Submitting a Research Grant Application

If there is a scheme for which you're interested in preparing an application, please let us know. The sooner we know, the more support we can offer!

The Grants team in Research Services provides support to University of New England researchers who apply for research grants. Let the Grants team know as soon as possible if you intend to submit a grant application, because:

Each year, the Australian Government provides universities with funding for research and research training, dependent on their yearly research income and outputs. If we don’t know about your projects, we cannot report on them and UNE misses out on additional government funding;
You cannot use external grant information on your promotion applications if Research Services has no record of your funding;
The Grants team can provide compliance advice and assist with polishing your application, so the sooner you contact the team, the stronger your application should be.

Step 1: Plan and prepare the funding application

Apply for funding

See our information about funding schemes and opportunities

As soon as you have found a research fund scheme for which you are considering applying, please contact us: grants@une.edu.au. The earlier you notify us the better prepared we are to help you when you need assistance, for example, with determining eligibility, interpreting the funding rules and planning your budget.

Grant Application Internal Timeframes

When you Contact us	What can be achieved
4 weeks before funding body's deadline	Full compliance checking Extensive feedback and advice on application and funding rules Institutional certification ensured Application submission ensured
2 weeks before	Full compliance checking Feedback and advice on application and funding rules Institutional certification ensured Application submission ensured
1 week before	Faculty approval required Limited compliance checking Limited advice on funding rules – only major eligibility issues will be addressed Cannot guarantee institutional certification Cannot guarantee application submission if required in hard copy
24-48 hours before	Faculty approval required No compliance checking Cannot guarantee institutional certification Cannot guarantee application will be submitted
12 hours or less	Unless there are exceptional circumstances, the application cannot be considered and will not be submitted

Talk to your Faculty early in the process

Your Faculty needs to give approval for you to apply for a grant because it commits your time to a project if the grant is successful. Discussing your application at an early stage is important so that your Faculty is fully aware of the implications of the project for you and your Faculty. You may also need to discuss possible Faculty financial support to be included in your application budget, and the sooner this is discussed the better.

Step 2: Writing the application

Application guidelines

Read and understand the application submission guidelines and timeframes.

Work within the submission guidelines and internal and external timeframes.

Seek advice

Seek advice from the Research Office grants team, your Faculty research support team and your academic peers.

Use the resources available on the Grant Forms and Resources webpage.

If the grant you are applying for is classified in the Australian Government's Higher Education Research Data Collection (HERDC) latest Specifications for the collection of data as Category 2 or Category 3 funding, do not forget to include the DVCR's Research Sustainability Fee in the budget. Category 1 nationally-competitive funding is not liable for the DVCR fee. To determine whether your grant is Category 1, you can view the latest HERDC Specifiations for the collection of data which also contains a Category 1 Decision Tree to assist. If still unsure, contact the Grants team.

The ARC has useful information if you need to include the non-academic impact of your research in your application. UNE also subscribes to a useful resource called Epigeum, which is all about enhancing research impact and is accessed via myLearn. Email the Grants team to arrange access.

As you prepare your research grant application, you should be aware of UNE's Strategic Plan and its Research Plan, as well as the Australian Government's national science research priorities. If your research project does fit under any of these UNE and/or national research priorities, you should emphasise this in your application. Here are the links to relevant information to assist you in tailoring your application accordingly:

Step 3: Submitting the application

Your application

When your draft is ready, the grants team will:

review the application
provide final feedback
(normally) submit the application to the funding body on your behalf. Researchers submitting the application directly to the funding body should cc grants@une.edu.au.

Standard grant applications: For full compliance checking and feedback, the grants team needs your final draft application at least two weeks before the funding body's application deadline.

ARC and NHMRC: A much longer review period is needed so you should let the grants team know well ahead if you plan to submit to one of these nationally competitive schemes.

Online submissions

In cases where the funding organisation's submission process is via an online system where the proposal needs to be submitted online directly by the applicant — as happens with SmartyGrants — a final version should be emailed through to the grants team. We will advise if further changes are required or if the applicant can go ahead and submit the proposal. Once the proposal has been submitted, please email confirmation of submission and any other future correspondence regarding this proposal to the grants team.

Faculty and Research Services approval of the submission via PURE portal

Your application needs to be approved by your Faculty before the application can be submitted. Research Services will also need to approve the submission. The method of approving research grant applications is an online approval system called 'Pure'. The Pure portal is accessible here via UNE username and password.

Step 4: Application outcome

The grants team emails grant outcome advice to the first named investigator. If you are contacted directly by the funding body about the application outcome, please inform the grants team as soon as possible.

If your grant is successful:

The funding body usually sends the draft Agreement to the Grants team which will liaise with the UNE Legal Office and the lead investigator in the Execution of the Agreement. The Agreement is signed by UNE, not the investigator.
You will need to complete the Contract Approval Form (CAF) which is for research grant agreements and research consultancy agreements. This form is an instruction to the Legal Office that the agreement has Faculty approval, and is therefore ready to be signed by UNE. Please download the latest version of the form via the Legal Office Templates website.
Delays in receiving the relevant approvals and finalising the Agreement can be significant and may have adverse repercussions for the project funding and/or start date.
If a successful project needs ethics approval, this should be obtained before the Agreement is signed. (If this is not possible, please discuss options with the Legal Office). Please download the latest ethics approval form via the Research Services’ Ethics and Grants website

Step 5: Grant administration and additional assistance

The Research Services grants team will assist in collating information for Agreement execution and recording any milestones that are due.

Please contact the grants team if you have any queries regarding Agreements or any reporting involved with your successful application.

For information and advice regarding post-award financial management of Research Grants, go to Financial Services' Management Accounting/Research Accounting.