Outstanding success in ARC funding

The University of Sydney has secured more than $58.8 million in Australian Research Council (ARC) funding for new and continuing awards, more than for any other university in the country, it was announced recently.

The Federal Minister for Education, Science and Training, the Hon Julie Bishop MP, made the announcement as part of a national allocation of funding for 878 new ARC projects worth more than $300 million over five years.

Sydney researchers have received $45 million in new awards over the next five years for Discovery Projects, Linkage Projects, Linkage International projects, Linkage Infrastructure projects, Equipment and Facilities, and Discovery Indigenous Research and Development grants.

Of these, Faculty of Medicine staff have won eleven Discovery Project grants, worth more than $1 million in 2008. (This compares with five Discovery Project grants worth $600,000 in 2004.) Faculty staff have also been awarded two Linkage grants (with one Australian PostDoc Industry Fellowship and two APA Industry scholarships) and four LIEF grants (two with University of Sydney as lead, two with UNSW as lead).

In addition, 13 per cent of all new Discovery Project Fellowships in 2008 were awarded to University of Sydney researchers, more than for any other university.