John Stocker Postdoctoral Fellowships 2016

Overview

The Science and Industry Endowment Fund (SIEF) has funding available for up to 6 fellowships commencing in 2016.

The process of awarding fellowships will begin with an invitation to Australian universities and Publically Funded Research Agencies (PFRA) and Research Institutes to submit proposals. Preferentially, research projects will be collaborative projects between PRFAs and universities. The proposal, which must be submitted via the University Research Office (or equivalent),will identify the eligible Candidate, the proposed project, Lead supervisor and any other collaborating partners. Proposals will be assessed by a panel of experts drawn from universities, publicly funded research agencies and industry representatives.

SIEF is seeking applications that include a diverse range of Early Career Researchers in order to ensure that it has the strongest field of candidates and projects from which to select.

Further information regarding the terms and conditions of the John Stocker Postdoctoral Fellowship, including eligibility and funding documentation, can be found at .

Process and Timeline - 2015*

February 2015 / Invitation toAustralian universities and publicly funded research agencies to submit proposals, targeted at identifying projects with the highest potential for scientific achievement and benefits to Australia. Collaborative proposals must be supported by all collaborating entities.Applications must identify the candidate Fellow.
A grant of $92,000 per annum for three years for each proposal chosen will be awarded to the Lead Organisation as a contribution towards the salary and on-costs of the Postdoctoral Fellow.
31 July 2015 / Proposals, which include identification of the candidate and written support of all collaborating organisations, are to be submitted by 5pm(AEST) 31 July 2015.
Proposals will only be accepted if submitted electronically by the Lead Organisation’s Research Office or equivalent.
All proposals from an Organisation must be included on themaster spreadsheet (available from SIEF website) and submitted to .
Please note any internal Research Office deadlines imposed by your Organisation.
SIEF will acknowledge receipt of applicationsincludinga SIEF Reference number to lead Research Office or equivalent. All future correspondence must include the SIEF Reference number.
August-November 2015 / Proposals will be assessed by expert Panels. An outcomes spreadsheet listing the results for Proposals submitted by your Organisation will be provided to the Research Office or equivalent. Formal notification letters for successful and unsuccessful proposals will be provided to the Research Office for distribution to the proponents.
Funding Agreements will be forwarded to each successful Lead Collaborator. Note that the Funding Agreement must be completed and executed by all parties prior to commencement of the Postdoctoral Fellow.
No later than 28 February2016
or by when indicated in the notification letter (whichever is later) / Funding Agreement to be completed, signed by all collaborators and collated by the Lead collaborator before sending to SIEF for approval and final execution by SIEF.
1 April 2016 / Milestone 1 reportsubmitted and,upon approval, invoice sent to SIEF.
30 June 2016 / Commencement of Fellow must occur before this date. Later commencement to be considered at the discretion of the SIEF Trustee.
*The dates and procedures set out in this table are indicative only and are subject to change.

Assessment Criteria for Research Proposals and Related Information

To be eligible for consideration, the project must be for research in areas that align with the SIEF Purpose and Strategic Objectives. The project must align with the research priorities and strategic direction of all the collaborating organisations.

The project must be of the highest calibre with the possibility of innovative and potentially disruptive scientific outcomes; it must address issues of national priority and bring benefit to Australia - the project must be of strategic importance to Australia. The proposal must clearly provide background and details of the project, paying particular attention to what the Postdoctoral Fellow will do.

The Lead Supervisor must be of the highest quality as judged by a variety of indicators including publications and citations, national and international standing, conference invitations, patents, awards and editorial/review activities.

The research group must be of the highest standard providing a broad spectrum of expertise, and a dynamic and exciting research experience for the Postdoctoral Fellow.

The Fellowship must provide an excellent postdoctoral experience including a well-developed research capability, additional training in areas of importance to the development of the Postdoctoral Fellow (eg scientific writing and seminar presentation; Commercialisation and intellectual property), an enhanced research network, international exposure, publications in high profile journals, and excellent career prospects.

The candidate Fellow is expected to be of a high calibre, with less than 3 years of Postdoctoral experience.

Funding

Successful proposals will receive a grant of $92,000 per annum for 3 years towards the costs of the Postdoctoral Fellow (that is, towards salary and direct on-costs) under the terms of a Funding Agreement with the SIEF. The collaborators must agree to fund all other costs of the project including equipment, consumables, travel and general overheads. It is anticipated that the organisation(s) participating in the proposal will commit an aggregate of at least $30,000 per annum to support the Postdoctoral Fellow. The level of commitment and its expenditure should be identified in the submitted proposal.

Eligibility of Fellow

The Fellow must meet the following criteria:

(a)awarded (or shortly to be awarded) a PhD degree in a discipline related to the Project;

(b)eligible to work in Australia;

(c)on completion of the Fellowship, the candidate’s total relevant work experience since confirmation of the candidate’s doctorate does not exceed six full-time equivalent years;

(d)available to commence role prior to 30 June 2016; and

(e)be offered employment by the Lead Organisation as a designated post-doctoral fellow for a period of not more than three years full-time.

Development and Training

A training and development plan must be developed in consultation with the Postdoctoral Fellow. Usually, this will occur prior to commencement, so that obligations and expectations are clarified before the Fellow accepts an offer of employment. If this is impractical, a broad plan should be submitted by the lead organisation and followed up with a more detailed plan no later than one month after commencement. The plan will be designed to facilitate the development of the Fellow's capabilities to those expected of an independent researcher and opportunity must be provided for the Fellow to apply those capabilities in their work, as they develop.

The training and development plan will include defined opportunities for formal involvement in research planning, conference attendance, publication and review of scientific papers and fully funded training courses for skills development in relevant areas such as:

•Intellectual Property

•Commercialisation, licensing and legal issues

•Elementary statistics

•Writing papers for presentations and publication

•Conference and meeting presentation skills

(Please delete the above section before submission)

Science and Industry Endowment Fund

John Stocker Postdoctoral Fellowships 2016

Project Proposal Form

This form must be completed for each proposal. All proposals must be endorsed by an authorised officer of the Lead Organisation as well as each Collaborating Organisation, and submitted via the Research Office or equivalent.

Proposals should adhere to the page limits as indicated at relevant sections(excluding the appendices) and supply only the information requested. A minimum of 10 point font should be used.

Please read the Guidelines at the end of this form before completing the proposal.

Section A – Details of Proposal

A1: Lead Organisation: Name of agency / university
A2: Who will be the primary supervisor of the postdoctoral fellow?(Nominate one person only – see Guidelines)
Salutation: / First name: / Last name:
Mailing address
Email: / Phone:
A3: Collaborating Organisation(s): Name of agency / university
A4: Who will be the co-supervisor of the Postdoctoral Fellow?
Salutation: / First name: / Last name:
Mailing address
Email: / Phone:
A5: Proposed location of Postdoctoral Fellow: (should be the same as the primary supervisor)
A6: Project title:
A7: Project description: [Use the headings as indicated]
Explain how the project is directed to furthering the interests of the Australian community, industry or contributing to the achievement of Australia’s National Research Priorities.How innovative/disruptive is the project likely to be:

Does the project really challenge the boundaries of knowledge?
Could the project result in disruptive innovation?

No confidential information should be included.
[2 Pages]

Background and details of the project:

What will the Postdoctoral Fellow do:

A8: State why you think this will be an excellent Postdoctoral experience, include details of training opportunities: Note a training and development plan will be required as part of Milestone 1 report
[1/2 Page]
A9: Indicate which PrimaryField of Research (FOR) the project is relevant to: Please indicate a maximum 1 FORs from the list below that best align with your project. FORs are based on the Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC), 2008.
01MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES
02PHYSICAL SCIENCES
03CHEMICAL SCIENCES
04EARTH SCIENCES
05ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
06 BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
07AGRICULTURAL AND VETERINARY SCIENCES
08INFORMATION AND COMPUTING SCIENCES
09ENGINEERING
10TECHNOLOGY
11MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES
A10: Indicate which Secondary Field of Research (FOR) the project is relevant to: Please indicate a maximum 1 FORs from the list below that next best align with your project. FORs are based on the Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC), 2008.
01MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES
02PHYSICAL SCIENCES
03CHEMICAL SCIENCES
04EARTH SCIENCES
05ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
06 BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
07AGRICULTURAL AND VETERINARY SCIENCES
08INFORMATION AND COMPUTING SCIENCES
09ENGINEERING
10TECHNOLOGY
11MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES
A11: What contribution/ impact would the Fellow have on supervisor(s) research program(s)?
[1/2 Page]

SECTION B – Details of Research Group and Supervisor(s)

B1: Brief description of the immediate group’s composition. Give names, affiliations, locations, expertise, roles,and % EFT in the project:
[1/2 Page]
B2: List invitations to the supervisor(s) to speak at international conferences in the last 2 years and indicate whether or not there was support from the conference:
Attach as an appendix
B3: Patents granted or applied for by the supervisor(s): (provide titles):
Attach as an appendix
B4: Publications of the supervisor(s) and all members of the group (separately) for the last 5 years including references, journal impact factors and citations (provide in tabular format – see page 2 of the Guidelines):
Attach as an appendix
B5: Other relevant information that supports the application including awards, lifetime citations, editorial appointments etc: (see Guidelines following):
[1/2 Page]

SECTION C – Details of the Fellow

C1:Fellow information:
Salutation: / First name: / Last name: / Gender:
C2: Academic and relevant experience of Fellow. Also attach a brief CV as appendix
[1/4 Page]
C3: On completion of the Fellowship, the candidate’s total relevant work experience since confirmation of the candidature’s doctorate will not exceed six full-time equivalent years. / Yes No
C4: Is the Fellow eligible to work in Australia? / Yes No
C5: Has the Fellow been awarded (or is the Fellow shortly to be awarded) a PhD? / Yes No

SECTION D – Finance

D1:Funding information:
Instalment number / Fellowship Funds (SIEF) / Applicants Contributions / Total
Lead / Collaborator 1 / Collaborator 2
1 / $92,000 / $ / $ / $ / $
2 / $92,000 / $ / $ / $ / $
3 / $92,000 / $ / $ / $ / $
D2: Details of the composition of the applicants contribution including cash and/or in-kind (see Guidelines following):

SECTION E – Endorsement of Lead Organisation

Endorsement of the Lead Organisation
[Do not delete these conditions]
NOTE: By signing below, the signatory represents that he/she has authority to do so and that, if successful, the Lead Organisation is agreeing to:
(a)provide the cash and/or in-kind contribution specified above, and that this contribution combined with the contributions pledged by the Collaborating Organisations (if any) is sufficient to support the postdoctoral fellowship if the proposal is successful; and
(b)The publication of the project title, name of Lead Organisation, names of relevant researchers, and other relevant details of this Project Proposal Application Form, including on the SIEF website; and
(c)all information disclosed in this Project Proposal Application entering, and being deemed to have entered, the public domain, and being disclosed to reviewers, advisors and any other party deemed necessary by SIEF; and
(d)Execute the Funding Agreement by28 February2016.
______
Signature of authorised officer of Lead Organisation
______
Name
______
Position
______
Date

SECTION F – Endorsement of Collaborating Organisation

Endorsement by Collaborating Organisation:
[Do not delete these conditions]
NOTE: By signing below, the signatory represents that he/she has authority to do so and that, if successful, the Collaborating Organisation is agreeing to:
(a)provide the cash and/or in-kind contribution specified above, and that this contribution combined with the contributions pledged by the Lead Organisation (if any) is sufficient to support the postgraduate scholarship if the proposal is successful; and
(b)The publication of the project title, name of Collaborating Organisation, names of relevant researchers, and other relevant details of this Project Proposal Application Form, including on the SIEF website; and
(c)All information disclosed in this Project Proposal Application entering, and being deemed to have entered, the public domain, and being disclosed to reviewers, advisors and any other party deemed necessary by SIEF; and
(d)Execute the Funding Agreement by 28 February 2016.
______
Signature of authorised officer of Collaborating Organisation
______
Name
______
Position
______
Date
Duplicate this section for all collaborating organisations

Administrative contact details of Lead Organisation

Contact:
Email:
Phone:

Administrative contact details of Collaborating Organisation

Contact:
Email:
Phone:

SECTION G– Submission

.All documentation relating to an individual proposal must be assembled into one word or pdf file

.Please name the document as per the following protocol:

SIEF 2016– PDF – [Lead Supervisor surname]

Proposals should be submitted to , via the Research Office or equivalent, by 5pm (AEST) 31 July 2015.

Guidelines - John Stocker Postdoctoral Fellowships

The following comments on issues of special importance to the assessors may be helpful to those preparing proposals.

(Please delete Guidelines before submission)

Item in Proposal Form
Who should complete this application? / It is strongly suggested that this application be completed as a combined effort between the Supervisor(s) and the proposed Fellow. Many of the questions require information on current research activities, and Supervisor background, and therefore should be primarily completed by the Supervisor(s). The Fellow should provide relevant information for Section C and may also be involved in the drafting of other sections, in particular the Project Description (A5).
Assessment weightings / The following weightings will be assigned to assessment
Project, research environmentand opportunity – 50%
Supervisor – 25%
Candidate Fellow – 25%
Submission process / The completed Proposal:

must be submitted via the Lead Researcher’s Research Office or equivalent, along with the Research Office Spreadsheet for submission (available on the SIEF Webpage)
no proposals will be accepted if submitted directly by the Researcher or candidate Fellow
all Collaborating Organisations must certify the proposal prior to submission; it is the responsibility of the Lead Organisation to collate all relevant signatures before submission
applicants should make themselves aware of their internal Research Office or equivalent deadlines and leave sufficient time for appropriate sign-off by ALL collaborators
the document should be named as per the following protocol: SIEF 2016 – PDF – [Lead Supervisor surname]
proposals to be submitted to 5pm (AEST)31 July 2015

Section A / Project Selection:The project must be of the highest calibre with the possibility of innovative and potentially disruptive scientific outcomes. The project should challenge the boundaries of knowledge. Funding from the SIEF is being made available to engage Postdoctoral Fellows(‘PDFs’) in projects with the highest potential for scientific achievement and benefits to Australia. Preference will be given to research projects in which PDFs are to be engaged which are collaborative projects between Australian publicly funded research agencies and an Australian University.
Proposals outlining “more of the same” or “pair of hands” projects will not be highly ranked.
A2 – Supervisor: Although there may be more than one supervisor, please nominate one primary supervisor. This person must be a scientist of the employing organisation and will be the person who is directly responsible for the day-to-day supervision, research direction, and (usually) mentoring of the PDF and must be regularly available for consultation with the PDF. The supervisor is crucial in this program and we must be able to determine if the supervisor is an outstanding scientist with strong international profile and will provide an excellent support environment for the PDF.
A7 -Project Description:The project must meet SIEF’s primary purpose of being scientific research directed to assisting Australian industry, furthering the interests of the Australian community or contributing to the achievement of Australian national objectives.
Assessors are, in general, not experts in all fields of science. Thus it is very important to state the background and details of the project clearly and simply without using acronyms, jargon and complex concepts those assessors may not understand. Sufficient detail of the project must be given to make it clear what the PDF would do. State clearly the nature and the scope of the PDF project. It is the PDF’s role in the research program that is of paramount importance in your proposal.
If a diagram is included, make it self-explanatory, clear and relevant.
No confidential information should be included in the application form. By providing information to SIEF, the informationwill be considered to be in the public domain and will be disclosed to reviewers, advisors and other relevant parties as deemed appropriate by SIEF in its sole discretion.
A8 - Excellence of the postdoctoral experience: The Fellowship must provide an excellent postdoctoral experience including a well-developed research capability, frequent research update talks at laboratory, divisional/departmental and other levels, additional training where necessary (eg fully funded training courses for skills development in relevant areas such as intellectual property; commercialisation, licensing and legal issues; elementary statistics; writing scientific papers for presentations and publication; conference and meeting presentation skills) an enhanced research network, international exposure, publications in high profile journals, and excellent career prospects.