Research support

Policy Review of the NCGP

NOTE: The information on this website and any associated resources is based on the ARC’s draft policy proposals and subsequent communications. All details remain subject to change pending final ARC decisions, ministerial approval, and the release of revised scheme guidelines. We recommend treating these materials as preparatory only.

Purpose

Following a review the National Competitive Grants Program (NCGP), the Australian Research Council (ARC) is proposing new reforms which restructure the existing Discovery and Linkage Programs into seven new schemes which aim to ensure the NCGP is an innovative, responsive and world-leading program for the coming decades. These proposed reforms are outlined in the ARC’s 2025 Policy Review Discussion Paper. 

You can read UQ’s response to the Discussion Paper on the Publications, submissions and reports page.

Proposed Schemes

The following schemes are anticipated, subject to further updates and ministerial approval:-

  1. Initiate Fellowships: Either to recognise and encourage new investigators (expected to be within 5years of completion of a PhD).  Expected grant duration is 3 years.
  2. Explore:  High risk and high reward projects,early career researchers may be able to claim salary through this scheme.
  3. Realise Indigenous Excellence: To support and grow the emerging generation of Indigenous researchers across all disciplines, small-scale projects with a proposed grant duration of up to 5 years, with potential embedded fellowships.
  4. Lead and Mentor: To support outstanding researchers who can lead and mentor the next generation, available for mid-career and senior researchers.
  5. Breakthrough: To support research projects that build new knowledge and progress research innovation.
  6. Collaborate: To promote investigator-led research with strong collaboration and larger teams
    -   Collaborate Infrastructure:  Infrastructure scheme embedded within Collaborate.
  7. Prioritise: To provide large, national-scale research centres that are responsive to national priorities set by government, proposed to run every 2 years.

Based on this current information, the Research Office has mapped the proposed new NCGP schemes against the existing ARC scheme structure.

Current ARC Scheme

Proposed NCGP Scheme
Discovery ProjectsBreakthrough / Initiate
DECRAEmbedded Fellowships / Initiate Fellowships
Future FellowshipsEmbedded Fellowships / Lead and Mentor
Laureate FellowshipsLead and Mentor
Discovery IndigenousIndigenous Excellence

Linkage Projects

Collaborate

LIEF (Linkage Infrastructure)

Collaborate Infrastructure Scheme

ITRP Hubs & Training Centres

Collaborate / Prioritise

ARC Centres of Excellence

Prioritise

Industry Fellowships

Embedded Fellowships

Next steps

Public submissions to the consultation are closed. The ARC anticipates that a final report will be delivered to the Government, through the ARC Board, in mid-2025 (announcement pending). 
You can read our initial high-level guide on preparing for the new NCGP, including Frequently Asked Questions below. The Research Office will provide further information and resources on this website when available. You may also sign up to the UQR&I Mailer where major updates will be circulated.
If you have any questions or concerns about the policy review, you can contact our team at ARC-Discovery@research.uq.edu.au

Resources