Discovery Early Career Researcher Awardfor funding commencing in 2015 - Instructions to Applicants
Discovery
Early Career Researcher Award
Instructions to Applicants
for funding commencing in
2015
Table of Contents
1.Matters to note before completing the Proposal form
1.1Accuracy of Information
1.2Key Dates - Discovery Early Career Researcher Award for funding commencing in 2015
1.3Research Management System (RMS)
1.4Proposal Certification
1.5RMS Assistance
2.Getting started in RMS
3.Creating a new Proposal in RMS
3.1Create a draft Proposal
3.2.Draft Proposal Summary
4.Adding the DECRA Candidate and the Administering Organisation
4.1Participants, Non-Participants and Organisations
4.2Updating Personal Details in RMS
4.3Participant
4.4Person Access Rights
4.5Non-Participants with Access to this Proposal
4.6Adding an Administering Organisation
5.Completing the Proposal Form
PART A - Administrative Summary
PART B - Classification and other statistical information
PART C - Research Opportunity and Performance Evidence (ROPE)
PART D - Project Description
PART E - Project Cost
PART F - Budget Justification
PART G - Personnel
PART H - Research Support
PART I - Statements on Progress of ARC Funded Projects
PART J - Additional Details
6.Submitting a Proposal to the Research Office
7.Avoiding common submission errors
8.Troubleshooting – RMS
9.Changes to document...... 39
Appendix A – Proposal Format
Australian Research Council
DiscoveryEarly Career Researcher Award
Instructions to Applicants
for funding commencing in 2015
The Discovery Early Career Researcher AwardInstructions to Applicants for funding commencing in 2015(referred to hereafter as the Instructions) provide information to Applicants on how to complete and electronically submit Discovery Early Career Researcher Award(DECRA) Proposals for funding commencing in 2015.
The completed Proposalform, including the PDF attachments, must comply with the ARC Funding Rules for schemes under the Discovery Program for the years 2014 and 2015, read in conjunction with Part D – Scheme-specific rules for Discovery Early Career Researcher Award for funding commencing in 2015(hereafter referred to as the Funding Rules).
The information in this document in underpinned by the Funding Rules.Please review the Funding Rules (available on the ARC website at before preparing the Proposal.
Please also refer to the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) document which will be updatedregularly and isavailable on the ARC website at
1.Matters to note before completing the Proposalform
Proposals are the prime source of information available to ARC assessors and must be submitted as mature research plans ready for implementation. The Proposal must contain all of the information necessary for assessment of the Project without the need for further written or oral explanation, or reference to additional documentation. All details in the Proposal must be current at the time of submission.
The Proposal must comply with the formatting standards described in Appendix A of the Instructions.
1.1Accuracy of Information
Please check carefully that all the information contained in the Proposal is accurate before submission of the Proposal.
1.2Key Dates -DiscoveryEarly Career Researcher Awardfor funding commencing in 2015
Please refer to the Important Dates page at the ARC websitefor key dates and updates relevant to this DECRA round, including the deadline for submission of a ‘Request not to Assess’ form and the Proposal submission deadline.
1.3Research Management System (RMS)
The Research Management System (RMS) is the ARC’s system used to prepare and submit research proposals electronically via the internet.
RMS is compatible with the latest versions of Internet Explorer, Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox. Compatibility with older versions is not guaranteed. The ARC recommends that Adobe Flash Player V10 or later be installed (available from Further information on RMS is available on the ARC website at
1.4ProposalCertification
The Proposal must be certified and submitted online through RMS by an authorised officer of the Administering Organisation. Note: The authorised officer must have the role of ‘Research Office Delegate’ in RMS.
Only the Administering Organisation certifies and submits Proposals.
The Administering Organisation must obtain the agreement, attested to by written evidence, of all the relevant persons and organisationsnamed on the Proposal. All written evidence should be retained by the Administering Organisation and must be provided to the ARC if requested.
The ARC has provided a proforma for obtaining written evidence at However, the use of the ARC proforma is not mandatory. The Administering Organisation may determine the format for written evidence.
1.5RMS Assistance
Participants should contact their organisation’s Research Office for assistance or click on the Help link (located on the top left corner of the RMS screen).If you still require assistance the ARC has the following help desk options:
- Send an email to outlining your problem and providing your RMS details.
- Telephone the RMS Help Desk on +61 2 6287 6789.
Please note: the RMS Help Desk is staffed from 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday, excluding public holidays. For afterhours queries, please send an email to and the ARC will respond to your email as soon as possible.
For queries relating to the Funding Rules, eligibility, or the Proposal form, please contact your organisation’s Research Office.
2.Getting started in RMS
The Proposal is prepared and submitted through RMS at by the Administering Organisation.
- To access and/or amend Proposal information, the DECRA Candidate and support staff involved in the preparation of a Proposal require an RMS User ID and a password.
- Further RMS information is available on the ARC website:
3.Creating a new Proposal in RMS
3.1Create a draft Proposal
- Login to RMS (
- Click on ‘Create Draft Proposal’ under the Proposals heading.
- From the Scheme round under ‘New Proposal’ select DECRA (DE15 Round 1) from the drop down list.
- Enter a Draft Proposal Name. The ‘Draft Proposal name’ is intended to be a running title for the use of the Applicant. It is not the formal title of the Proposal and is not used by the ARC in any formal documents; it can however be viewed by the ARC. Once you have saved the Proposal name it cannot be edited and the 'Draft Proposal Summary' screen will appear. Further details are added into each Part of the Proposal form from this page.
- Note: The Proposal Working Title must be entered in Part A of the Proposal. Please see Section A2 of this document.
- To return to your Draft Proposal at a later date, click on the ‘Draft Proposals’ link via your RMS Home Page.
3.2.Draft Proposal Summary
The ‘Draft Proposal Summary’ screen is the navigational screen that opens when a new draft Proposal is created. This page provides links that allow Participants to do the following:
- add Person and Organisation Participants to the Proposal;
- nominate roles for Person or Organisation Participants;
- transfer ownership of the Proposal;
- check the validity of form Parts;
- generate a PDF of the Proposal; and
- navigate through the Parts of a Proposal.
Please ensure that the Proposal form Parts are saved regularly. Do not navigate away from any form Part without saving.
RMS will automatically time out after 30 minutes of inactivity. A warning message will appear after 15 minutes of inactivity.
Proposal forms should be completed sequentially where possible to assist with the pre-population of subsequent sections (Part A, Part B,etc.). However, Part E- Project Cost can be filled out last.
4.Adding the DECRA Candidateand the Administering Organisation
4.1Participants, Non-Participants and Organisations
The Participant (the DECRA candidate), the Administering Organisation and NonParticipant(s)are added on the ‘Draft Proposal Summary’ page.
Before inviting a Participant, enter the Proposal Working Title and Proposal Summary in Part A of the Proposal Form. Adding this information will enable the invited Participant to identify the Proposal for acceptance.
Important note:
Successfully inviting a person to participate requires their Person ID (this is not their RMS User ID) and their family name. Please obtain the RMS Person ID directly from the Participant who will be able to find their personal details in RMS as shown below. Your Research Office or equivalent can search for the RMS Person IDs for individuals at your organisation.
If an intended Participant does not have an RMS Account, go to for instructions on requesting an account.
The person who will be named on the Proposal (the DECRA Candidate) will be added as a Participant. Individualswho require access to the Proposal but are not the DECRA Candidate will need to be added as NonParticipants. See 4.5 of these Instructions. The Administering Organisation will be added as the Organisation participant.
Note: The Administering Organisation will not be able to see the Proposal unless it is added as an Organisation participant. Please ensure that the Administering Organisation is added to the Proposal once created (please see 4.6 for help in adding Organisations).
In addition to the individualsand organisations needing to be added to the Proposal form, signed certifications from all participating personsand organisations (excluding the Administering Organisation) must be obtained before the Proposal can proceed. A certification proforma may be found on the ARC website at
4.2Updating Personal Details in RMS
Before adding a Participant to a Proposal, it is important that the Participant ensures that their personal details are up to date in their own RMS account. The Personal Details tab can be found on the RMS Home Page and holds information on citizenship, positions held and qualifications as well as their RMS Person ID (which is different from their RMS User Name).
The Participant should have a current position listed in the ‘Organisation Details’ tab. Please ensure the ‘Position is currently held’ box is ticked.
4.3Participant
Note: Only one DECRA Candidate may be added as a Participant on a single Proposal.Non-Participants (those who are not named on the Proposal) are not entered here - please refer to section 4.5 to add Non-Participants.
Initially there will be no Participants listed on the Proposal.
If the Proposal owner is the DECRA Candidate, they can add themselves to the Proposal by clicking on the ‘Add Person Participant’ link on the ‘Draft Proposal Summary’ page and then clicking on the ‘Populate Person ID and Family Name with my details’. ‘Person ID’, ‘Family Name’, and ‘Participation Type’ will be auto generated. Select the Participation Type from the drop down menu (there is only one option) and click ‘Add Participant’. This will add the Proposal Owner as the Participant (DECRA Candidate).
If the Proposal Owner is not the DECRA Candidate, the DECRA Candidate must be added as a Person Participant on the ‘Draft Proposal Summary’ page.
Add the DECRA Candidateas follows:
- Click on ‘Add Person Participant’ on the ‘Draft Proposal Summary’ page.
- Once the ‘Add Proposal Person Participant’ pop-up box appears, enter the DECRA Candidate’sRMS Person ID, Family Name and select ‘Participation Type’. Click ‘Add Participant’.
Note: Successfully inviting a person to participate requires their RMS Person ID (this is not their RMS User ID) and their family name. Please obtain this directly from the Participant who will be able to find their Person ID in their own personal details in RMS.Your Research Office or equivalent can search for the RMS Person IDfor an individual at your organisation.
Note: If a person does not have an RMS Account please refer toSection 2of these Instructions for further information.
The table of Participants on the ‘Draft Proposal Summary’ page displays the status of the Participant as in the screenshot below.
When a Participant has been successfully invited, they will receive an automated invitation email containing the Proposal details and directing them to accept or reject the invitation via RMS. The invited Participant should log in to RMS and select ‘Participation Requests’ from their RMS Home Page. They can then choose to accept or reject the invitation.
Note: A Participant must accept the invitation in order to be listed as a Participant in the Proposal’s Administrative Summary. Once they have accepted the invitation, their Participation Status will change from ‘Requested’ to ‘Accepted’ in the Participant’s table on the ‘Draft Proposal Summary’ page. ‘Part G – Personnel’ for an invited Participant will not be generated until the Participant has accepted.
4.4Person Access Rights
The Proposal Owner will already have full editing access rights. To give a Participant full editing access rights, click the ‘Edit Access Rights’ link next to the Participant name and select ‘Edit’ from the drop-down menu.
4.5Non-Participantswith Access to this Proposal
This section is used to add individuals who require access to the Proposal, but who will not be a named Participant for this Proposal, for example, staff with the Administering Organisation’s Research Office.
Add Non-Participants as follows:
- Click on ‘Give access tonon-participant’ link on the ‘Draft ProposalSummary’ page, then enter the Person ID and Family name and select their level ofaccess as shown below.
- After being successfully added, the access rights of a Non-Participant can be changed by clicking on ‘Edit access rights’ in the Non-Participants’ table on the ‘Draft Proposal Summary’ page.
4.6Adding an Administering Organisation
The Administering Organisation must be added to the Proposal. Your Administering Organisation will not be able to see your Proposal unless you add them here.
Organisations do not need to accept or reject, however the Administering Organisation is required to obtain the agreement of all parties necessary to allow the proposed research to proceed, as noted in 4.1 on these Instructions.
- Click on ‘Add Organisation Participant’ and select ‘Administering Organisation’ from the drop-down list.
- Click on ‘Set Organisation’, select the Administering Organisation from the drop down list then click on ‘Select Organisation’.
- Once an Administering Organisation has been selected, click ‘Add Participant’. This information will auto-populate into Part A1 of the Proposal form.
Administering Organisation Not Listed?
If an organisationis listed in subsections A12 or D7.1 of the Funding Rules, it is eligible to be added to the drop down menu of Administering Organisations. If it is not one of the selections available in RMS, please contact the ARC at the following email address:
If your Organisation is not listed in subsections A12 or D7.1 of the Funding Rules, it is not eligible to submit a Proposal and cannot be added to the Administering Organisations drop down list.
5.
Completing the ProposalForm
IMPORTANT: After 30 minutes of inactivity RMS will timeout and any unsaved data will be lost.Proposal forms should be completed sequentially where possible to assist with pre-population of subsequent sections. (Note:Part E - Project Cost can be completed last).
Please note that where information is entered in textboxes in the RMS, formatting (e.g. underlined headings and bold font) will not be preserved.
PART A - Administrative Summary
A1If this Proposal is successful, which organisation will it be administered by?
(This information will be auto-populated with the details previously entered under ‘Organisations’ onthe ‘Draft Proposal Summary’ page.)
- The Proposal must be submitted by an Eligible Organisation. This organisation will administer the project and will be identified as the Administering Organisation. The Administering Organisation is where the DECRA Recipient will be employed during the period of project funding.
- The Administering Organisation must be one of the Eligible Organisations listed in subsections A12 or D7.1 of the Funding Rules. Refer to section subsections A6.1 and D7.1 of the Funding Rules for further information.
A2ProposalWorking Title
(This question must be answered)
- Provide a short descriptive title of no more than 75 characters (approximately 10 words). Text will turn red if the number of characters exceeds themaximum.
- The Working Title will be visible to assessors.
- Avoid the use of quotation marks; and
- Do not use all upper case characters.
Note:This Proposal Working Title may be modified by the ARC and used for public release.
A3Person Participant Summary
- This information will be auto-populated with the details previously entered under‘Participants’ on the ‘Draft Proposal Summary’ page.
- If any information is incorrect or incomplete, it must be updated by the Candidate in ‘Personal Details’ via their RMS Home Page. Please refer to subsection D7.3of the Funding Rules for further information on roles and eligibility for researchers.
- Please be aware that the ‘Relevant Organisation’ field will be auto-populated after Part G10 of the Proposal form has been completed.
- Note: If a Participant's 'Current Organisation' is not showing at A3, that Participant must ensure that the 'Position is currently held' box is ticked in their 'Personal Details' in RMS. Please refer to the below screenshot.
A4Organisation Participant Summary
- This information will be auto-populated with the participating Organisations previously entered via the ‘Draft Proposal Summary’ page.
A5Proposal Summary
(This question must be answered.)
- Provide a written Proposal summary of no more than 750 characters (approximately 100 words) focussing on the aims, significance, expected outcomes and benefits of the project.
- Use plain English and minimise the use of terminology unique to the area of study.
- Avoidthe use of quotation marks and acronyms (spell out any uncommon acronyms).
- Use Australian spelling.
- Do not use all upper case characters in the text.
- Do not use first person language. Use “The project will…” rather than ‘I will’ ‘We will’ or ‘They will’ in the summary.
Note: This summary may be modified and used for public release.