Discovery Early Career Researcher Awards

Key dates for DECRA 2025

Release of Grant Guidelines: 12 October 2023
UQ Information session: 18 October 2023
Research Office Notice of Intent close: 19 October 2023
Eligibility Exemption Request due to the Research Office: 2 November 2023
Research Office accepting early applications from: 2 November 2023
Applications due to the Research Office: 9 November 2023
Request Not to Assess internal deadline: 20 November 2023
Request Not to Assess external deadline: 23 November 2023
Applications close with ARC: 07 December 2023
Rejoinders open: 28 March – 15 April 2024
Rejoinders due to UQR&I: 8 April 2024
Anticipated announcement: Third Quarter 2024

DECRA 2025 – Eligibility

To be eligible for DE25, the candidate must, at the grant opportunity closing date,

have an award of PhD date on, or after 1 March 2019 , or
have an award of PhD date together with an allowable period of career interruptions that would be commensurate with an award of PhD date on, or after 1 March 2019. The allowable career interruptions set out and the period allowed for each are in Table 8 of the Discovery Fellowship Grant Guidelines

UQ Information Session

To assist applicants in preparing their proposals, the Research Office held an Information Session Wednesday 18 October 2023 1:30pm - 3:00pm. Recordings of this session are available on the Presentations and slides page. The session featured a scheme overview, key findings from past rounds, the application and submission process, and a Q&A session with ARC College of Expert members.

UQ Rejoinder Information Session

To assist researchers in preparing rejoinders, the Research Office holds rejoinder information sessions involving senior academics who have served on the ARC's College of Experts. Recordings of this session will be made available on the Presentations and slides page for those who are unable to attend.

Date: 2 April 2024

Time: 2:30pm - 3:30pm

Venue: Physiology Building Learning Theatre (63-360)

Online: https://uqz.zoom.us/j/86530838322

Overview

The Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA) grant opportunity provides focused research support for early career researchers in both teaching and research, and research-only positions. Normally up to 200 three-year DECRAs, including up to $50,000 per annum in project funds, are awarded each year.

How to apply

Internal notice of intent process

Researchers intending to submit an ARC Discovery Early Career Researcher Award 2025 application are required to submit a mandatory internal UQ Notice of Intent (NOI). NOIs will be collated centrally and distributed to Faculties and Institutes in order to provide maximum support to the UQ research community.

Step 1. RMS updates and scheme reading

Update your full profile in the RMS ‘Person Profile’. If any team members are new to RMS and need a login/password, start early.
Familiarise yourself with key Australian Research Council (ARC) and UQ documentation.

Step 2. Completing the application

Log into RMS and complete the application.
Use the UQ templates below to draft your additional documents

Step 3. Research Office internal review and feedback

Ahead of internal review, ensure all online components are complete/valid, generate a whole Proposal PDF for your records and select 'Submit to Research Office' in RMS to submit the application.
To initiate internal review, email your completed Application Certification Form to the Research Office at arc-discovery@research.uq.edu.au
Send the Research Office a Word version of your draft C2 Administering Organisation Letter of Support
Send the Research Office a copy of your completed Pending and Newly Funded ARC Grants Form
If you are lodging a Request not to Assess (RNTA), please note that the process has changed from last round. Applicants should complete the Request Not to Assess form in RMS and then submit to the Research Office for review. Instructions for creating a RNTA will be available on GrantConnect.
Internal review by the Research Office/feedback provided (compliance/eligibility/grantscraft).

Step 4. Final submission

Final submission by the Research Office to ARC through RMS

Readership and researcher support

Before applying, we recommend you:

Contact your faculty or institute research manager for advice on peer readership programs.
Join the UQ R&I Mailer to stay up to date with round developments.
Access the UQ R&I Grants Library, a helpful resource of past successful proposals.
If offered, attend UQ R&I information sessions and access PowerPoint presentations from presentations and slides.

Key documents

ARC

Before applying, please review the full suite of documents available from GrantConnect, the Australian Government grants information system. (Login required)

Additional ARC documents

ARC Medical Research Policy

UQ

Templates

Resources and forms

A range of resources and workshops from the UQ library are also available to assist researchers applying for this scheme

Prepare a data management plan
Metrics, Impact and Engagement
Online metrics tutorial
Researcher identifiers and profiles
Metrics for grant writing: Sign up for workshop, listen to recorded workshop
Research engagement and impact evidence: Sign up for workshop, listen to recorded workshop

Rejoinders and rebuttal

In the ARC assessment and rejoinder process, proposal comments from external assessors may be made available to applicants, and applicants given the opportunity to submit a rejoinder.

To assist you to prepare rejoinders, the Research Office holds rejoinder information sessions involving senior academics who have served on the ARC's College of Experts and posts the session materials.

The Reseach Office has developed a Rejoinder Tip Sheet with FAQs (PDF, 439.1 KB) to assist you in crafting your rejoinder.