphasise fundamental understanding of nanomaterial or nanodevice interactions with biological systems. The scope includes research concerning the delivery of nanoparticles and nanodevices to desired and intended cancer targets in vivo and characterisation of in vitro detection and diagnostic devices. US and foreign for-profit and non-profit organisations and public and private organisations may apply. Application budgets are limited to USD 450,000 in direct costs per year. The maximum project period is five years. Applications close on the 21st Nov 2017.

Vol. 22. No. 06
22nd March 2017
20170322-RMFunding

INTENTION TO APPLY – Please inform the Faculty Research Office of your intention to apply for ANY grant well before the date the application or nomination is due. We have had several recent instances where MQ has run afoul of institutional limitations because neither the University nor the Faculty was aware that someone was lodging an application. When this happens and you have not notified us in advance, MQ will not support your application.

Please note: the official approval for an application is made via the APLI form, so any proposal that is submitted without an APLI form does not have formal approval from the Department, Faculty or University. All applications must be submitted through the Research Office unless the Research Office has advised you that you can submit directly (eg via an on-line form).

On that note, if you intend to apply for the DFAT Council on Australia Latin America Relations (COALAR) Grant Program for 2017-18 and have not already let us know of your intention, we need to know tomorrow (23rd March 2017) by the latest, as these grants also have an institutional application limitation.

There have been some adjustments to Macquarie’s internal review dates for the Australian Research Council (ARC) Linkage Projects “Rounds” to help them align better with the teaching schedule and break periods. These will be:

NEW internal ARC LP DATES

2017 Round 1

Faculties closing date: 27th April 2017
Research Office closing date: 11th May 2017
Submission to ARC: 18th May 2017

2017 Round 2

Faculties closing date: 3rd August 2017
Research Office closing date: 17th August 2017
Submission to ARC: 24th August 2017

2017 Round 3

Faculties closing date: 2nd November 2017
Research Office closing date: 16th November 2017
Submission to ARC: 23rd November 2017

Please remember that high quality proposals can still be submitted at any time – i.e. outside of the above nominated dates, but resources have been set aside to help Linkage applicants during these periods.

The Faculty Visiting Researcher Scheme closes on the 27th March 2017. Please see the FSE Intranet Resources page for the information sheet and application form.

The next Cross-Faculty Research Seminar will be held Wednesday next week. Associate Professor Andy Barron, ARC Future Fellow, Biological Sciences, will present Developing your 5-year Research Plan: “Hitting any mid- and long-term research and career goals is impossible if you don’t know what they are. This seminar discusses how you can identify what you want to do, and how you can plan to give yourself the greatest chance of success.”

When: Wednesday 29th March 2017
Time: 12pm – 1pm
Location: Senate Room, C8A 310, Lincoln Building
Chair: Professor David Coutts, Associate Dean, Research, Faculty of Science

If you are an early career researcher who has not yet had the chance to hear Andy describe how he transformed his research career, we strongly recommend coming along to this one!

A recent blog post discusses misconceptions about Google Scholar, which is improving in performance as a serious academic tool. While focusing on Politics and Economics, the post raises a number of points that are also relevant to Science and Engineering.

Research Professional will be holding two online training courses that cover the basics of finding funding opportunities on Research Professional:

Friday March 31st 2017: 10:00 – 11:00 AEDT (Sydney)
Friday May 26th 2017: 09:00 – 10:00 AEST (Sydney)

The Institute of Photonics and Optical Science (IPOS) and the School of Physics of the University of Sydney invite you to attend the Dr Peter Domachuk Memorial Lecture. The lecture was established in honour of Peter’s outstanding contribution and commitment to optofluidics and biophotonics research. Professor Dame Athene Donald from Cambridge University will be presenting this year’s lecture. This is Professor Donald’s first visit to Australia, and she will be talking about the importance of imagery.

When: Tuesday, 4 April 2017, 5.45 p.m. for a 6 p.m. start
Where: Harry Messel Lecture Theatre, Sydney Nanoscience Hub, The University of Sydney
RSVP: To secure your free place, please register online by 31 March 2017

There are two technical workshops happening tomorrow:

Data Analytics and Image Processing with MATLAB
23rd March, 2017, 9:00 a.m. – 12:15 p.m at the Macquarie Graduate School of Management – City Campus, Sydney. Please register your interest here.

Developing Control and Monitoring Systems with LabVIEW and CompactRIO Hands-on Workshop
Thursday, 23rd March 2017, 8:30am – 12:30pm OR 2:00pm -5.00pm, to be held at National Instruments Australia Pty Ltd, Level 1, 16 Byfield Street, Macquarie Park, NSW 2113 Australia. This FREE three-hour workshop explores graphical system design using National Instruments LabVIEW graphical development tools and National Instruments CompactRIO systems. Please register here.

This is a reminder to Early Career Researchers that ResBaz Sydney will take place on 3rd-5th July 2017 at the University of Technology Sydney. For those not familiar with ResBaz, this is a mini-conference and skill building event focusing on eResearch and Data Science skills. (See Melbourne ResBaz 2015 or read this blog post for more information on what ResBaz is all about.) If you would like to have your input to the ResBaz Sydney agenda please complete the EOI form by 26th March 2017 (details of those who have previously expressed interest in participating as a technical instructor or helper have been forwarded to the organising committee).

Funding Opportunities

The attached funding list has opportunities with deadlines between the 1st and 15th of July 2017. It is a short list this fortnight. Where a date is listed as ‘Forecast’, the opportunity ran the previous year and is expected to run again, but no new dates have been announced.

Other Funding Opportunities

The NSW Medical Devices Fund is a competitive technology development and commercialisation program that aims to provide support to individuals, companies, public and private hospitals, medical research institutes, universities and the medical devices industry, to take local innovation to market, and increase the uptake of NSW medical devices by the health system where they are cost effective and contribute to improved patient outcomes. More than $35 million has been awarded to 20 outstanding new medical technologies since the Medical Devices Fund began in 2013. In the 2017-2018 financial year, the Fund has over $8 million available. Preliminary Applications close Monday 3rd April 2017.

Applications for Wine Australia’s travel and visiting scholar bursaries are now open. Applications are currently being accepted for travel that commences between 1st July and 31st December 2017 and bursaries can fund travel, study tours or conferences to develop your professional knowledge and network with the international research community. Applications close on the 7th April 2017. Funding is also available to bring international experts to Australia to participate in workshops, meetings, conferences, symposia or research projects, and share their knowledge with the grape and wine community.

The Health & Safety Trust supports the Australian coal mining industry by funding projects and research that will have a positive effect on the health and safety of coal mine workers, operators and the wider mining community. The Trust is now inviting ‘expressions of interest’ for grants to fund initiatives designed to improve the health and wellbeing of coal mine workers. Researchers, mine owners/operators, industry workers and suppliers are encouraged to apply. Note: Expressions of Interest close 12th April 2017.

Priority areas for the Trust are:

Mental health • Fatigue • Diesel particulates • High pressure oil injection injuries • Musculoskeletal disorders • RSI prevention, treatment and management • Vibration • Dust • Noise • Human and Organisational Factors

Recently completed projects funded by the Trust include:

Partners in Mining – supporting depression in mining
Evaluating virtual reality training on rescue brigades competency
Assessing whole-body vibration
Periodic musculoskeletal screen to identify risk trends
Respiratory protection (are our standards protecting worker health or providing a false sense of security?)
Zero harm positive safety culture by applying mindfulness based high-performance, thinking strategies

The Foundation for Rural & Regional Renewal (FRRR) currently has the Grants for Resilience and Wellness scheme open until the 28th April 2017. This program has a specific focus on providing assistance towards community-strengthening and resilience-building projects for communities affected by the 2009 Victorian bushfires. Projects must directly assist those individuals and communities that have been affected by the 2009 Victorian bushfires. The project must identify a specific distress/hardship caused by the bushfires which the activity intends to relieve. Projects must be for a charitable purpose (benefit the wider community; not an individual, business, or members of particular groups), and must be able to demonstrate wide community support and involvement of a range of community groups/representatives.

The Defence Health Foundation invites Expressions of Interest from researchers for medical research grants available from the beginning of 2018. The objective of the research must be to benefit the health and wellbeing of serving or ex-serving members of the Australian Defence Forces or their immediate families. Our 2017 research priorities are for medical research that:

Evaluates healthcare programs that deliver services to contemporary serving ADF members, serving families, ex-serving and their families
Evaluates physical and mental health issues and behaviours of serving and ex-serving members and the impact on the lives of their families and family dynamics
Focuses on prevention, treatment, rehabilitation or intervention.

Grants on offer range from $25,000 to $100,000 p.a. over 1 to 3 years.
Expressions of Interest must be submitted by Friday 28th April 2017. Successful applicants from this first stage will be invited to submit a full grant application by 7th July 2017.

The 2017 NASA Fundamental Physics Workshop will be held May 31 – June 2, 2017, at the Fess Parker, a Doubletree by Hilton Resort, in Santa Barbara, CA.

The workshop will provide a forum for NASA fundamental physics investigators to present results and discuss research ideas for future space experimentation with interested international and US colleagues in the areas of Atomic and Molecular Physics (DAMOP community), Fundamental Forces and Symmetries, Dusty Plasma Physics, and Condensed Matter Physics. Specific sessions will be organized to discuss status and planned science capabilities of the Cold Atom Laboratory slated for launch in 2017, the Bose-Einstein Condensate Cold Atom Laboratory (BECCAL) follow-on activity under joint development with Germany (DLR), including results from the recent DLR MAIUS rocket flight, and investigation plans by scientists using ESA’s Plasma Kristall-4 ISS facility and CNES’ DECLIC-ALI-R ISS facility insert. All interested scientists, researchers and NASA/NSF managers are invited to participate. The participation of the current NASA-funded investigators are strongly encouraged and kindly requested. There is no registration fee to participate in the workshop. Workshop participants are invited to submit abstracts for contributed talks and posters as part of their registration. Important deadlines:

Abstract Deadline: 30th April 2017
Hotel Reservation Deadline to Receive Discounted Lodging Rate: 30th April 2017
Advance Registration Deadline: 15th May 2017

The Franklin Institute invites nominations for its Bower Award and Prize for Achievement in Science. This recognises individuals who have made significant contributions to our understanding or the development of genome editing or its applications, including the following: the discovery or elucidation of genome editing mechanisms such as those involving CRISPR, TALENs, or zinc finger nucleases; genome editing tool development; and/or genome editing for basic research or applied outcomes in a variety of systems. Nominees must be living individuals. Self-nominations are allowed. The prize is worth USD 250,000. The winner must participate in the The Franklin Institute Awards Week programmes, held in April 2018 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. While nominations do not close until the end of May, a Letter of Intent to Nominate is wanted by 30th April 2017.

2018 STREP grants from the Cancer Council NSW are NOW OPEN for Expressions of Interest. Cancer Council NSW offers Strategic Research Partnership (STREP) Grants to facilitate the collaboration of key stakeholders, including Cancer Council NSW, with research teams, to address high priority research questions. The specific objective of the STREP grant scheme is to develop highly effective research groups with national and international standing to advance strategic clinical, population, and/or public health research with the potential to directly impact cancer control policy and/or practice in NSW. STREP grants are worth up to $400,000 annually, for five consecutive years, with funding commencing in January 2018. Expressions of Interest will only be considered from research teams which: Demonstrate strong leadership from clinicians or public health practitioners; Include at least one Chief Investigator from a NSW institution; and are multidisciplinary. Preference will be given to research in cancers or populations where research funding lags behind the associated burden of disease, or the potential to address key research issues is limited by capacity constraints. Expressions of Interest for STREP Grants are to be submitted to Cancer Council NSW by midnight, Monday 8th May, 2017.

Nominations for the Florey medal, offered by the Australian Institute of Policy and Science, will close to nominations on the 28th May 2017. The prize will be awarded to an Australian biomedical researcher for significant achievements in biomedical science or human health advancement arising from research carried out primarily in Australia. This award is worth AU$50,000.

The Farrer Memorial Travelling Scholarships from the Farrer Memorial Trust through the Department of Primary Industries allows future leaders to research global best practice and to see how other countries are managing challenges in their primary industries. The scholarships assist postgraduate students enrolled for a PhD in any aspect of field crop research. Students are provided with the opportunity to attend and present at an international conference as well as visit research centres. In 2016 scholarship winners travelled to various destinations including France, Japan Switzerland and Korea, examining high level research relating to sorghum, barley, medicinal cannabis and biochar. Travelling scholarships can be awarded up to the value of AU$5,000. Applications are due by the 2nd June 2017.

The Australian Academy of Science invites applications from junior Australian scientists, who are 30 years of age at the time of application, to visit the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the United States of America during 2018 for between 6 and 13 weeks. The deadline for applications is 9am (AEST) Monday 12th June 2017. At the time of application, applicants should:

have an intent to enrol in PhD study in an Australian institution
be in the first two years of a PhD degree or equivalent
be in the final year of a masters or a bachelors with honours degree or
have completed a masters or a bachelors with honours degree

The successful applicant will receive a contribution towards the direct return air travel between Australia and the host institution up to a maximum of $2600AUD, and a once off living allowance of up to a maximum of $400AUD, provided by the Adam J. Berry Memorial Fund (AJBMF). The National Institutes of Health (NIH) will provide a small daily stipend during the participant’s stay in America.

The IVD Australia travelling bursary is available from the Australasian Association of Clinical Biochemists to help members attend the Annual Scientific Conference. Applications close on the 16th June 2017. Bursaries are worth up to AU$1,000 each to assist with airfares, registration, accommodation and incidentals.

The Davisson-Germer prize in atomic or surface physics is offered by the American Physical Society and recognises and encourages outstanding work in the area of atomic physics. The prize consists of US$5,000 and a certificate. Nominations close on the 30th June 2017.

A number of other prizes offered by the American Physical Society are also closing to nominations on the 30th June 2017. These include the Oliver E. Buckley Condensed Matter Prize, the Polymer Physics Prize, the Robert R. Wilson Prize for Achievement in the Physics of Particle Accelerators, and the W.K.H. Panofsky Prize in Experimental Particle Physics.

Vol. 22. No. 05
8th March 2017
20170308-RMFunding
HREA newsletter February 2017 V2-0

The Faculty Visiting Researcher Scheme is now open to applications and will close on the 27th March 2017. Please see the FSE Intranet Resources page for more information.

The next Research Seminar will be the excellent “Developing your 5-year Research Plan” presented by Associate Professor Andy Barron, ARC Future Fellow, Biological Sciences.

When: Wednesday 29th March 2017
Time: 12pm – 1pm
Location: Senate Room, C8A 310, Lincoln Building
Chair: Professor David Coutts, Associate Dean, Research, Faculty of Science

“Hitting any mid- and long-term research and career goals is impossible if you don’t know what they are. This seminar discusses how you can identify what you want to do, and how you can plan to give yourself the greatest chance of success.”

You are invited to attend a public lecture by Professor Francis Albarède, Professor of Geochemistry, Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, on the Medical Applications of the Cu, Zn and S Isotope Effects. The lecture will examine recent applications of stable copper, zinc and sulfur isotopes to medical cases and notably, cancer. Professor Albarède will also discuss the first observations of Cu, Zn, and S isotopic variations; three elements closely related along multiple biological pathways, with emphasis on serum samples of healthy volunteers and cancer patients. Following the lecture at 12.30pm, Professor Albarède will join Professor Roger Chung, Associate Dean (Research), Macquarie University and Professor Simon Turner, Distinguished Professor (CORE), Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Macquarie University to facilitate a workshop.

Date: 16th March 2017
Time: 10.30am – 12.30pm
Location: Macquarie Graduate School of Management (MGSM), Building E14A, Room 165/7, 1 Management Drive, Macquarie University

Please contact Professor Simon Turner (Simon.Turner@mq.edu.au) for more information.

Data Analytics and Image Processing with MATLAB

23rd March, 2017
9:00 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.
Macquarie Graduate School of Management – City Campus, Sydney

During this complimentary seminar, MathWorks engineers will highlight strategies and techniques that can be used to handle large amounts of data. We will discuss machine learning techniques to build prognostic algorithms in MATLAB, and show how to deploy those to run on enterprise platforms. In the second session we will show how to handle large image data sets in MATLAB and demonstrate feature extraction from images and preparation for classification. We will also provide insights into Deep Learning for object recognition in images and videos. Please register your interest here.

And on the same day:

Developing Control and Monitoring Systems with LabVIEW and CompactRIO Hands-on Workshop

Thursday, 23rd March 2017
8:30am – 12:30pm OR 2:00pm -5.00pm
National Instruments Australia Pty Ltd, Level 1, 16 Byfield Street, Macquarie Park, NSW 2113 Australia

This FREE three-hour workshop explores graphical system design using National Instruments LabVIEW graphical development tools and National Instruments CompactRIO systems.

This workshop looks at:

How to use LabVIEW to design custom monitoring and control systems with field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), real-time operating systems, and analog I/O

Developing NI CompactRIO applications for better code reuse and easier debugging
How to look into possibilities of using high-level graphical programming to design your own custom reconfigurable FPGA hardware
Data flow and parallelism, and network communication

Please register here.

ResBaz organisers have opened a call for researchers to indicate what they would like to learn or contribute to ResBaz Sydney in July, via an expression of interest form. The EOI will be open until 26th March. As an incentive, the organisers are guaranteeing a place at the conference for researchers or HDR candidates who are successful in their application to present a lightning talk or to be a roaming helper during the conference. If you would like to have your input to the ResBaz Sydney agenda please complete the EOI form by 26th March 2017 (details of those who have previously expressed interest in participating as a technical instructor or helper have been forwarded to the organising committee).

There are two summits scheduled for the 4th – 5th April 2017 at Intercontinental Double Bay, Sydney, which may be of interest to researchers. These are Research Innovation 2017 (at which Professor Sakkie Pretorious is scheduled to speak) and Research Facilities: Design and Development 2017. The organisers do however want your details before you can view the program online (and then you’ll be on their mailing list for ever after).

Please note that for Australian Research Council Requests Not to Assess: “the ARC will only consider requests for named persons and will only use the information provided on the Request Not to Assess form. It is the responsibility of the applicant to ensure that the information provided on the form is correct, including spelling and variants of the name. The ARC will not uphold requests to exclude institutions, departments or units.” The Research Office have followed up with the ARC and have confirmed that this cannot be done using assessor numbers – names must be used.

Ethics Update:

A reminder about changes to the ethics process for Science and Engineering – please use the form for new applications and not the online system. Information about ethics applications for FSE staff (including a link to the form) is available on the FSE Intranet. Also, if you have any ethics applications still sitting in IRIS that have not been submitted, please consider deleting them before the old system is phased out.

The next Human Ethics Information Session will be held on Thursday, 6th April 2017, from 2-3pm in the Senate Room, C8A 310. This session briefly explains the National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research and the Macquarie University application process for human ethics, and will be presented by Dr Karolyn White (Director, Research Ethics and Integrity). All MQ staff and students are welcome to attend our information sessions, no RSVP required.

The HREA newsletter (attached) outlines the current status of the Human Research Ethics Application (HREA) project. The Research Office will accept the HREA instead of the Macquarie University ethics application form.

Science in Public will be holding their Media Training sessions again this year, with a Sydney session scheduled for the 16th March 2017. Two experienced science communicators will work with you to find the story in your research, and help you find the right words to explain your research in a way that works for the media, as well as for government, industry and other stakeholders.

Funding Opportunities

The attached funding list has opportunities with deadlines between the 16th and 30th of June 2017. There is another NIH round closing this fortnight. Where a date is listed as ‘Forecast’, the opportunity ran the previous year and is expected to run again, but no new dates have been announced.

Other Funding Opportunities

Competitive Evaluation Research Agreement (CERA) Program

CLOSES THIS FRIDAY: 1700 AEDT 10th March 2017

Applications are online and are only required in short form at this stage.

The Defence Science and Technology Group (DST), is seeking research proposals from Australian academics who are currently partnering with, or wish to commence partnering with, DST scientists to work on solutions to key Defence Science and Technology (S&T) problems. The CERA program is looking to fund agile research teams who are able to adapt quickly and commit to milestone driven work. Cash support of up to $100,000 per proposal will be provided for projects up to 12 months’ in duration. This is a national program – all universities who have executed the Defence Science Partnership (DSP) deed are eligible to apply. Projects will be assessed on the relevance to Defence’s aim of better positioning itself to respond to future strategic challenges. Competitive proposals will present not only a strong track record in their respective research discipline, but also a coherent plan for a 12 month program.

Proposals that are consistent with the following 8 S&T themes will be considered as being the highest priority for CERA funding:

Cyber Electronic Warfare
Integrated Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance
Space Capabilities
Trusted Autonomous Systems
Enhanced Human Performance (in the air domain) and resilience
Quantum Technologies
Advanced Sensors (above and below water) and Directed Energy Capabilities
Multidisciplinary Material Sciences

Also closing shortly are applications for the Ramaciotti Biomedical Research Award. This AU$1 million grant is awarded every two years to a group or individual undertaking biomedical research within universities, public hospitals, medical research institutes or other similar organisations. The award funds projects including personnel, equipment, major infrastructure improvements or new laboratories that help an existing, well-funded program of research or enable a major new program to begin. Traditionally, it funds a need that would not attract funding elsewhere. The Ramaciotti Biomedical Research Award is now open for expressions of interest until 5pm AEDT 17th March 2017.

The Ramaciotti Medal for Excellence 2017 will be open to submission until the 31st May 2017. This is an annual award of $50,000. The Medal honors an individual who has made an outstanding discovery (or discoveries) in clinical or experimental biomedical research that has had an important impact on biomedical science, clinical science, or the way in which healthcare is delivered. To be eligible for the Ramaciotti Medal, the greater part of the nominee’s work leading to the discovery (or discoveries) must have been conducted in Australia and they must still be actively engaged in this work. The applicant must be peer nominated and the final recipient is selected based on a recommendation by the Ramaciotti Foundations Scientific Advisory Committee to Perpetual. Many past winners are highly regarded individuals in the top echelon of the biomedical research industry.

Remember that nominations are now open for the AINSE Winter School 2017 to take place on the 17th-20th July at Lucas Heights, Sydney. This is for SENIOR UNDERGRADUATES and applications will close on the 31st Mar 2017. If you have any interested undergraduates, please let us know as soon as you can.

Also from AINSE, closing on the 15th April 2017, are the Postgraduate Research Awards. These support postgraduate students whose research projects are associated with nuclear science or its applications, and who require access to the national facilities at the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation. Applicants must be postgraduate students wishing to undertake studies in AINSE’s field of interest for a higher degree at an AINSE member university and are in receipt of an Australian postgraduate award or an equivalent award. Nominations must be made by AINSE member universities in Australia or New Zealand.

The award will normally be extended to conclude at the end of a three-year PhD research programme or at the end of the research component of a master’s degree. This includes a supplement stipend worth AUD 7,500 per year, an award for facility use and supervision, and a credit towards travel and accommodation expenses.

The British Carbon Group is offering The Roger Taylor 2017 Travel Award, in memory of the distinguished scientist Professor Roger Taylor (1935 – 2006), Emeritus Professor of Chemistry at the University of Sussex. The award is intended as a travel grant for students and early career researchers with up to ten years postdoctoral experience to attend an important international meeting for the advancement of fullerene and related science such as the functionalisation of carbon materials including carbon nanotubes and graphene. The closing date for applications is the 20th March 2017.

The Crop Science Society of America has a couple of awards closing on the 29th March 2017:

The Seed Science Award is presented in recognition of distinctive service towards understanding and promotion of seed science and technology. Contributions may include outstanding research, teaching, extension, leadership, or a combination of these activities. Activities acknowledged by this award must focus on the state of the plant’s life cycle when it is a seed, from embryo development through germination, and can include processing and production methods that enhance seed quality. Nominees for this award are not restricted to CSSA members. The award consists of a certificate, a complimentary ticket to the award presentation, and $2,000.

The Crop Science Research Award is presented to recognize outstanding research contributions in crop science. The award consists of a certificate, a complimentary ticket to the award ceremony, and $2,000. Evaluation:

Significance and originality of basic and applied research contributions in crop science
Excellence in creative reasoning and skill in obtaining significant data
Total impact of contributions on crop science and other fields, nationally and internationally

The International Crop Science Award is for creativity and innovation in bringing about specific changes in practices, products, and/or programs in the crops area at the international level. The award consists of a certificate, a complimentary ticket to the award ceremony, and $2,000.

The Heart Foundation has opened a call for a number of schemes:

Vanguard Grants, closing 3rd May 2017

Stroke Prevention Grant, closes 12th May 2017

Future Leader Fellowships, closing 12th April 2017, and

Postdoctoral Fellowships, closing 21st April 2017

The Heart Foundation will soon be implementing a new online application process.

Applications for the Cooperative Research Centre for Developing Northern Australia Project Funding Round will close on the 20th April 2017. The CRC for Developing Northern Australia Project Funding Round supports short term industry-led research collaborations to develop important new technologies, products and services which address industry problems in northern Australia in the areas of:

tropical health and medicine, including models of care; and
tropical and northern agriculture including animal and plant improvement and sustainability.

Up to $3 million over three years is available for each project supported under the CRC for Developing Northern Australia Project Funding Round. The project collaboration must at least match the amount of grant funding sought through cash and/or in-kind contributions. In-kind contributions means non-cash resources provided by a participant to conduct the activities of the project. They may be staff or non-staff resources. You do not need to be be located in northern Australia to be eligible to apply, but projects must be able to demonstrate how project outcomes will directly benefit northern Australia.

Vol. 22. No. 04

22nd February 2017
20170222-RMFunding

Congratulations to Professor Mark Westoby, who has just been awarded the inaugural Ralph Slatyer Medal for outstanding biological research from the ANU. The medal will be presented at a special ceremony at ANU on Wednesday 15th March 2017, when Professor Westoby will give a public lecture on his work.

Thomson Innovation is a searchable database providing access to full-text patents and published applications. In order to get the most out of Thomson Innovation, the Library and the Thomson Innovation team have organised a training session for THIS FRIDAY:

Date: Friday 24th February
Time: 10:00am – 11:30am
Location: Room M4.03 on level 4 of the Library.

You are welcome to attend this training and to invite any colleagues along who are interested in using the database. Please RSVP to Ben Isaacs (ben.isaacs@mq.edu.au) ASAP.

Macquarie staff and students are able to use Thomson Innovation to:
* search and access full-text patents and published applications from the Americas, Europe, and Asia – as well as news, trade publications and scientific literature.
* use powerful analytics to identify key competitors, technologies and trends with robust analysis and visualization, charting, and mapping tools.
* collaborate, with easy to use productivity tools that allow you to share findings with team members in the format that best fits your workflow.
* incorporate your own data with global patent data for better, more relevant IP decisions

Within the Macquarie subscription to Thomson Innovation you are able to create your own profiles to set up alerts and ‘watched records’ to follow specific patents and receive notifications about changes. Access is via MultiSearch where you will also find instructions on how to launch and configure your set up. If you are interested in learning more about Thomson Innovation, but are unable to attend training on the 24th, please contact your Research Librarian.

The implementation of PURE is currently focused on the re-harvesting of legacy publications and grants and awards. This information and process is important in enabling us to showcase academic research profiles. As the Pure RMS portal is not due to go live till May 2017, the Web Transformation Team has advised as follows:

Faculties and Departments are required to continue to maintain staff profiles in the existing manner (same locations via the existing mechanisms, until PURE launches).

The new RMS portal will automatically harvest information from Pure to support researcher profiles and therefore there is no requirement for researchers to copy and paste all their information from existing profiles.
We understand most departments have staff – usually Department Administrators – who have been trained and have access to update existing profiles, so they should – as agreed with Faculty General Managers – continue to be the first point of contact if these updates are required.
To ensure updates to current website profiles are dealt with efficiently, we recommend that when logging a request, the subject field should contain the following “Web Content Central”. This will avoid the request being routed to various support channels.

Further queries can be directed to: rms.communications@mq.edu.au

Fulbright Scholarships: Information Session for Research and Study in the United States in 2018

Date: Thursday 20 April 2017
Times:
12:30 pm – 1:00 pm – Postgraduate (MRes and PhD candidates) session
1:15 pm – 1:45 pm – Postdoctoral, Professional and Academics session
1:50 pm – 2:00 pm – Postdoctoral Fulbright Alumni experience session
Macquarie University staff and students are invited to attend any of the sessions of interest to them.
Location: Senate Room (C8A, 16 Wally’s Walk, room 310)
Speakers: Tara Hawley (Australian-American Fulbright Commission), Assoc Prof Andrew Barron (Faculty of Science and Engineering)

A Fulbright Scholarship offers a unique opportunity to Australian citizens to engage in research or study at a university or approved research centre in the U.S. and provides the opportunity to build personal and professional networks that last a lifetime.

The Australian-American Fulbright Commission offers Scholarships to Australian citizens across all career stages (postgraduate, postdoctoral, professional, associate and full professor). Awardees take part in a bi-lateral academic and cultural exchange, pursuing research or study at a U.S. institution, experiencing life in the United States of America, and bringing back their knowledge and experience to share with their communities in Australia. Up to 24 Fulbright Scholarships are offered annually to Australian Citizens in the following categories:

Postgraduate Scholarships – for students to undertake research towards Australian postgraduate studies or to enrol in a U.S. postgraduate course.
Postdoctoral Scholarships – for researchers who have completed their PhD in the last 5 years to undertake postdoctoral research in the U.S.
Senior Scholarships – for academics (at Associate Professor or Professor level) to undertake research or teaching at U.S. institutions.

Applications open on 1 March 2017 and close on 1 August 2017. Applicants should be prepared to commence their program in the following U.S. academic year (between July and the following June – e.g. apply in 2017 to start after July 2018, before end June 2019).

Please join us at this information session to learn about the opportunities available to you, how to apply, and hear about the experience from a Postdoctoral Fulbright Alumni at Macquarie University (Assoc Prof Andrew Barron). Further information and application forms are available at www.fulbright.com.au

Workshop: Advice to MQ Academics on Mentoring Early Career Researchers
Date: Tuesday 2 May 2017
Time: 12:30-14:00
Location: Senate Room (C8A, 16 Wally’s Walk, room 310)

About: This workshop aims to provide strategic advice to MQ academics on mentoring early career researchers (ECRs). The workshop will be chaired by Prof Lesley Hughes, and along with 5 panel members from each of Macquarie’s faculties, the group will discuss their experience in recruiting, supporting and advising ECRs. The panel members have outstanding track records in mentoring the next generation of research leaders and will provide unique insights into their development of highly supportive and collaborative research environments.

Topics to be covered will include:

How mentors have identified and recruited appropriate ECRs
Examples of how mentors have assisted ECRs in the transition from PhD to postdoctoral positions
Advice mentors have provided to ECRs on becoming independent researchers
The importance of encouraging ECRs to apply for competitive research funding
Considering the value of teaching duties in developing a well-rounded ECR track record
How mentors have provided ECRs with experience in HDR student supervision
Guidance and opportunities mentors have provided for ECR career trajectories
Challenges faced by both mentors and ECRs
Examples of the most outstanding achievements that have emerged from mentoring ECRs

Who should attend? All Macquarie University academics and researchers are invited to attend the workshop. It is expected this topic will be of most interest to mid-career researchers who are building their research groups and who may have experienced some challenges in ECR mentoring. As part of the audience you will have the opportunity to address questions to the panel.

Chairperson: Prof Lesley Hughes (PVC, Research Integrity and Development)
Panel members:
Prof Catharine Lumby – Faculty of Arts
Assoc Prof Fei Guo – Faculty of Business and Economics
Prof Ron Rapee – Faculty of Human Sciences
Assoc Prof Ian Blair – Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences
Prof Simon Griffith – Faculty of Science and Engineering

AWARDS AND PRIZES

The DVCR’s Office maintains a webpage for External Research Prizes and Awards. This provides a list of recent success stories, and further down the page, a list of awards and prizes that are currently open to nominations. If you are interested in being nominated for any of these, please discuss with your HoD or your departmental Research Director. The Early-Career Researcher network will soon be holding a session which will aim to show you what you should be doing to position your career for future awards – more information to follow.

If you are awarded a prize or other honour – please send an email to sci.research@mq.edu.au as soon as you can, and please also copy Emily.brennan@mq.edu.au so that she can update the honours list.

Meanwhile, the Australian Academy of Science Awards for 2018 have opened and will close to nominations on the 20th April 2017. Again, if you are interested, please discuss with your HoD in the first instance. Nominations for these awards are handled through the Faculty.

A reminder that human ethics applications are now to be lodged using the form and not the online system. Information about ethics applications for FSE staff (including a link to the form) is available on the FSE Intranet.

For people submitting NSW Cancer Institute Research Equipment Grants 2017, the budget limit has been increased to a maximum of $1,000,000 per application. The application form in the Grants Management System has been adjusted to provide for a budget up to $1,000,000. The due date for applications is 9th March 2017.

Funding Opportunities

The attached funding list has opportunities with deadlines between the 1st and 15th of June 2017. This fortnight there are more NIH opportunities, and a round of IEEE prizes closing to nominations. Where a date is listed as ‘Forecast’, the opportunity ran the previous year and is expected to run again, but no new dates have been announced.

Other Funding Opportunities

The deadline for proposals for the OPAL Neutron Beam Facility and National Deuteration is fast approaching, 15th March 2017. The application is for beam-time requests and does not include travel or accommodation support. However, ANSTO provides travel support for up to 3 users from AINSE member institutions per proposal.

The Commonwealth Scholarship Commission in the UK, sponsored by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the Scottish Government, invites applications for its PhD or split-site PhD study Commonwealth scholarships for developed Commonwealth country citizens. These enable developed Commonwealth country citizens to study a PhD or split-site PhD in the UK. Awards are tenable at any approved UK university for a specific programme of study or research and are not restricted to any particular subject area. The PhD scholarships provide support for completion of a three-year full-time doctoral postgraduate qualification at an eligible UK university with the aim of promoting world-class research and to contribute to UK higher education by attracting high-calibre international candidates and encouraging links. Split-site PhD scholarships provide support for study at an eligible UK university as part of a PhD being undertaken in the applicant’s home country, under the joint supervision of home country and UK academics, with the aim of widening access to UK equipment and expertise for high-calibre doctoral candidates from Commonwealth countries. Applications close on the 21st March 2017.

Applications are now open for the CSIRO Synthetic Biology Future Science Fellowships, an initiative of CSIRO’s new Synthetic Biology Future Science Platform (SynBio FSP). The scheme aims to attract outstanding national and international early-career post-doctoral researchers (equivalent to Academic Levels A and B, or in exceptional circumstances, Level C) to expand Australian research capacity in synthetic biology. A key element of the SynBio FSP is establishment of a collaborative community of practice extending across CSIRO and Australia more broadly, and linking into international efforts in the field. The SynBio FSP is built on a philosophy of responsible development of synthetic biology technology, striving for ethical outcomes and working within the bounds of social acceptance. Fellowships will be hosted at a Host Organisation (usually an Australian University, but other Australian research organisations may also be eligible) and will be a partnership between the Fellow, CSIRO, and the Host Organisation. Fellows will be employed by the Host Organisation but will maintain a strong linkage to CSIRO through a partnering CSIRO Mentor(s) and various joint activities designed to support development of a synthetic biology community of practice across Australia. Applications must be submitted by 5pm Australian Eastern Standard Time, 27th March 2017. Enquiries can be directed to: SynBioFSP@csiro.au

The 2017 National Instruments Academic Research Grant Program for travel is now open to applications.

Are you a researcher using the NI platform to accelerate discovery in the laboratory? We’re offering you another way to share your work with the world. In collaboration with your academic institution of employment, you are invited to apply for a travel grant to present your work at scientific conferences. The Travel Proposal Deadline is 31st March 2017. Click here to apply.

Academic institutions that offer postgraduate degree programs are encouraged to apply for the grant. The official rules and eligibility criteria can be found here.

Program Requirements:

The proposed conference must be sponsored by IEEE, IEE, ASME, APS, or another well-regarded scientific or engineering society.

Priority is given to conferences with an application aligned with NI’s focus, such as wireless communications, cyber-physical systems, biomedical instrumentation, energy, or physics. We will also accept compelling proposals in other areas.
The research or methodology presented must use an NI product to produce a measurement, control, wireless communication, and/or automation application.
Presenters must be a professor, research scientist, postdoctoral researcher, or postgraduate student at an eligible institution.
Grants are awarded to eligible academic institutions.

Vol. 22. No. 03

8th February 2017
20170208-RMFunding

The new 2017 MQ DVCR Co-Funded Fellowship Scheme Guidelines and Application form is now available (see attached). This scheme is now active.

Application forms must accessed via the Faculty Associate Dean (Research) and must be signed off by the potential co-funded fellow supervisor, relevant Head of Department, Associate Dean (Research) and Executive Dean. Applications must be submitted to research.preward@mq.edu.au. The DVCR will make the final funding decision on the initial applications and any potential extensions will be assessed by an appropriate panel chaired by a Pro-Vice Chancellor (Research).

ARC Discovery Project Update:

If your Discovery draft is in RMS and you have not yet emailed sci.research@mq.edu.au to let us know that it is ready to review, please do so as soon as possible. The Research Office deadline for compliance checks is NEXT WEEK:

Request Not to Assess due at RO: Wednesday 8th February 2017
Request Not to Assess due at ARC: Wednesday 15th February 2017
Research Office compliance check deadline: Thursday 16th February 2017
ARC closing date: Wednesday 1st March 2017

The MQ Discovery Projects website provides access to all previous workshops (slides and recordings); commonly used links include the Advice Toolkit for DP 18, and the salary rates for Academics Professional staff and PhD stipends.

Because of upcoming compliance checking for the major ARC grant rounds, the Research Office is advising that – for external “miscellaneous” grants – it will need to see applications two weeks prior to the external deadline in order to allow sufficient time to go through them. This period will apply from the next week (13th February) until further notice.

The ARC Linkage, Infrastructure and Facilities (LIEF) grant scheme opens today – the 8th February 2017 – and closes on the 5th April 2017. The Research Office wanted to see Expressions of Interest for these in last week, so if you want to submit a LIEF application this round and haven’t told anyone yet, please contact sci.research@mq.edu.au ASAP. The Faculty deadline for review will be the 19th March 2017.

The first approvals for the continuous ARC Linkage Project grants programme have been announced – 3 for the University of Queensland and 1 for the University of Wollongong. They are all related to mining. MQ is running 3 ‘rounds’ for Linkage Project applications in 2017, but you also have the option to submit at any time.

AINSE Honours Scholarships 2017 CLOSING SOON – CLOSE 15th FEB 2017
AINSE Winter School 2017 NOMINATIONS NOW OPEN – CLOSE 31st MAR 2017
United Uranium Scholarship NOW OPEN – CLOSE 28th MAR 2017

Research Ethics update:

Due to the upcoming implementation of PURE, researchers in the Faculty of Science and Engineering are being asked to once again submit their human ethics applications via the form rather than online, as RMENet will no longer be used for this purpose. All ethics application should be submitted to ethics.secretariat@mq.edu.au in pdf format and in a single document, where practical.

In other news, the NHMRC has closed their HREP (Human Research Ethics Portal) permanently as all relevant information has been updated and is now available on the NHMRC website.

Funding Opportunities

The attached funding list has opportunities with deadlines between the 16th and 31st of May 2017. After the chaos of the previous fortnight, there are very few opportunities on offer. Where a date is listed as ‘Forecast’, the opportunity ran the previous year and is expected to run again, but no new dates have been announced.

Other Funding Opportunities

A reminder that Expressions of Interest for the 2017 First Round of Priming Grants from the Global Connection Fund will close on the 23rd February 2017. The grants will support Australian SMEs and researchers to: •enable initial exploratory partner meetings to take place; •undertake consortium meetings (travel-related costs), assistance with minor project expenses; and /or costs associated with establishing formal relationships (legal agreements) or funding applications for joint activities; •support potential SME-researcher partnerships in exploring the viability of an intended research and development (R&D) collaboration or technology solution; and •explore avenues for follow-on project seed‑funding. Priming Grants are not designed to fund ongoing research costs, or to support existing collaborative activities.

The NHMRC European Union Collaborative Research Grants for funding commencing in 2017 Round will close to applications on the 2nd March 2017. Only applicants successful through the EU process are eligible to apply to NHMRC.

NHMRC/A*STAR Joint Call for Research in Novel Molecular Mechanisms of Obesity and Metabolic Diseases in Singapore and Australia: minimum data needs to be in RGMS by the 1st March 2017. A*STAR and NHMRC have allocated a total of up to $4 million (AUD) to support up to five collaborative research projects. Grants will be awarded for a total duration of three years. Proposals must involve a genuine collaboration involving at least one research team from Singapore and Australia to be eligible. A research team must involve more than the two lead CIs. The research project requires joint input of both the Singapore and Australian teams. This joint call is for research into novel molecular mechanisms of obesity and metabolic diseases.

The NSW Environmental Trust is now inviting Expressions of Interest (EOIs) to its Environmental Research Program. The closing date for Research EOIs is 13th March 2017. This year’s Research Program is offering grants of up to $150,000 for applied research projects resulting in practical application under the following themes:

Contaminants and Pollution
Biodiversity
Climate Adaption
Mechanisms for Social Engagement.

Priorities under each theme are outlined in the Program Guidelines. Applicants must demonstrate a collaborative approach that engages end-users from the outset of their proposal, through to dissemination of research findings. Proposals that fail to do so will not be assessed.

Young PhD researches and early postdocs (max. 5 years since PhD) can apply for one of 30 travel grants to take part in the Herrenhausen Conference “Dangerous Landscapes” in Hanover, Germany. The deadline for applications is the 31st March, 2017. The Herrenhausen Conference “Dangerous Landscapes” will specifically examine trans-disciplinary and emerging approaches to disaster risk reduction in low-income communities. The conference will address integrative and affordable forms of prevention and counteractions that could be integrated into everyday life of threatened communities.

SeaWorld Research and Rescue Foundation are calling for Expressions of Interest for their Marine Vertebrate Grants. Although SWRRFI seeks to encourage and assist marine sciences in the broadest sense, for the present it gives priority to projects relating to aspects of the biology of marine vertebrates and will consider applications from public and private sectors. Projects are for 1 or 2 years. Please see the information for applicants link on the website. Expressions of interest should be lodged electronically in a WORD FORMAT plus an original signed hard copy via mail by 1st April 2017 to: The Liaison Officer, SWRRFI, PO Box 190, Surfers Paradise, Qld, 4217.

Expressions of interest for Biomedical Research and Innovation Grants from the National Foundation for Medical Research and Innovation will close at 6pm on Thursday 6th April 2017. This year they are accepting EoIs for portfolios 2 and 3. These portfolios focus on enabling access to external capability and capacity to perform research that advances innovations towards translation and/or commercialisation. It is envisaged that funding under these two portfolios would help support expenses relating to the external collaborator.

The deadline for the Australia-Indonesia Grants from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has been brought forward to the 19th April 2017. These provide seed funding for innovative programmes and initiatives that strengthen people-to-people and institutional links between Australia and Indonesia and deepen mutual understanding and cooperation between both countries. Priority areas include:

arts and culture;
education;
science, technology and innovation;
civil society and media;
religion and society.

Individuals and organisations may apply. Joint applications may be accepted from non-Australian citizens or resident individuals and organisations that are working in partnership with Australian individuals, groups or organisations, where this promotes Australia-Indonesia relations.

The WH Pierce Prize is offered by the Society for Applied Microbiology (UK). It recognises an outstanding young microbiologist for their contribution to applied microbiology. The prize is worth £3,000. Nominations close on the 13th May 2017.

Applications for Annual Meeting Travel Grants from the Society for Experimental Biology (UK) close on the 8th May 2017. These grants support biologists who wish to attend the annual scientific conference. Grants are worth up to £150 for travel within the UK, £250 for travel from another European country into the UK and up to £400 overseas.

Nominations for the Distinguished Achievement Awar d from the Biomedical Engineering Society (USA) close on the 15th May 2017. This award is intended to recognise and honour a company, charitable foundation or non-academic institution that has made outstanding contributions to the advancement of biomedical engineering. The award will consist of a plaque, complimentary registration, cash prize of US$1,000 and up to US$1,000 in travel expenses.

Vol. 22. No. 02

25th January 2017
20170125-RMFunding
Yellow Crazy Ant Research Contract 2017-19_EOI_ToR

Discovery Project Update:

The Research Office will be running the final DP workshop “Building your Budget” next week:

Date: Monday 30 January 2017
Time: 12:30-14:00
Location: Senate Room, C8A 310
Speaker: Ross Hill
All applicants are invited to attend.

The MQ Discovery Projects website (with the right link this time!!) provides access to all previous workshops (slides and recordings) and if you haven’t already done so, please have a look at the Advice Toolkit for DP 18.

The Faculty deadline for review is next week – Wednesday 1st February 2017. If your draft is in RMS, please email sci.research@mq.edu.au and let us know that it is ready to review.

Request Not to Assess due at RO: Wednesday 8th February 2017
Request Not to Assess due at ARC: Wednesday 15th February 2017
Research Office compliance check deadline: Thursday 16th February 2017
ARC closing date: Wednesday 1st March 2017

The ARC Linkage, Infrastructure and Facilities (LIEF) grant scheme opens on the 8th February 2017 and closes on the 5th April 2017.

The internal EoI process was announced late last week and the Research Office would like to see EoIs by the 3rd February 2017. If you are thinking of submitting a LIEF application this round, please contact sci.research@mq.edu.au if you haven’t already done so and let us know. The Faculty deadline for review will be the 19th March 2017.

Remember that the new FSE Research Intranet is up and running and will be updated far more frequently than the old one. Please replace any bookmarks you may have had to pages on the old site, as they will return a “Not Found” error.

As of the 17th January 2017 Beall’s List of Predatory Publishers is offline – people wishing to refer to it should use the archived version.

The Research Program from the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia (PCFA) has been accepted by the Department of Education and Training for listing on the 2017 Australian Competitive Grants Register (ACGR), meaning that income from this can now be reported as Category 1.

Funding Opportunities

The attached funding list has opportunities with deadlines between the 1st and 15th of May 2017. The majority of grants on offer this fortnight are NIH grants. Where a date is listed as ‘Forecast’, the opportunity ran the previous year and is expected to run again, but no new dates have been announced.

Other Funding Opportunities

Expressions of Interest (EOI) by the Department of Environment and Heritage Protection Wet Tropics Management Authority are requested for a “Yellow Crazy Ant Eradication Program Research Contract 2017-19” Reference No: WTMA/17/945. EOIs close on the 15th February 2017 – 4.00pm AEST (Queensland Time). Please see the attached document for more information.

A reminder that the Citizen Science Grants element of the Inspiring Australia – Science Engagement Programme, part of the Australian Government’s National Innovation Science Agenda, will be closing to applications of the 17th February 2017. Citizen Science Grants are competitive research grants of $50,000 to $500,000, for a period of up to three years. Applications should be for research projects that involve a significant component of citizen science.

The Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering (ATSE)’s Global Connections Fund Priming Grants open to Expressions of Interest on the 3rd February and will close on the 23rd February 2017. Once your EoI is approved you can go ahead and lodge an application – applications close on the 13th March 2017. The purpose of the Priming Grants is to enhance collaboration specifically between Australian small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs) and researchers with SMEs and researchers in 17 priority economies.

The Cooperative Research Centres Association invites applications for its Showcasing Early Career Researchers 2017 call. This rewards research, communicated via a 30-second video. Applicants must be, or have been, PhD or master’s students by research in a CRC Association member organisation, and be planning to submit their thesis in the next two years, or have already submitted within the past five years. For those who have submitted and are starting postdoctoral work, the application must be based on research conducted in a CRC or other CRC Association member organisation. There is a limit of 10 entries per CRC association member organisation. The five best entrants will be invited to give a five-minute presentation at the annual conference in Canberra on 23 May 2017. Airfares, transfers, conference registration and all social events, including the awards dinner will be paid. Every finalist will receive a prize of AUD 1,000 and the winner will receive an additional AUD 5,000. Applications close Thursday 23rd February 2017.

The Cancer Institute NSW 2017 Funding Schemes are now open for applications.

Research Equipment Grants (REG) – funding to start in 2017 – applications close 9th March 2017, 12 noon. These grants provide funds for key research platforms, core equipment and capacities to enhance the cancer research effort in NSW. These grants will support capability development and greater levels of collaboration across the cancer research sector. Research Equipment Grants are open to members of the Translational Cancer Research Centres. The REG application form includes the ability to auto-populate the details from the profiles of the entire team, ie the Chief Investigator and the Co-Investigators. Please note: A letter of support from the Director of the selected TCRC must be uploaded as an attachment to the REG application.

Early Career Fellowship (ECF) – funding to start in 2018 – applications close 6th April 2017, 12 noon. Three year full time fellowships to provide salary and project support to encourage the very best researchers (up to five years of postdoctoral research experience) to choose cancer research as their career and to continue independent research that is nationally and internationally competitive (max $200,000 per annum). Please note: A letter of support from the Proposed Supervisor must be uploaded as an attachment to the ECF application.

Career Development Fellowship (CDF) – funding to start in 2018 – applications close 6th April 2017, 12 noon. Three year full time fellowships to provide salary and project support to encourage the very best researchers (up to 10 years of postdoctoral research experience) to continue independent cancer research that is nationally and internationally competitive (max $200,000 per annum). Please note: A letter of support from the Proposed Supervisor must be uploaded as an attachment to the CDF application.

Doctorate and masters students in the biophysical and social science fields are invited to apply for the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority’s Science for Management Awards 2017. The awards are in the form of financial assistance ranging from $1000 to $5000. Proposed research projects must address the Authority’s scientific information needs. Applications close 10th March 2017.

Applications for the United Uranium Scholarship offered by the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) close on the 28th March 2017. This supports young scientists in the field of nuclear science and technology, specifically as it applies to nuclear energy. The scholarship is worth up to AU$6,000 for a period of one year.

The Royal Society Insight Investment Science Book Prize recognises books that contribute to making science more accessible to public adult audiences. Books may focus on any aspect of popular science and technology, including biographies of scientists and technologists, and histories of science and technology. Books must be submitted by the publisher, and must have been published for the first time in English between 1 October 2016 and 30 September 2017. There is no restriction on the geographical location of the publisher, or on the nationality, age or any other characteristic of the author or illustrator of any entry. The total budget is £37,500. The authors of up to five shortlisted books will receive £2,500 each and the author of the winning book will receive £25,000. Entries should be received by the 31st March 2017.

Vol. 22. No. 01

11th January 2017
20170111-RMFunding

Welcome to 2017. We hope everyone has had some rest in preparation for the grant application chaos to come!

On that note…

The ARC Discovery Project DP18 scheme is currently open and the Research Office asks those who intend on applying to begin your application in RMS as soon as possible. To assist you in the development of your proposal, the Research Office will be running one final workshop “Building your Budget”:

Date: Monday 30 January 2017
Time: 12:30-14:00
Location: Senate Room, C8A 310
Speaker: Ross Hill

All applicants are invited to attend.

The MQ Discovery Projects website provides access to all previous workshops (slides and recordings) as well as many other useful resources. The Advice Toolkit for DP 18 has been updated and is an excellent resource for this scheme.

Please be aware of the upcoming key dates:

Faculty deadline: Wednesday 1st February 2017
Request Not to Assess due at RO: Wednesday 8th February 2017
Request Not to Assess due at ARC: Wednesday 15th February 2017
Research Office compliance check deadline: Thursday 16th February 2017
ARC closing date: Wednesday 1st March 2017

There will be two additional workshops coming up for the ARC Discovery Early Career Researcher Award scheme. Ross Hill will notify DECRA Candidates directly in an email once the scheme opens on 16th January 2017.

The new ARC Linkage Projects grant round – LP17 – is now open in RMS and will be open continuously until the end of the year. ARC has now opened the 2017 Linkage Projects round on RMS and released the Instructions to Applicants (ITAs) and the Funding Rules. Further information on timelines for LP17 proposals submitted from 23 December 2016 can be found on the Important Dates page on the ARC Website.

Ross Hill has made a list of the changes from the previous funding rules and these are outlined on pages 4-5 of the Advice Toolkit):

Instructions to Applicants:

o   A more descriptive explanation of what is expected in A4 – Proposal Summary
o   Changes to the required headings and content of C1 – Project Description
o   Use 11 point Arial (or equivalent font) throughout and 9 point font (or equivalent) for the REFERENCES section of C1 – Project Description
o   The PROJECT TITLE in C1 may differ from the Proposal Working Title in Part A1 and may exceed 10 words
o   Changes to the order of sections within Part G – Personnel and ROPE
o   ‘Edited research books’ is now a category of research output in G12
o   The statement explaining and justifying the impact or significance of the ten career-best research outputs is now limited to 30 words (Part G13)

Funding Rules:

o   Addition of definitions for ‘Active Project’, ‘Candidate’, ‘GrantConnect’, ‘Project Initialisation Date’ and ‘Research Output’ (A3)
o   Addition of provision for reasonable essential extraordinary costs to allow a researcher who is a carer, or who themselves require care or assistance, to undertake travel essential to the Project (A5.2.1(k))
o   Clarification of cross-scheme Project limits (A7.4) and Eligibility process (A7.5)
o   Revised eligibility for all schemes to be considered in terms of the life of a Project (Active Project), rather than only the funding years set out in the original Funding Agreement (D10.2)
o   For the purposes of eligibility, CIs on Industrial Transformation Research Hubs commencing in 2015 or later, or Industrial Transformation Training Centres commencing in 2016 or later will each count as one Linkage Project (A7.4.3)
o   Addition of Exempt Small Business as a New Partner Organisation exempt from the Cash Contribution requirements (D3.1)
o   Update to the Request Not to Assess process (A9.3)
o   Update to Publication and Dissemination of Research Outputs section to include Research Data (A12.5)
o   Adjustments to the Selection Criteria, including the weightings (D6)

The ARC Linkage, Infrastructure and Facilities (LIEF) grant scheme opens on the 8th February 2017 and closes on the 5th April 2017. The internal dates for review and compliance checking are being finalised and will be announced as soon as we have them.

Outcomes for the Faculty “Support for Visiting Academics” Scheme (see the FSE Intranet Resources page for more information) for the January-April 2017 period were finalised and announced to applicants on the 23rd December 2017. Dates for the next round of the scheme will be announced shortly.

Beall’s List of Predatory Publishers has been updated for 2017. There are now 1155 publishers on the list. There is also information about misleading metrics and hijacked journals. Just because a publisher is on the list doesn’t mean they are dodgy, however you should check them carefully before deciding to send your article to them.

Science in Public are looking for Stories of Australian Science for 2017. “Each year we feature highlights of Australian science in a print and online publication, bringing together discoveries, prize-winners and top achievers. Our books are used by journalists, scientists, politicians and science policy-makers, as a useful reference for keeping up-to-date with new and exciting developments in Australian research. We print 15,000 copies and share the stories widely—including all Australian MPs and Senators, our extensive list of Australian and international journalists, and heads of scientific organisations around the country. For the 2017 edition, we’ll start promoting the stories at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) meeting in Boston—so if you want your science included, we’ll need your story by 31 January. Prices start at $1,200 + GST for a single story, and are discounted for multiple stories.”

While not directly related to research, the parking on the East side of the campus is being changed again, which impacts the Faculty of Science and Engineering, as well as Business and Finance. According to Campus Security, “there will be no loss of general parking bay numbers”. General spaces are being taken from F3A and some are apparently being moved to F5A and B. Questions and thoughts about this issue can be directed to John Durbridge, Campus Security Manager.

Funding Opportunities

The attached funding list has opportunities with deadlines between the 16th and 30th of April 2017. Where a date is listed as ‘Forecast’, the opportunity ran the previous year and is expected to run again, but no new dates have been announced.

Other Funding Opportunities

The North American Spine Society invites applications for its Research Grants. These support research projects in the field of spine. Applicants may be from any field and of any nationality.

New investigators are encouraged to apply. Medical residents may be considered provided that they have a mentor or faculty support. Grants are generally worth up to USD 50,000 per year over a period of one to two years. Cost-sharing is encouraged. Projects must be completed within three years. Applications close on the 13th February 2017.

Grants of between $50,000 to $500,000 are now available to Australian researchers for projects that directly involve the public. Projects must be Australian scientific research projects that include the participation of the public through a range of activities – including collecting and analysing data, formulating research questions and organising research teams. Grant applications are now open, and will close at 4pm AEDT on 17 February 2017. For more information and to apply, visit www.business.gov.au/csg.

The Royal Australian Chemical Institute invites nominations for the Adrien Albert award. This recognises outstanding research in the field of medicinal or agricultural chemistry or chemical biology. The research must be conducted wholly, or largely, within Australia and New Zealand. Nominees must be RACI members. The winner will be invited to present a lecture at the RACI Centenary Congress, to be held from 23 to 28 July 2017 and registration costs will be covered. Applications close on the 28th February 2017.

The Graham Johnston Best Thesis Award recognises the best PhD thesis submitted in the previous two years in medicinal chemistry or chemical biology. Nominees must be financial RACI members whose degrees have been approved in the previous two years under the auspices of an Australian university. The award is open to anyone working broadly in the design, synthesis and development of bioactive agents. The winner will be invited to present a lecture at the RACI Centenary Congress, to be held from 23 to 28 July 2017 and registration costs will be covered. Applications close on the 28th February 2017.

The Albert E Wood Award is offered to members of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology (USA). Applications close on the 15th March 2017. This award supports student research that involves museum and university vertebrate fossil or natural history collections. The award is worth up to US$1,200.

The Society’s Honorary membership awards also close on the 15th March 2017. These are awarded in recognition of distinguished contributions to the discipline of vertebrate palaeontology. Up to two honourees are named per year.

Medical research grants from the National Foundation for Medical Research and Innovation will close to applications on the 6th April 2017. These grants support innovative medical research projects related to the nature, prevention, diagnosis, treatment and incidence of disease and other health problems that have a significant impact on the health of humans. The grant will only support the salaries of support staff and not the chief investigator. The Foundation does not offer top-up grants to NHMRC or ARC projects.

__________________

Vol. 21. No. 13

14h December 2016

20161214-RMFunding

Letter to Researchers – Lake Macquarie Environmental Research Grants 2016-2017

This is the final Research Matters edition for 2016. On behalf of the Faculty of Science and Engineering Research Office, we would like to wise you a safe and productive holiday season (for those few days of the year when you are forcibly expelled from your laboratories).

Congratulations are in order for a number of Faculty Staff who were successful with recent schemes and prizes.

Associate Professor Juan Carlos Afonso from CCFS was awarded the 2017 Anton Hales Prize for Geology from the Australian Academy of Science and Engineering.

Professor Simon Turner, from the Dept of Earth and Planetary Sciences, was awarded the Gauss Visiting Professorship 2017-2018 by the Academy of Sciences in Goettingen AND has just celebrated the award of the 2016 Clarke Medal from the Royal Society of New South Wales!

Dr Simon Gross, from the Dept of Physics and Astronomy, has been named as one of the 10 honourees of the regional MIT Technology Review Innovators Under 35 competition for Southeast Asia, Australia, New Zealand and Taiwan.

Dr Annemarie Nadort, from the Dept of Physics and Astronomy, has been awarded the Faculty’s first NHMRC Early Career Fellowship!

Michelle Power from Biology was successful with her application for a Sea World Research & Rescue Foundation Grant Application titled: Parasite diversity and disease risk in the little penguin, Eudyptula minor.

CBMS was very successful in the recent NHMRC Project Grant round – Professor Ian Paulsen had two projects funded through MQ, and another through Edith Cowan University. Professor Nicki Packer was part of a successful bid through Monash University.

And congratulations to the winners of the Faculty Research Awards for 2016! It was so close this year that some categories had to be split between two winners. The winners are:

Research: Early Career
Joint winners: Dr Chris Reid (Biology) and Dr Robert Williams (Physics and Astronomy)

Research: HDR Supervision
Professor Orsola De Marco (Physics and Astronomy)

Research: Innovative Research Partnership
Dr Emilie Ens (Environmental Sciences)

Research: Mid-Career
Joint winners: Dr Alfonso Garcia-Bennett (CBMS) and Dr Richard Garner (Mathematics)

Research:
Professor Simon Griffith (Biology)

Research

Welcome to the Faculty of Science and Engineering Intranet

The Faculty of Science and Engineering Research Intranet has undergone a small facelift (click on Research to bring up the new pages). Documents for the Faculty Visiting Researcher Scheme are still available under “Resources”. Information about Research Active and Research Productive can be found under “Research Performance”. Documents relating to Strategy and Planning, ERA performance, and a brief summary of some Faculty statistics, can be found under “Faculty Research Profile”. The text and attachments for the most recent Research Matters can now be found on the Research Matters webpage.

The pages have only just replaced the old ones, so if you spot any errors, please let us know!

A major scientific publisher is now requiring that authors have ORCIDs before submitting to their journals. In a recent press release, Wiley have announced that authors will be asked to provide an ORCID as part of the submission process for more than 500 of their journals.

Meanwhile, Elsevier is proceeding with implementing data citation in their journals: “Authors publishing with Elsevier are now encouraged to cite the datasets underlying their work in a consistent and persistent way.”

Research Professional has scheduled a series of live online broadcast training sessions. Each session will provide an introduction to the Research Professional platform, demonstrate how to locate funding opportunities that match your interests and show how to set up email alerts to keep you informed of new developments. You can view these demonstrations from your own PC and choose to receive sound either via you computer’s mic and speakers, or by phoning in to a voice conference. You will be able to ask the presenter questions using a text chat feature. The times for these sessions are given in two time zones, AEST (Sydney) and NZST (Auckland). Please check the start time in your own time zone before registering. The first two for the year are:

Friday February 3rd 2017 11:00 – 12:00 AEDT (Sydney) 13:00 – 14:00 NZDT (Auckland)
https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/1226499002832326915

Friday March 31st 2017 10:00 – 11:00 AEDT (Sydney) 12:00 – 13:00 NZDT (Auckland)
https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/8498565554849817091

Funding Opportunities

The attached funding list has opportunities with deadlines between the 1st and 15th of April 2017. Where a date is listed as ‘Forecast’, the opportunity ran the previous year and is expected to run again, but no new dates have been announced.

Other Funding Opportunities

Meat & Livestock Australia (MLA) invites preliminary proposals from individuals, organisations or project teams to address the 2017/18 MLA annual call research, development and adoption priorities for sheepmeat and grassfed beef. The 2017/18 annual call closes 6.00pm AEDT Friday 23rd December 2016.

To be considered for funding, preliminary proposals must:

Respond to a single Terms of Reference published on the MLA tenders page
Be prepared using the MLA Preliminary Proposal template
Submit electronically to MLA at projectcall@mla.com.au by 6.00pm AEDT Friday 23 December 2016.

The Lake Macquarie Environmental Research Grants for 2016 – 2017 are now open. Please see the attached Letter to Researchers, which is not available on the website. Topics this year include: air quality, water quality, biodiversity, living sustainably, alternative sources and efficient use of energy, and water and effectiveness of environmental management strategies. The closing date for submissions is Friday 27th January 2017.

To encourage participation in the Speleo2017 ICS in Sydney in July 2017, the Australian Speleological Federation (ASF), through the Grants Commission and organised by the Speleo 2017 committee, is offering 5 Conference Attendance Grants grants of $600 each. Eligibility: Not previously attended or presented at an ASF conference. Criteria: Personal attendance of the conference as a full registrant and presentation of an oral or a poster on an aspect of speleology. Submission of abstract by 19th December 2016. The full paper will need to be submitted by 24 January 2017. The online submission process is found here. Apply by emailing the following information to the Grants Commission of ASF at grants@caves.org.au : • Name and contact details • Institution (if appropriate) • Membership of ASF if applicable (past and current) • Title of presentation • Abstract • A short biography and discussions on how the presentation will enhance the conference. Applications close: 24th January 2017. For further enquiries contact Nicholas White nicholaswhite@netspace.net.au.

The 2017 Cancer Institute NSW Grants Calendar is being updated. The first three competitive grant schemes available for funding are:

Research Equipment Grants (REG) – funding to start in 2017

These grants provide funds for key research platforms, core equipment and capacities to enhance the cancer research effort in NSW. These grants will support capability development and greater levels of collaboration across the cancer research sector. Research Equipment Grants are open to members of the Translational Cancer Research Centres.

Application Opening Date 19 January 2017

Application Closing Date 9 March 2017

Early Career Fellowship (ECF) – funding to start in 2018

Three year full time fellowships to provide salary and project support to encourage the very best researchers (up to five years post doc) to choose cancer research as their career and to continue independent research that is nationally and internationally competitive (max $200,000 per annum).

Application Opening Date 19 January 2017

Application Closing Date 6 April 2017

Career Development Fellowship (CDF) – funding to start in 2018

Three year full time fellowships to provide salary and project support to encourage the very best researchers (up to 10 years post doc) to continue independent cancer research that is nationally and internationally competitive (max $200,000 per annum).

Application Opening Date 19 January 2017

Application Closing Date 6 April 2017

The National Blood Sector R&D Pilot from the National Blood Authority Australia supports research that facilitates world-class R&D in Australia that contributes to optimising the use, management and administration of blood products, and improves patient outcomes. Grants are worth up to AU$150,000 per year. The closing date for applications is the 10th February 2017.

Applications for the Robert Burwell Lectureship in Catalysis from the North American Catalysis Society closes on the 3rd March 2017. The award is given in recognition of substantial contributions to one or more areas in the field of catalysis. The award consists of a plaque and an honorarium of US$5,000 and an additional US$4,500 is available to cover travelling expenses in North America.

The Australian Flora Foundation has issued a call for applications for their Research Grants, for funding starting in 2018. The Foundation expects to support between two and four projects at $5,000 – $15,000/year each in 2018 with possible extension into 2019. Typically, projects are funded up to $10,000 per annum for two years or up to $15,000 for one year. This year the Australian Native Plants Society Canberra Region is offering a donation of $10k for research into cool climate plants. This will be offered within the existing financial guidelines. The Australian Flora Foundation will consider all relevant applications, with special interest in the following categories:

1) conservation of Australian plant diversity, particularly where there are threats from climate change

2) the cultivation of Australian plants, to ensure their survival and reduce the threat to native ecosystems

3) rare and endangered plants.

All applications on rare and endangered plants should indicate how the research relates to the known management plan for the species. The Foundation does not fund projects that are for conference travel, publications, research on orchids, or taxonomy. It gives a low priority to flora surveys per se or studies of marine plants. Preliminary applications will be accepted until 15th March 2017.

Vol. 21. No. 12

30th November 2016

20161130-rmfunding

letter-to-researchers-lake-macquarie-environmental-research-grants-2016-2017

2016-david-syme-reserach-prize_nomination-form

The next ARC/NHMRC funding round is fast approaching, and it is important to be thinking about your proposals at the earliest possible stage. Your department’s Research Director should be planning department events (such as meetings to discuss project outlines) to support the development of your application, so if your department has not yet done this, please contact your Research Director and ask that they get these underway.

Ross Hill in the Research Office has put together an excellent advice toolkit for the upcoming DP18 Discovery Projects round based on the information that is available to date, and please remember there is a library of successful ARC and NHMRC grants available in the Research Office for you to look at.

Just a reminder that the latest round of the Faculty Support for Visiting Academics scheme is still open – applications will close next week, on the 9th December 2016, for visitors hoping to arrive during the first 4 months of 2017. Please get your applications in as soon as you can.

Attached to Research Matters this fortnight is the latest version of the draft Research, Engagement Impact, Commercialisation Framework. This version is the latest one that was presented to the Research and Research Training Committee yesterday morning. Should you wish to comment on the draft, please send your comments to sci.research@mq.edu.au by COB this Friday, 2nd December. Apologies for the short time frame!

On the 21st November the Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science announced the Citizen Science Grants element of the Inspiring Australia – Science Engagement Programme, part of the Australian Government’s National Innovation Science Agenda. Citizen Science Grants are competitive research grants of $50,000 to $500,000, for a period of up to three years. Applications should be for research projects that involve a significant component of citizen science. The grant round is open from now until 17th February 2017, to provide enough time for people to identify partners, projects and prepare applications. Applicants can contact the Department on 13 28 46 for further information on the grants.

MQ_Minds_Web_Image_V4_hero

Macquarie Minds Showcase

In case you’ve missed the memo, the event will be on the 13th and 14th of December 2016 and has many sessions that span Macquarie’s diverse and innovative research, teaching and learning and engagement profiles.

This event is open to everyone – please invite as many people as you can!

Marine National Facility Update: On 15th November 2016, the inaugural meeting of the new National Benefit Assessment Panel (NBAP) was held as part of the process to assess sea time applications received for the 2018-19 Granted Voyage primary schedule. Previously, the Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) assessed all applications for sea time against three equally weighted criteria. The newly established NBAP now has responsibility for assessing and providing advice to the MNF Steering Committee on the second of those criteria: the national benefit of research projects. The SAC retains responsibility for assessing and providing advice to the MNF Steering Committee on the other two assessment criteria: scientific excellence of applications and researcher track record.

The Conference Sponsorship Round, through the Office of the NSW Chief Scientist and Engineer, is still open to individuals and organisations hosting research conferences in metropolitan Sydney, as well as regional and rural New South Wales in the calendar year 2017. The total funding pool for this round is $150,000. It is anticipated successful applicants will be awarded grants of up to $10,000 each – depending on the overall quantity and quality of total applications received in this round. For further information, including the program guidelines and application form, please visit the website. Applications close next Friday, the 9th December 2016.

For those with Human Research Ethics applications to consider, the dates for HREC meetings in 2017 have recently been updated by the Research Office. The Faculty of Science and Engineering Ethics Subcommittee will continue to consider low risk ethics applications at all times, with a brief hiatus over January 2017. Animal Ethics Committee meetings for 2017 have also been updated.

Funding Opportunities

The attached funding list has opportunities with deadlines between the 15th and 31st of March 2017. Where a date is listed as ‘Forecast’, the opportunity ran the previous year and is expected to run again, but no new dates have been announced.
Spreadsheets are separated into labelled sheets, “Grants,” “Awards,” “Travel,” and “Pre/Post-doctoral,” to allow more directed searching, but funding schemes that seem appropriate for more than one category are listed on both. The first column (02 FORC) allows refined searches using the filter button. A note on deadlines: the deadlines listed are the agency’s deadlines. Applications should be submitted to us ten days prior to allow processing time through us and the University Research Office.

Other Funding Opportunities

The Flanders Marine Institute invites applications for the Edouard Delcroix prize. This recognises a scientific study on the links between oceans and human health. The aim is to foster fundamental and applied scientific research, which makes a significant contribution to an improved understanding of the actual and potential health benefits from marine and coastal ecosystems, and a reduction in the burden of human diseases linked with marine environmental causes. Individual researchers and teams may apply. The prize is worth €25,000. Applications close on the 31st December 2016.

Applications for the ASTRON/JIVE summer student programme offered by the Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy (ASTRON) close on the 1st February 2017. This programme enables students to spend the summer at the institute in Dwingeloo in the Netherlands, conducting astronomical research under the supervision of ASTRON and JIVE staff members. Grants will provide accommodation, a monthly stipend for up to three months and full travel reimbursement.

Applications for Project Grants from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) will close on the 15th March 2017. The Cancer Council of NSW also runs a Project Grants scheme, applied for through the NHMRC using RGMS. Applicants ineligible to apply for NHMRC Project Grant funding are still entitled to apply via the NHMRC process for Cancer Council NSW funding. Applicants applying for funding from both organisations must adhere to both the Cancer Council NSW and the NHMRC eligibility criteria. Dates for the Cancer Council funding have not yet been provided for 2017, but are expected to be close to the NHMRC closing dates.

NHMRC Development Grants, which enable individual researchers or research groups in Australia to undertake health and medical research at the proof-of-concept stage that specifically drives towards a commercial outcome within the foreseeable future, close to applications on the 18th January 2017.

The Ernst Schering Foundation invites nominations for its Ernst Schering Prize. This recognises scientists worldwide, whose basic research has yielded new and inspiring models or led to fundamental shifts in biomedical knowledge. Scientists from anywhere in the world and of any age, who undertake biological, medical or chemical basic research in the field of biomedicine, may be nominated. Nominations may be submitted by leading scientists and research institutions. Self-nominations are not accepted. The prize is worth €50,000.

Nominations are invited for the 2016 David Syme Research Prize. The Australia-wide prize recognises the best original research in Biology, Physics, Chemistry or Geology produced in Australia during the past two years (1 January 2015 – 31 December 2016). The prize includes $7,500 plus a bronze medallion. The closing date for nominations is Friday 28th April 2017. The nomination form is attached.

•The 2016 prize will be made by nomination only. Senior members of the academic or research community such as co-authors or co-researchers, heads of department or deputy vice-chancellors (research) are invited to nominate eligible colleagues.
•Researchers associated with any Australian university and researchers without university connections are eligible for nomination, noting that the following are NOT eligible:
– Professors or researchers who will have attained the position of professor at the time the award is made;
– Researchers outside universities who will have attained a level of seniority comparable to a university professor at the time the award is made (LEVEL E);
– Researchers who have not spent the equivalent of at least 5 full years of the last 7 in Australia.
•The award is made on the basis of the research quality within the discipline and its likely impact and value in the industrial and commercial interests of Australia.

The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) enables candidates from Australia or New Zealand to conduct research or attend a course at a German higher education institution or non-university research institute. The primary aim of the programme is to promote research projects within the context of doctoral programmes. Applicants should hold a master’s degree by the time they commence the grant-supported research. In exceptional cases, graduates holding a bachelor’s degree or already holding a doctorate may be considered. Applicants should not have graduated any longer than six years before the application deadline. For postdoctoral candidates, no more than four years may have passed since gaining their PhD. Doctoral candidates should not have started their doctoral degree any longer than three years previously. Applications will close on the 30th April 2017.