Guide to Grants - Research support - University of Queensland

Research Infrastructure Guide to Grants

Incorporating research infrastructure services into grant applications

UQ’s investment in major infrastructure, in partnership with government, industry and donors, provides cutting-edge facilities and leading technologies for researchers. Researchers have access to extensive high-tech research equipment and instrumentation, laboratories and wide-ranging scientific services and training.

The Research Infrastructure Guide to Grants provides a tool to researchers seeking grants with easy access to the relevant pricing information about various research infrastructure. Please note this pricing information is for non-commercial purposes and is designed to help researchers writing grants find the appropriate pricing details to complete their grant budgets. Please remember to consider the in-kind contributions and budget justifications for your grants.

Collaborative Research Platforms
NCRIS Facilities

Collaborative Research Platforms

Aligned along interdisciplinary lines, the CRPs offer core services and world-class capabilities that are integral towards achieving research excellence though the University. These CRPs house $125 million worth of high-end equipment and have more than 220 qualified staff on hand to assist researchers to boost their research capabilities. To date more than 10,000 researchers have used these state-of-the-art facilities to advance their research.

Centre for Advanced Imaging (CAI)

CAI is a leading imaging research facility in Australia and manages the most comprehensive range of magnetic resonance instrumentation in the southern hemisphere, including three whole body scanners, several High-Resolution NMR spectrometers, and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR), microimaging and animal imaging systems.

Offering a range of services across biotechnology, CAI instruments are also used for research in areas such as economically significant agricultural animals and plants, food quality, minerals and construction materials.

Pricing and contact information

Our researchers have extensive experience with a wide variety of studies and are available for consultation to provide expert guidance with project planning, data analysis and optimisation.

Visit CAI's facilities page for more information on services and fees.

Facility performance and track record statement for grants (budget justification)

Offering state-of-the-art facilities and technology capabilities, the Centre for Advanced Imaging fosters many successful projects within research and industry.

Our collaborations have included projects with CSIRO, Rio Tinto, Wine Australia and Queensland Museum.

Centre for Geoanalytical Mass Spectrometry (CGMS)

Centre for Microscopy and Microanalysis (CMM)

CMM is a matter characterisation multidisciplinary research facility dedicated to an understanding of the structure and composition of all natural and man-made materials from the micrometre to the atomic scale.

Visit CMM's Support for Grant Writers page for helpful online resources that help researchers calculate CMM project-related costs in grant budgets.

Refer CMM's Support for Grant Writers for pricing

Genome Innovation Hub

Genome Innovation Hub (GIH) is a University of Queensland initiative and is part of UQ Research Infrastructure. GIH aims to develop innovative approaches to advance technologies in structural and functional analysis of genomes. The innovation hub acts as a collaborative research centre, working with UQ clinicians and scientists to implement novel and promising methodologies in projects focussed on the key areas of health, agriculture and the environment. Once implemented by GIH, these innovations (methods, protocols, software, expertise, etc.) will be made available through UQ Research Infrastructure Services, other UQ service providers, or through research groups willing to collaborate and/or train research staff in the newly developed approaches.

Collaborative project application process and guidelines

GIH conducts yearly collaborations with UQ researchers through awarding a GIH External Project. For project application information and the selection criteria, please see the UQ Research Infrastructure webpage.

View the latest GIH Brochure here Calling Applications for GIH 2021 External Projects

Protein Expression Facility (PEF)

PEF is Australia’s leading protein research facility that specialises in recombinant protein production using E. coli, yeast, baculovirus/insect cell and mammalian cell. Our Protein Production Platform includes molecular engineering, expression optimisation, scale-up expression, purification and analytics and characterisation.

Pricing and contact information

Our flexible research services enable efficient production of recombinant proteins using a suite of expression systems. Each project is designed in close partnership with the researcher, to tailor the proteins for the intended application.

Contact PEF for a tailored quote for your grant budget section.

Facility performance and track record statement for grants (budget justification)

With a comprehensive protein production platform, Protein Expression Facility has successfully delivered over 200 research projects per year, to produce a broad spectrum of protein-based products such as biomaterials, biotherapeutics, diagnostic agents, enzymes and vaccines, in milligrams or grams quantity.

Equipped with leading platform technologies and a team of highly skilled research specialists, PEF has a proven track record of driving scientific success in discovery and translational projects for academia, industry and government.

The University of Queensland Biological Resources (UQBR)

The University of Queensland Biological Resources (UQBR) is a Collaborative Research Platform established to ensure there is effective and dedicated support for research involving animal models. Established in 2006 to centralise operations, UQBR now includes a number of facilities across the St Lucia and Gatton campuses, RBWH and PAH Hospitals and Hidden Vale site. The core role of UQBR is the provision of best practice husbandry care, combined with research support such as hands-on training and project assistance.

In addition there are areas that fall under the UQBR umbrella, these include AEGRC, TASQ, Aquatics HVWC, and QASP.

Pricing and contact information

Our range of services allow for a range of projects with unique requirements and considerations.

Contact UQBR for price lists and quote for your grant budget section.

Facility performance and track record statement for grants (budget justification)

By providing comprehensive services the UQ Biological Resources Unit has supported a large number of research projects each year across a range of species and models requiring husbandry, reproductive technologies and research support services.

With highly skilled and experienced staff, UQBR has successfully supported research using animal models across many institutions external commercial projects.

NCRIS Facilities

NCRIS builds collaborative research facilities that bring together funding from the Australian Government, Queensland Government, industry, universities and university researchers to help provide open access research infrastructure.

Australian National Fabrication Facility’s Queensland Node (ANFF-Q)

ANFF-Q is a world-class micro and nanofabrication facility providing access to cutting-edge equipment with training and support from expert staff specialising in microfluidics, organic electronics, biomaterials, novel semiconductor materials and characterisation.

Also check out the ARC and NHMRC grant advice guide, which includes a sample proposal outlining how to complete each stage of the application.

ANFF-Q Instrumentation Costs Download ANFF's ARC and NHMRC grant advice guide.

Australian Research Data Commons (ARDC)

The Australian Research Data Commons (ARDC) brings to the eResearch sector over 10 years of experience on research data infrastructure and services such as the Nectar Research Cloud, persistent identifiers including DOI’s and ORCiD, data curation, policy development, and access to national data collections.

ARDC can help you identify and access national leading edge data intensive compute and storage eInfrastructures, platforms, skills and workforce development resources, and high quality national data collections.

Contact ARDC for more information. Download the ARDC brochure and see what opportunities you have to accelerate your research.

Microscopy Australia (MA)

Microscopy Australia is a joint venture of university-based facilities brought together by NCRIS (Federal), State government and institutional funding that provides open access to microscopes and expertise distributed around the nation to keep Australia at the forefront of global research and innovation. CMM is a foundation member and the Queensland Node of Microscopy Australia.

Pricing and contact information

Refer to Microscopy Australia's Grant Advice Guide for a helpful resource to calculate project-related costs. Microscopy Australia's fees for academic research are subsidised for typical Australian research grants like ARC and NHMRC.

Check out Microscopy Australia's Grant Advice Guide

National Imaging Facility (NIF)

Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN)

TERN is Australia’s land ecosystem observatory. It measures key terrestrial ecosystem parameters over time from continental scale to field sites at hundreds of representative locations and openly provides model-ready data that enable researchers to discern and interpret changes in land ecosystems.

Pricing and contact information

TERN's standard protocols, tools and data access are free and open. Note however that there may be local bench fees charged from time to time by operating partners at some TERN field sites.

Check out TERN’s field sites.