Funding for ARC centres of excellence and federation fellowships

Eleven new ARC centres of excellence and 24 federation fellowship recipients will share $162 million in federal government funding.

The new Australian Research Council (ARC) centres of excellence, to be established this year, will receive AUD$122 million over the next five years and will support Australian university-based researchers to establish national and international research networks in areas of priority.

Partner organisations have pledged to contribute $71 million to support the centres.

"This is the second round of centre of excellence funding," said Simon Sedgley, director of executive and external relations with the ARC. "It is not an annual program but we expect that there will be new rounds periodically."

The ARC centres of excellence program aims to enhance research in areas considered a national research priority -- in 2003 the federal government designated these to be: an environmentally sustainable Australia, promoting and maintaining good health, frontier technologies for building and transforming Australian industries, and safeguarding Australia.

The new centres include a $10 million centre in structural and functional microbial genomics lead by Monash University that will investigate the genetic basis of infectious diseases that affect animals with the aim of developing modern veterinary vaccines and antimicrobial agents; a $12 million centre for electromaterials science based at the University of Wollongong, Monash University and the Bionic Ear Institute that plans to create the electromaterials required for better bionic ears, artificial muscles, nerve repair, and the bio-batteries and bio-fuel cells to drive them; a $12 million centre for developing ecologically sustainable management of coral reef biodiversity headquartered at James Cook University in North Queensland and also involving the University of Queensland, the Australian Institute of Marine Science, the Australian National University (ANU) and the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority; and a $12 million centre in plant energy biology lead by the University of Western Australia and also involving the University of Sydney and the ANU.

2005 federation fellowships

The 2005 federation fellowships will provide $40 million in federal government funding to 24 recipients.

Coordinated through the ARC, the federation fellowships are designed to attract and retain world class researchers in Australia.

Each fellow will receive an indexed salary of around $235,000 a year for five years.

Four of this year's fellowships will be awarded to expatriate Australians who are returning to Australia from leading international organisations, and five fellowships will go to foreign nationals who will bring their research talent and experience to Australia.

Fifteen fellowships will be awarded to researchers residing in Australia who have demonstrated excellence and conducted ground-breaking research, including Dr Bostjan Kobe and Prof John Mattick at the University of Queensland, Dr David Vaux from the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, and Prof Ric Shine from the University of Sydney.

Sedgley said the fellowships would continue to be funded until the 2010-2011 funding year under the federal government's Backing Australia's Ability innovation action plan.

"The minister [Dr Brendan Nelson] indicated that they are looking to change the guidelines for the federation fellowships so that fellows coming to the end of their five year term are able to reapply for funding," said Sedgley.