Early and Mid-Career Researcher Grants Strategy Daina Garklavs Deputy Director Research Services
Questions you need to ask What sort of researcher do I want to be? What sort of funding will I need to succeed?
Hard questions you need to answer How many years since PhD?» 1 5 years Early Career Researcher (ECR)» 5 15 years Mid Career Researcher (MCR)» Over 15 years Senior Researcher (SR) Am I meeting the research expectations for my stage of career?» ECR expectations may include: Have published from PhD in peer reviewed journals Research active ie an ECR must have, on average, at least one qualifying output per year since award of their PhD Be involved in collaborative projects and grants led by a MCR or SR Getting known by presenting at international conferences Supervising or co-supervising HDR students
Hard questions you need to answer Am I meeting the research expectations for my stage of career?» MCR expectations include: Research active ie must be employed on a Griffith work profile that includes research and produce a minimum of six research outputs for each rolling six year period (Note many researchers will be exceeding this.) Starting to lead independent or team research projects based on a consistent publication and/or grant track record. Known through presentations at international conferences Primary supervisor of HDR students Starting to lead a team of postdocs and/or students who want to work with me. If I m not meeting these expectations:» What can I do to meet these expectations?» Should I consider a teaching only profile?
Hard realities ECRs have the advantage of:» Being able to claim ECR status» Availability of both internal and external ECR funding opportunities» Only being compared to other ECRs relative to opportunity» Being given the benefit of the doubt if track record is not great but have a fantastic and original research project MCRs may need to address:» No longer being able to claim ECR status» No specific funding opportunities other than the highly prestigious ARC Future Fellowships» Need to compete with ECRs, MCR and SRs» If track record is not great, a fantastic and original research project is unlikely to get you a grant
What can I do to get my track record up to scratch? Publish, publish, publish! If you cannot at least meet the minimum criteria for research active then you should consider other options. Many researchers do unfunded research, eg be your own research assistant, in your non-teaching time. Seek guidance to make sure that you are working on an original project. Keep up to date with the literature. Consider doing consultancy/industry work that allows you to publish from that work. This may assist you with a future ARC Linkage grant. Offer yourself as free labour to work on a successful grant project so that you can be listed as an author. This will require you to accept junior work which might mean that your work will not lead to authorship rights but may skill development and being asked to have a more formal role in future projects. Supervise HDR students and, if feasible and ethical, publish with them. Get known at conferences and look for collaborators with good track records. Find a successful and critical mentor to guide you while you do the above. Be prepared to take advice and get your hands dirty. Apply for internal grants and search for small external schemes.
Griffith University Schemes that focus on collaboration Griffith University/James Cook University Collaborative Scheme - $10k grants to expand cooperation and the exchange of ideas between the two institutions in the area of tropical science, knowledge and innovation through the provision of grants to assist researchers to develop collaborative research projects which will lead to joint publications in high quality research outlets and joint external grants. Must involve a CI from each institution. Griffith University/Simon Fraser University Collaborative Scheme - $10k grants to assist researchers from each institution to undertake onsite visits in the other institution in order to develop collaborative research projects. Research projects which should lead to joint publications in high quality research outlets and joint external grants. Must involve a CI from each institution. Griffith University/Southern Denmark Collaborative Scheme - $10k grants to assist researchers from each institution to undertake onsite visits in the other institution in order to develop collaborative research projects. Research projects which should lead to joint publications in high quality research outlets and joint external grants. Must involve a CI from each institution.
Griffith University Schemes that focus on collaboration Griffith University International Travel Fellowships - $5k (only one per Group) to provide mid-career Griffith researchers with the opportunity to travel overseas to establish or further develop research links and long term collaborations with colleagues at leading international universities or research institutions. Griffith University International Workshop Awards - $10k (only one per Group) to assist academic disciplinary leaders to conduct workshops to develop pre-existing research linkages with colleagues at key international universities or research institutions which will lead to the development of participation in long-term collaborations or assist in the development of international research networks. Griffith University Short Term Visiting Research Fellowship Scheme - Aims to develop collaborations with high quality national and international researchers, leading to applications to external research funding such as ARC Future Fellowships, ARC Linkage Awards, or similar. Brings researchers to Griffith. Griffith University Industry Collaborative Scheme - Up to $10k which must be matched by the Industry partner. Aims to drive the development of high quality, large scale applications to external industry-linked grant schemes such as the ARC Linkage Projects scheme by funding pilot studies and engagement between Griffith researchers and industry partners.
Postdoctoral and Research Fellowships Griffith University Postdoctoral and Research Fellowships - Provides salary support for full time research fellowships with 50/50 matching funding from research centres and a small amount of project support. Highly competitive.
Sources of external funding Nuffield Foundation: focus is on foundations for learning; secondary education transitions; science and mathematics education; and women s education and student parents.» http://www.nuffieldfoundation.org/education National Vocational Education and Training Research and Evaluation Program (NVETRE) Financial Markets Foundation for Children, eg:» Developmental pathways of children with autism and developmental delay: What can early skills and behaviours teach us?» Optimising sleep for Australian children: Understanding the effects of daytime sleep periods in childcare services Victorian Department of Education and Early Childhood Development Research and Evaluation Partnerships Consider providing education programs within schemes that are not strictly about education research eg Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation
Finding Funds Griffith News Online Grants databases» SPIN http://australia.infoed.org/spin/spin.asp» Google alerts
Thankyou