Grant Writing Toolkit
The Australian Research Council (‘ARC’) DECRA Scheme provides research support for early career researchers in teaching and research, and research-only positions.
It's objectives are to:
This site contains resources to assist you in the development of an ARC DECRA application. It includes annotated templates, links to various supports across the University, webinar recordings, and links to external resources.
Please also refer to the ARC and NHMRC annual rounds website for further information on applying for ARC Schemes through Charles Sturt. If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact the Grant Development Team at research-preaward@csu.edu.au.
You can access the latest DECRA guidelines and Instructions to Applicants (and other related documents) through the ARC Grants Calendar. Please ensure you are referring to the latest guidelines and documents, and read them carefully before you commence your application.
IMPORTANT: The ‘Instructions to Applicants’ document contains detailed information on how to respond to each section of the application form. It is highly recommended you refer to the 'Instructions to Applicants' document frequently as you draft your application.
If you have any questions or require any clarifications about DECRA guidelines or Instructions to Applicants, contact the Grant Development Team at research-preaward@csu.edu.au.
ARC DECRA Strategic Information Session (2022)
This webinar recording covers DECRA selection criteria, project, track record, collaborators, mentors, National Interest Test Statement, government priorities, and success factors.
ARC DECRA Strategic Information Session (2020)
This webinar recording covers DECRA selection criteria, assessment processes and rejoinders, success factors, DECRA 'urban myths' and budgets.
Writing a ROPE for your ARC DECRA or FF (2021)
Presented by Tim Haydon, Director, The Write Media Network, this session investigates how to write the ROPE section of an ARC DECRA or Future Fellowship. Includes detailed examples.
The following resources are provided to assist you in the development of an ARC DECRA application.
Please note that although the most up-to-date rounds are used for these resources, the application forms for an upcoming round may not yet be available. Applications for future rounds may differ. Please always keep this in mind when using these resources. To check the latest version, please refer to the ARC calendar.
Further information on the ROPE Statement can be found on the ARC website.
Budget development support
The Grant Development Team are available to assist you with the development of your DECRA budget. To arrange a consultation, please email research-preaward@csu.edu.au.
The University Librarians are able to provide you with an individualised metrics report; this information can be incredibly helpful when writing your ROPE sections. If you would like an individualised metrics report, please contact your Faculty Librarian: Arts and Education; Business, Justice and Behavioural Sciences; or Science and Health.
Once you have your metrics report, you can use it to demonstrate research impact in your application. For examples on how to do this, please refer to the Charles Sturt Library Guide ‘How to use metrics in promotion and grants: A self-help guide’.
The Metrics Toolkit is a resource for researchers and evaluators that provides guidance for demonstrating and evaluating claims of research impact. With the Toolkit you can quickly understand what a metric means, how it is calculated, and if it's a good match for your research question.
Metrics can be used as evidence to strengthen grant applications (arguments to demonstrate need, etc.) and also evaluation outcomes.
Available through the Charles Sturt University Library. If you're new to altmetrics, this video is a great place to start.
In late 2021, Craig Simmons from the ARC delivered a general information session to Charles Sturt academics. Based on this session and a subsequent meeting with Craig, the Grant Development Team has put together some of the most pertinent points which could be helpful to keep in mind as you continue to draft your application. Also included are a few general tips on things that can lower a ROPE score and an application generally.
Make sure that everything in the National Interest Test is meaningful and interesting (not bland). It needs to be a plain English statement that the Minister can read in public today.
Avoid a generic statement. They’ve noticed that some of the Statements are so general they could apply to a large proportion to the grants submitted – you don’t want a statement so broad it could be applied to 150 different grants. Specificity is the single point that comes up all the time. What is your grant doing? What are YOU doing specifically?
Where possible, try and have other researchers from different disciplines review your application - replicate the breadth of ARC assessors your application may be exposed to. You need to write in a way that can be understood outside your discipline.
Metrics alone are not enough – as different disciplines may view the same metrics in different ways, this means there may be differences between assessors over a single metric. Give every metric a benchmark – for your discipline, sub-discipline and career stage. Provide evidence to support your statements. For example: “In x discipline, I am listed in the top 2% of x”.
Use multiple metrics if you have to. It’s un-benchmarked track records/statements that are weighted lower. Anything you can do to benchmark is worthwhile (xx H-factor is 12 which is big/small for the discipline) – provide discipline norms.
The ROPE statement is more important than you think. Make sure all interruptions are accounted for.
Make sure your RMS profile is up to date with new 2020 FOR codes and includes helpful text about your experience and expertise.
Ask yourself: Does the grant hang together well generally? No unanswered questions?
They’re after a great innovative idea they can get excited about, delivered by a great team in a strongly supportive research environment. Include Charles Sturt’s strengths and World Standard rankings – bring it into the narrative.