Discovery Program Grant Guidelines
(2024 edition – Variation 1):

Discovery Indigenous

Australian Research Council Act 2001

I, Jason Clare, Minister for Education, having satisfied myself of the matters set out in section 58 of the Australian Research Council Act 2001, approve these grant guidelines under section 59 of that Act.

Dated 19 August 2025

Jason Clare

Minister for Education

Contents

1. Discovery Program processes.........................................3

2. About the Discovery Program.........................................4

About the Discovery Indigenous grant opportunity...........................4

3. Grant amount and grant period........................................4

4. Eligibility criteria....................................................5

5. What the grant money can be used for..................................8

What grants funds can be used for.......................................8

What grants funds cannot be used for.....................................9

6. The assessment criteria.............................................10

Assessing the DAATSIA candidate......................................11

7. How to apply.......................................................11

Application process..................................................11

National Interest Test Statement........................................12

Letter of Community Support...........................................12

Timing of the grant opportunity.........................................12

8. The grant selection process..........................................12

9. Successful grant applications........................................13

10. Probity............................................................16

Appendix A – Glossary......................................................18

Acronyms..........................................................18

Definitions.........................................................19

Appendix B: Eligible Organisations...........................................26

1.     Discovery Program processes

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1.     About the Discovery Program
   1.                   The Discovery Program is one of two Programs under the ARC National Competitive Grants Program (NCGP). Information about the Discovery Program is available on the ARC website.
   2.                   The ARC administers funding of excellent pure basic, strategic basic and applied research in all disciplines under the NCGP, excluding medical research. The ARC does not fund experimental development.

About the Discovery Indigenous grant opportunity

1.                   The Discovery Indigenous scheme is funded under the Discovery Program.
2.                   The Discovery Indigenous scheme provides grant funding to support research projects led by an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander researcher.
3.                   Discovery Indigenous grants include support for Discovery Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Awards (DAATSIAs) which are fellowships available to eligible Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander researchers.
4.                   The Discovery Indigenous scheme objectives are to:

1.               support the retention of excellent Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander researchers in higher education institutions to expand research capacity in Australia;
2.               support excellent pure basic, strategic basic and applied research and research training, across all disciplines excluding clinical and other medical research, by Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander researchers as individuals and as teams;

1.               enhance the scale and focus of research in Australian Government priority areas and create economic, commercial, environmental, social and/or cultural benefits for Australia; and
2.               support national and international research collaboration.
   1.                   The grant commencement date and active project assessment date for each Discovery Indigenous grant opportunity will be available on the ARC website.

1.     Grant amount and grant period
   1.                   For each Discovery Indigenous grant opportunity, applications for project funding, including DAATSIA salary and salary related (on cost) support, will be considered for the levels and durations of funding listed in Table 1. You may request project funding without a DAATSIA, but You may not request funding for a DAATSIA without project funding.
   2.                   Table 1: Discovery Indigenous funding and grant duration.

1.                   DAATSIA salary funding may be requested at one of five salary levels, including 30% salary-related on-costs. The salary level must be either equivalent to or higher than the salary level of the CI as at the grant opportunity closing date.
2.                   Salary figures are subject to variation (for example, due to annual indexation). Updated levels are available on the ‘Salaries and Stipends’ page of the ARC website.

1.     Eligibility criteria

Who is eligible to apply for a grant?

1.                   We will only accept applications from Eligible Organisations as identified in Appendix B. The Eligible Organisation that applies will be the ‘Administering Organisation’ (henceforth ‘You’).
2.                   If:
   1.               an application was submitted pursuant to these grant guidelines by either the University of Adelaide or the University of South Australia (collectively, ‘Previous Universities’) during the period that Adelaide University was being established and becoming operational; and
   2.               at the time that We award grants pursuant to these grant guidelines, one or more named participants on the application has transferred from one of the Previous Universities to Adelaide University,

then We may award the grant to Adelaide University.

What are the eligibility requirements for applications?

1.                   Organisation roles available under the Discovery Indigenous grant opportunity are:

1.               Administering Organisation;
2.               Other Eligible Organisation; and

1.               Other Organisation.
   1.                   You can only submit one application for the same project in any grant opportunity. This includes applications which fundamentally have the same research intent, approach, and outcomes, regardless of any variations in the research, the named participants and/or organisations.
   2.                   Your application must:

1.        nominate at least one Chief Investigator (CI) or DAATSIA candidate. The first named CI on the application will be the Project Leader. The Project Leader or the DAATSIA candidate must be an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander researcher.

1.       request a minimum level of funding of $30,000 per year in project costs in Your application. This must be requested in addition to the DAATSIA salary (if requested). The $500,000 maximum level of funding per year includes the DAATSIA salary.
   1.                   An individual must not be nominated for more than one DAATSIA in any grant opportunity.
   2.                   You must ensure that any additional certification requirements, applied by the ARC as a result of findings of breaches of the Australian Code for the Responsible Conduct of Research (2018), are provided at the grant opportunity closing date for any named participant on an application. 
   3.                   Your application must not include medical research as detailed in the ARC Medical Research Policy (2025 version) on the ARC website.

Who is eligible to be an Other Organisation?

1.                   Organisations that are not Eligible Organisations but that are named as a participating organisation on an application will be Other Organisations.
2.               An Other Organisation cannot be included on the National Redress Scheme’s website on the list of ‘Institutions that have not joined or signified their intent to join the Scheme’ (www.nationalredress.gov.au).

Who is eligible to be a named participant?

1.               Roles that named participants may be nominated for under these guidelines are:

1.               DAATSIA candidates;

1.               Chief Investigators (CIs); and
2.               Partner Investigators (PIs).
   1.               A Project cannot commence until all named participants meet the eligibility criteria in these grant guidelines for the selected role they are to perform.
   2.               As at the grant commencement date, or if successful, at any time during the project activity period, named participants:

1.               who meet the eligibility criteria to be a CI, cannot opt to be a PI;
2.               who do not meet the eligibility criteria to be a CI, must be a PI.
   1.               All named participants in an application must have met their obligations regarding previously funded projects, including submission of satisfactory final reports to the ARC at the grant opportunity closing date

Chief Investigators

1.               CIs must meet at least one of the following criteria as at the grant commencement date, and, if successful, for the project activity period:

1.               be an employee for at least 0.2 FTE at an Eligible Organisation; or
2.               be a holder of an honorary academic appointment (as defined in the Glossary) at an Eligible Organisation.
   1.               CIs must reside in Australia for more than 50% of the project activity period. Any significant absences including fieldwork or study leave directly related to the project must have approval from You and must not total more than half the project activity period. In extraordinary circumstances, a change may be approved by Us via a formal Variation request.
   2.               CIs must not undertake a Higher Degree by Research (HDR) during the project activity period.
   3.               The Project Leader must have a demonstrated capacity to manage the project.

DAATSIA candidates

1.               To be eligible to be a DAATSIA candidate, the nominated individual must:

1.               be an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander researcher; and
2.               meet the eligibility criteria to apply as a CI (including 4.15-4.18).
   1.               An individual who has previously been awarded a DAATSIA may apply for another DAATSIA but can only hold one at a time.
   2.               DAATSIAs cannot be held independently of a Discovery Indigenous Project.

What are the limits on the number of applications and projects per named participant?

1.               These limits only apply to CIs and DAATSIA candidates.
2.               The limits are designed to ensure that named participants have the capacity to undertake each project.
3.               A named participant can be concurrently funded through the Discovery Program for a maximum of:

1.               two projects as a CI; or

1.               one ARC Fellowship and one project as a CI; or
2.               one ARC Fellowship or project if the individual is also a Director on an active ARC Centre of Excellence and/or a Special Research Initiative project.
   1.               At the grant opportunity closing date for Discovery Indigenous applications, We will count:

1.               the number of Discovery Program CI roles or ARC Fellowships that the individual will hold on active projects on the grant opportunity’s active project assessment date;

1.               whether the named participant will hold an ARC Centres of Excellence and/or Special Research Initiatives Director role on active projects on the grant opportunity’s active project assessment date;
2.               the number of Discovery Projects EOI or full applications We are currently assessing which include that named participant as a CI; and
3.               the number of Discovery Indigenous applications We are currently assessing which include that participant as a CI.
   1.               Applications for Australian Laureate Fellowships, Future Fellowships, DECRAs, ARC Centres of Excellence or Special Research Initiatives do not need to meet the project limit requirements at the grant opportunity closing date. If an Australian Laureate Fellowships, Future Fellowships, DECRA, ARC Centres of Excellence or Special Research Initiatives application is successful, named participants must meet the project limits under section 4.24 before the project can start. Project limits can be met by relinquishing existing active project(s), or relinquishing role(s) on existing active projects, or withdrawing application(s) that would exceed the project limits. This does not need to occur until all outcomes are announced.
   2.               If a role or Project must be relinquished to meet the limits at the grant opportunity closing date for a Discovery Indigenous application, We must approve the Variation before the grant opportunity closing date. Any relinquishment Variation submitted or approved after the grant opportunity closing date will not be taken into account when counting the number of projects under section 4.25.
   3.               It is Your responsibility to determine if applying for, or holding, a project under these grant guidelines will affect an individual researcher’s eligibility for other ARC grant opportunities as other ARC grant opportunities may have different project limits. We reserve the right to change project and application limits in future grant opportunities.

1.     What the grant money can be used for

What grants funds can be used for

1.                   The Discovery Program supports research activities that meet the definition of ‘research’ in the Glossary.
2.                   You can only spend the grant on eligible expenditure items that directly support the project and in accordance with any additional special conditions in the grant agreement.
3.                   Eligible expenditure items may include:

1.               if relevant, salary and 30% on-costs for the DAATSIA recipient;
2.               salary support for other personnel, for example, research associates and assistants, technicians and laboratory attendants at an appropriate salary level, including 30% on-costs, at the employing organisation;
3.               stipends for HDR at 1.0 full time equivalent (FTE) each for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander students at the level indicated on the ‘Salaries and Stipends’ page of the ARC website;
4.               teaching relief for CIs up to a total of $50,000 per CI per year per project (except where a CI has been awarded a DAATSIA);
5.               equipment (and its maintenance) and consumables, including specialised computer equipment and software essential to the project;
6.                travel costs essential to the project may be supported up to $50,000 over the project activity period. The following travel costs are not included in this $50,000 limit:

1.                 expenditure on field research essential to the project, including technical and logistical support, travel expenses (including accommodation, meals and incidental costs); and
2.               reasonable essential costs to allow a participant who is a carer, or who personally requires care or assistance, to undertake travel essential to the project.
   1.                   Stipends may be requested to support Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Honours students, subject to Your policies.

What grants funds cannot be used for

1.                   You cannot request or use grant funds for:

1.                 bench fees or similar laboratory access fees;

1.               access to a basic library collection;
2.             access to film or music editing facilities;
3.             work accommodation (for example, laboratory and office space, suitably equipped and furnished);
4.               basic computer facilities such as desktop computers, portable computer devices, printers, word processing, and other standard software; and
5.             standard reference materials or funds for abstracting services;

1.     The assessment criteria
   1.                   You must address all of the relevant assessment criteria in Your application. We will assess your application based on the weighting given to each criterion.
   2.                   The assessment criteria for the Discovery Indigenous grant opportunity are:

1.               Investigator(s)/Capability 35%

Taking into account research opportunity,

-            record of high-quality research outputs appropriate to the discipline(s)

-            evidence of excellence in research training, mentoring and supervision (where appropriate); and

-            the capability of the investigator or team to build collaborations both within Australia and internationally.

1.              Project quality and innovation 40%

Describe the:

-            contribution to an important gap in knowledge or significant problem;

-            novelty/originality and innovation of the proposed research (including any new methods, technologies, theories or ideas that will be developed);

-            clarity of the hypothesis, theories and research questions;

-            cohesiveness of the project design and implementation plan (including the appropriateness of the aim, conceptual framework, method, data and/or analyses); and

-            extent to which the research has the potential to enhance international collaboration.

If the project involves Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander research additional criteria include:

-          the project’s level of collaboration, engagement, relationship building and benefit sharing with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, and First Nations Organisations and Communities;

-          the project’s strategy and mechanisms for Indigenous research capacity building within the project;

-          the project’s level of internal leadership of Indigenous research;

-          the project’s adherence to the Australian Indigenous Data Sovereignty Principles (2018); and

-          the project’s understanding of, and proposed strategies to adhere to, the AIATSIS Code of Ethics for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Research (2020) and NHMRC’s guidelines on Ethical conduct in research with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples and communities (2018).

1.               Benefit 15%

Describe the potential benefits including the:

-            new or advanced knowledge resulting from outcomes of the research;

-            economic, commercial, environmental, social and/or cultural benefits for Australia and international communities; and

-            potential contribution to capacity in the Australian Government priority areas.

1.              Feasibility  10%

Describe the:

-            cost-effectiveness of the research and its value for money;

-            suitability of the environment for the research team and their project, and for HDR students where appropriate;

-            availability of the necessary facilities to complete the project; and

-            extent to which the project’s design, participants and requested budget create confidence in the timely and successful completion of the project.

Assessing the DAATSIA candidate

1.                   Where an application includes provision for a DAATSIA, the candidate will be assessed according to the following criteria, taking into account research opportunity:

1.                   The recommendation to award the DAATSIA is made separately from the overall application. If the project is funded but the DAATSIA is not awarded, the researcher will remain as a CI on the project.

1.     How to apply

Application process

1.                   Instructions To Applicants will be issued on the opening of the grant opportunity and applicants must follow the processes described in those Instructions, including regarding attachments to the application.
2.                   Your application must be completed in RMS. We will not accept late applications, other than in exceptional circumstances (such as due to natural disasters) in which case We will discuss this with You, and if We agree, invite You to make a late application.
3.                   You cannot change Your application after the closing date and time, unless invited to by the ARC.
4.                   We reserve the right to seek evidence to support the certification of applications at any point.
5.                   Questions during the application period should be directed to the Administering Organisation’s Research Office. Answers to Frequently Asked Questions will be posted on GrantConnect.
6.                   If You wish to withdraw Your application, You must inform Us in writing.

National Interest Test Statement

1.                   Applicants must provide a National Interest Test statement: a brief response that articulates the benefits of the proposed research in plain English in general terms beyond the period of the grant.

Letter of Community Support

1.                   If relevant, You may include a Letter of Community Support in Your application from an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander community or community organisation which outlines the benefits the grant activity will provide to that community or community organisation.

Timing of the grant opportunity

1.                   The Discovery Indigenous scheme typically accepts one round of applications each year.
2.               You must submit your application between the round opening and closing dates and times specified on GrantConnect.

1.     The grant selection process

Eligibility and Assessment

1.                   We will review Your application against the eligibility criteria. If ineligible, We must not recommend the application for funding.
2.                   All applications will be considered through a competitive peer review process, based on:

1.                   Recommendations will be made to the ARC Accountable Authority from a Selection Advisory Committee.
2.                   You are responsible for ensuring that your application is complete and accurate. Giving false or misleading information is a serious offence under the Criminal Code Act 1995 (Cth). We will investigate any incomplete, inaccurate, false or misleading information and may recommend to the Accountability Authority that Your application not be considered further.
   1.               For the avoidance of doubt, this includes failure to disclose any conflict of interest of any named participant, including but not limited to matters described in clauses 3.1 and 3.3 of the ARC Conflict of Interest and Confidentiality Policy (2025) on the ARC website.
3.                   We may seek advice on security or other matters from Commonwealth agencies at any time during the process and may seek information from third party sources. We may seek information from You about activities and protections in line with that advice and other information.
4.                   During the assessment, We may request additional information, which does not change the nature of Your application.

Who will approve grants

1.                   The ARC Accountable Authority will decide which grants to fund, after considering the advice from peer review, and alignment with Australian Government priorities. The ARC Accountable Authority’s decision is final in all matters.
2.                   The outcome of all applications will be published in RMS.
3.                   The Minister may at any time decide that, for reasons relevant to the security, defence or international relations of Australia, the ARC Accountable Authority should not approve a grant. The ARC Accountable Authority must comply with the Minister’s decision.

Requests Not To Assess process

1.               You may name up to three persons whom You do not wish to assess an application by submitting a ‘Request Not to Assess’ (RNTA) form in RMS as detailed on GrantConnect and on the ARC website.
2.               The RNTA form must be received by Us two weeks prior to the grant opportunity closing date.
3.               Only one request containing the names of up to three individual assessors may be submitted per application.
4.               If a request includes the name of a current ARC College of Experts member, as listed on the ARC website or in RMS at the time of submitting the RNTA form, the request must be accompanied by comprehensive evidence justifying the request for the ARC College of Experts member or members named. If We consider the evidence is not sufficient for the named ARC College of Experts member or members, We will reject part, or all the request.
5.               We have discretion about whether We accept or refuse a RNTA. We will not notify You of the outcome.

Rejoinder process

1.               You will be given the opportunity to respond to any Detailed Assessors’ written comments through a rejoinder. Names of assessors will not be provided. Further information on the rejoinder process is available on the ARC website.

1.     Successful grant applications

Advice and announcement

1.                   If your grant application is successful, We:

1.           will give You a copy of the ARCs Accountable Authority’s approval no more than 21 days after the ARC’s Accountable Authority’s decision;
2.           may give You earlier notice of the ARC Accountable Authority’s approval and may impose a short embargo on announcements in order to enable parties to co-ordinate announcements; and
3.               will list Your grant on  GrantConnect no more than 21 calendar days after the date of effect.
   1.                   We will publicise and report offers and grants awarded, including the following information about the project:

1.                   You should ensure information contained in the project title, summary descriptions and National Interest Test statement will not compromise Your requirements for confidentiality (such as protection of Intellectual Property).
2.                   We may publish a project description, including title and summary, which differs from that provided in the application.

Grant Agreements

1.                   You must enter into a grant agreement with Us to receive a grant.
2.                   We use the ARC Discovery Program Discovery Indigenous grant agreement which contains standard terms and conditions that cannot be changed. A sample grant agreement is available on GrantConnect. Any special conditions will be identified in the grant offer.
3.                   You will have 30 calendar days from the date of offer to execute the grant agreement.
4.                   We must execute a grant agreement with You before We can make payment. We are not responsible for any of Your project expenditure until a grant agreement is executed.

How we pay the grant

1.                   Payments will be made as set out in the grant agreement. Grant funding will typically be paid monthly through Our payment system to You.
2.               The grant offer will specify the approved grant amount. We will not pay more than the approved grant amount under any circumstances. If you incur extra costs, You must meet them.
3.               Grant funding may be subject to indexation.
4.               All amounts referred to in these grant guidelines are exclusive of the Goods and Services Tax (GST), unless expressly stated otherwise.
5.               Any grant awarded will be subject to sufficient funds being available for the project, the provisions of the ARC Act and the continued satisfactory progress of the project.

Grant Agreement Variation

1.               The Grant Agreement outlines the circumstances in which Variations must be submitted. Variations are subject to the ARC approval and further information can be found in the Grant Agreement.

Responsibilities

1.               All named participants in an application must take responsibility for the authorship and intellectual content of the application, appropriately citing sources and acknowledging all significant contributions, including from third parties.

Chief Investigators and DAATSIA recipients

1.               The CI or DAATSIA recipients must:

1.               obtain a legal right to work and reside in Australia, prior to the commencement of the project if the candidate is not an Australian citizen; and

1.               meet relinquishment and any other requirements specified in the grant agreement.
   1.               The DAATSIA may be undertaken on either a full-time, or a part-time, basis subject to Your organisation’s employment conditions and provided the DAATSIA does not exceed eight years from the project start date (excluding any approved periods of suspension).
   2.               The DAATSIA recipient cannot begin another ARC Fellowship until the DAATSIA has been completed.

Your responsibilities

1.               You must employ the DAATSIA recipient(s) for the project activity period.
2.               You are responsible for managing changes to the DAATSIA recipient’s working hours.
   You are required to notify Us of any changes to working hours through submission of a Variation.
3.               You must ensure the DAATSIA recipient has access to the following leave entitlements in line with Your normal practice:

1.               parental leave;
2.               recreation leave;

1.               sick leave; and
2.               additional leave of up to twelve months using accrued leave or leave without pay.

Specific research policies and practices

1.               All applications and ARC-funded research projects must comply with the requirements for responsible and ethical research practice specified in the Australian Code for the Responsible Conduct of Research (2018), and the codes, guidelines, practices and policies on the ARC website, including the ARC Conflict of Interest and Confidentiality Policy (2025) and any actions that have been applied under the ARC Research Integrity Policy (2023 version).
2.               An ethics plan must be in place before commencement of the project.
3.               Intellectual Property arrangements should be negotiated between You, Other Eligible Organisations and Other Organisations as relevant. We do not claim ownership of any Intellectual Property arising from the project.
4.               All research projects must comply with the ARC Open Access Policy (2021 version) on the dissemination of findings on the ARC website.
5.               A data management plan must be in place before the project commences, in line with the grant agreement, and ARC expectations on the ARC website.
6.               All named participants applying for grants are strongly encouraged to have a persistent digital identifier such as an Open Researcher and Contributor Identifier (ORCID) in their RMS Profile.

Monitoring and reporting

1.               You must inform us of any changes to Your:

1.               You must submit reports in line with the grant agreement. Reports must be submitted through RMS, unless otherwise advised by Us. Reporting may include:

1.               We will monitor progress by assessing Your reports and may conduct site visits or request records to confirm details of Your reports if necessary. We may re-examine claims, seek further information or request an independent audit of claims and payments.
2.               We may evaluate the project to measure how well the outcomes and objectives were achieved. We may use information from Your application and reports or may contact You after grant completion to assist evaluation.

1.           Probity
   1.               The Australian Government will make sure that the grant opportunity process is fair, according to the published guidelines, incorporates appropriate safeguards against fraud, unlawful activities and other inappropriate conduct and is consistent with the CGRPs and the ARC Act.

Appeals process

1.               We will only consider appeals against the NCGP administrative process and not against committee decisions, assessor ratings and comments, or the assessment outcome. Appellants must identify the specific guideline/legislative instrument clause, policy or procedure which they believe has been incorrectly applied.
2.               You must submit an appeal using the Form on the ARC website and have it authorised by the Administering Organisation’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) or equivalent.
3.               The appeals process is set out on the ARC website.

Conflict of interest

1.               You will be asked to certify as part of Your application that any perceived, potential or existing conflicts of interests have been declared to You or that, to the best of Your knowledge, there is no conflict of interest in Your application. Each named individual or organisation must make this declaration about any aspect of the application or project to You at the date of submission.
2.               If a conflict of interest exists or arises, You must have documented processes in place to manage that conflict for the duration of the project. Processes must comply with the Australian Code for the Responsible Conduct of Research (2018), the ARC Conflict of Interest and Confidentiality Policy (2025) and any relevant successor documents.
3.               We will handle any conflicts of interest as set out in Australian Government policies and procedures. Refer to the ARC Conflict of Interest and Confidentiality Policy (2025) on the ARC website.

Privacy and protection of personal information

1.               We treat your personal information according to the Australian Privacy Principles and the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth).
2.               You are required, as part of Your application, to certify Your compliance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), including the Australian Privacy Principles and impose the same privacy obligations on any subcontractors You engage. You must ask for our consent in writing before disclosing confidential information.
3.           Information about privacy and personal information is set out on the ARC website.

Confidential information

1.           The Australian Government may use and disclose confidential information about grant applicants and grant recipients to any other Australian Government business or function.
2.           We will treat the information You give Us as confidential if:

Freedom of information

1.           All documents in the possession of the Australian Government, including those about this program, are subject to the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth) (FOI Act).
2.           The Freedom of Information process is set out on the ARC website.

Appendix A – Glossary

Acronyms

For the purposes of the Discovery Program grant guidelines, acronyms have the meanings defined below.

Definitions

For the purposes of the Discovery Program grant guidelines, terms have the meanings defined below.

Appendix B: Eligible Organisations