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ARC Discovery Early Career Researcher Awards (DECRA)

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Key dates for ARC DECRA 2027

  • Release of Grant Guidelines: 28 January 2026
  • Round opening: 28 January 2026
  • UQ Information session: 3 February 2026
  • Internal Notice of Intent due: 11 February 2026
  • Eligibility Exemption Requests due to the Research Office: 11 February 2026
  • Applications due to the Research Office: 11 February 2026
  • Request Not to Assess due to the Research Office: 20 February 2026 
  • Applications due to ARC: 11 March 2026
  • Anticipated Rejoinder Period: 25 May to 5 June 2026
  • Anticipated announcement: 10 December 2026 to 9 March 2027

UQ Information Session

To assist applicants in preparing their applications, the Research Office held an Information Session on Tuesday 3 February. A recording of this session is available on the UQ R&I presentations and slides webpage for those who were unable to attend. The session features a scheme overview, key findings from past rounds, the application and submission process, and a Q&A session with ARC College of Expert members. 

    Overview

    The ARC Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA) grant opportunity provides focused research support for early career researchers in both teaching and research, and research-only positions. Normally up to 200 three-year DECRAs, including up to $50,000 per annum in project funds, are awarded each year.

    Eligibility 

    To be eligible, the candidate must, at the grant opportunity closing date,

    • have an award of PhD date on, or after 1 March 2021, or
    • have an award of PhD date together with an allowable period of career interruptions that would be commensurate with an award of PhD date on, or after 1 March 2021.
    • The allowable career interruptions set out and the period allowed for each are described in the Discovery Fellowship Grant Guidelines (2024 edition - Variation 1).

    Eligibility exemption request 

    If you received your PhD prior to 1 March 2021, and have allowable career interruptions, you will need to request an Eligibility Exemption through UQ's Research Office by following the below steps:

    1. Familiarise yourself with the ARC’s Eligibility and Career Interruptions Statement
    2. Use the UQ DE27 Eligibility Exemption Calculator to calculate your eligible career interruptions. 
    3. Complete and certify the UQ DE27 Eligibility Exemption Request Form (DOCX, 53.2 KB).
    4. Submit your UQ DE27 Eligibility Exemption Request Form, and evidence for each interruption via email to ARC@research.uq.edu.au to request endorsement of your request.
    5. The Research Office will advise you of the outcome of your request. 

    If you are applying from outside UQ (external), you must have confirmed school or centre support before your eligibility exemption request can be processed by the Research Office. 

    How to apply

    Step 1. UQ Notice of Intent (NOI) 

    All researchers intending to submit an ARC Discovery Early Career Researcher Award 2027 application are required to submit a mandatory internal UQ Notice of Intent (NOI). NOIs will be collated centrally and distributed to Faculties and Institutes to maximise support to the UQ research community. If you would like to discuss your intention to apply with your local area, please contact your Faculty/Institute Research Manager. 

    Submit UQ Notice of Intent 

    External Applicants

    If you are not currently part of UQ and wish to apply for a 2027 DECRA through UQ, you must first seek support from a UQ school or centre where you wish to complete your DECRA project. You should have a UQ researcher who is willing to be your DECRA mentor/supervisor before completing an NOI. 

    Step 2. RMS updates and scheme reading

    • Update your full profile in the RMS ‘Person Profile’. If any team members are new to RMS and need a login/password. We strongly recommend starting this process early.
    • Familiarise yourself with key Australian Research Council (ARC) and UQ documentation. It is especially important to familiarise yourself with ARC's Grant Guidelines and Instructions to Applicants documents.

    Step 3. Completing the application

    • Log into RMS, create an application and make sure UQ is listed as the Administering Organisation.
    • Use the UQ templates available below to draft your documents to be uploaded to your application in RMS.
    • Complete the application in RMS. 
    • When ready for review, ensure all online components are complete and valid, generate a whole application PDF for your records and select 'Submit to Research Office' in RMS

    Step 4. Research Office internal review and feedback

    • To initiate internal review, email your completed Application Certification Form and UQ Pending and Newly Funded ARC grants form to the Research Office at ARC@research.uq.edu.au. Please note that RMS does not alert the Research Office when you create or submit an application in RMS.
    • If you are lodging a Request not to Assess (RNTA), please note that applicants should complete the ‘Request Not to Assess’ form in RMS (instructions are available below) and then submit to the Research Office for review by the date stated in key dates above. Instructions for creating a RNTA will be made available on GrantConnect.
    • The Research Office will review your application and provide feedback.

    Step 5. Final submission

    • When your application is complete and fully compliant, the UQ Research Office will submit the application to the ARC through RMS

    Readership and researcher support

    Before applying, we recommend you:

    Key documents

    ARC

    Before applying, please review the full suite of documents, which will become available via GrantConnect (login required), the Australian Government grants information system. 

    UQ

    Mandatory Forms 

    Templates

    Application Resources

    Additional Forms

    UQ Library Support

    DECRA metrics drop-in session

    To assist UQ researchers in preparing their applications, the UQ Library will be hosting a drop-in session to provide applicants with one-to-one DECRA metrics support. No formal content will be presented at this session.  

    Date: Tuesday 10 February 2026
    Time: 10am - 11am
    Location: 02-217 Duhig Tower

    Resources

    Rejoinder and rebuttal

    In the ARC assessment and rejoinder process, comments from external assessors may be made available to applicants, and applicants given the opportunity to submit a rejoinder.

    Detailed information on the rejoinder process (including instructions for accessing assessment reports and submitting rejoinders) is available from the ARC website. The Research Office information session and internal deadlines for assessment review requests and rejoinders are shown under our Key Dates section above. The Research Office has developed a Rejoinder Tip Sheet with FAQs to assist you in crafting your rejoinder.

    Rejoinder due dates

    • Rejoinder period open: TBA
    • UQ R&I Rejoinder Information session: TBA
    • Rejoinders due to UQ Research Office: TBA
    • Rejoinders due to the ARC: TBA

    Rejoinder Information Session

    To assist DE26 candidates in preparing their rejoinders, the Research Office is holding an Information Session on the rejoinder process – in person and Zoom attendance is available. The information session will include an overview of the rejoinder process, a Q&A with ARC College of Experts members, and Research Office staff will also be available afterwards for other questions and queries. The Information Session will be recorded and made available on our Presentations and Slides page as soon as possible after the session (allowing time for processing and editing).

    Date:  TBA
    Time: TBA
    Venue: TBA
    Zoom: TBA

      Contact UQ R&I

      Scheme queries

      RMS queries

      Round coordinators
      Pre-award Discovery & Industry Team

      If you are applying through UQ but you are not a current UQ staff member, please contact the UQ R&I via the email listed above.