ARC Linkage 2013 – Budgets

1. ARC Linkage 2013 – Budgets Rose Firkin Executive Officer - Grants Deakin Research – Grants

2. Outline • Budget Notes & Major Changes • RMS Budget - Tips and Hints • Common Issues • Final Tips and Hints • Useful Websites & Resources • Questions

3. Main features – Funding & Duration • Minimum = $50,000 p.a • Maximum = $300,000 p.a • Duration = 2 to 3 years

4. Budget Notes • Read the Funding Rules and the Instructions to Applicants • Page 9 of the funding rules - supported items • Page 10 of the funding rules - items not supported

5. Budget Notes – Main Changes • Teaching relief is capped at $40K pa for ALL CIs • Travel • Travel capped at $50K over the life of the project • Field or survey research expenses (except travel to & from the field) for CIs, PIs & support personnel can be claimed above the $50K (FAQ# 5.2) • No provision to request ARC funds for mobile phones (purchase or charges) or web hosting

6. Budget Notes • Scheme provides for • Domestic & international travel – eg conferences, collaborative visits, for CIs and PIs only • Expert services of a 3rd party • Translation, transcription, workshop services, data collection & analysis, purchase of bibliographical or archival material (hard or electronic copy) • Maintenance & access to infrastructure & equipment required to conduct the research but funding is not provided for equipment or infrastructure deemed to be for broad general use

7. Budget Notes • Scheme provides for • Personnel • Research associates, assistants, technicians & lab attendants (include 28% oncosts in requests) • Stipends for postgraduate students (at DU rate) • Specialised computer equipment and software essential to the project • Teaching relief • Field or survey research expenses

8. Budget Notes • No support for • ‘bench fees’ or lab access fees • Capital works and infrastructure • Costs not directly related to research • Memberships, relocation costs, insurance, mobile phones • Fees for international students Or HECS • Salaries and/or on-costs for CIs or PIs

9. Partner Contributions • Combined PO’s eligible contributions (cash & in-kind) must at least match the total ARC request • Combined PO’s eligible cash contribution must be at least 25% of the total ARC request • All in-kind contributions must be ESSENTIAL • Cash cannot be towards CI or PI salaries

10. PO Cash Contributions • Cash contributions are now defined in the LP rules “..cash funding which is transferred to and managed by the Administering Organisation.” • Are financial contributions paid to Deakin on invoice • Must come via Deakin’s financial system • Are subject to audit • DU preference is that PO cash is used within DU, not allocated to another organisation. However if required, some PO cash (Cat. 2/3) may be passed on to an Other Eligible Organisation in preference to passing on ARC (Cat. 1) funds

11. PO In-Kind Contributions • In-kind contribution definition expanded: “..contribution of goods, services, materials or time to the Project …calculated based on current market rates/valuations/rentals/charges … of the costs of labour, work spaces, equipment and databases..” • In-kind contributions can include: • facilities, equipment, software or database access • In-kind contributions MUST be specific to the project

12. PO In-Kind Contributions • NB: The ARC LP 2013 funding rules state that “..the calculations covering time and costs should be documented by the Administering Organisation . The ARC may require these calculations to be audited from time to time” • Partners MUST be able to substantiate their in-kind contributions and should provide a schedule to you of their costs that we can file

13. RMS Budget • Read the Instructions to Applicants • If you have not added an organisation on the “Draft Proposal screen” you will not be able to add them to the budget table • To add an organisation to the budget you must select & “Set Other Organisation Contributor” at the top of the budget section • All item descriptions must be entered in Year 1 – your final pdf will not show year entries marked as zero

14. RMS Budget • Keep budget table descriptions simple • elaborate in the “Justification” section • make sure descriptions are relevant across all years to reduce the need to edit each entry each year eg: “Research Fellow Level A Steps 6-8 @1.0 FTE + 28% oncosts” • Be realistic & do not inflate requests - you must be able to fully & convincingly justify any budget request. However be mindful of what the ARC may cut.

15. RMS Budget – ARC funding cuts • Expect only 60-70% of the ARC request to be funded • Try to part-fund critical personnel from PO funds so that any ARC cut does not completely wipe out essential research support personnel • Expect Teaching Relief and Travel to be cut, and PhD numbers to be reduced (eg 3 to 2, 2 to 1) • Consider whether there is a phase or component of your research that may be easily scaled back? (eg complete last phase as a separate project; reduce number of participants)

16. RMS Budget - Personnel • Do not build in indexation amounts (eg. Anticipated or known EBA increases) • Use current salary rates at time of submission (refer Grants webpage) • Legitimate to include salary increments • ARC requests MUST include 28% on-costs • Do NOT include any Commonwealth Fellows in the budget table – they should be listed in Part C: Role of Personnel (refer FR# 5.3.3)

17. RMS Budget - Personnel • Include in-kind salaries for all CIs and PIs • Deakin CIs - 27.29% on-costs • Other CIs with appropriate on-costs (28% if unknown) • In general, CI in-kind time commitment is anywhere from 0.1 FTE to 0.4 FTE. Usually the Project Leader would be at least 0.2 FTE.

18. RMS Budget - Personnel • Add PIs with appropriate on-costs (28% if unknown) • PI time commitment is often lower (0.05 FTE – 0.1 FTE was quite common in previous rounds) • ARC Requests: • Choose expertise/level of Research Fellow (RF) relevant to your project work (ie Level A vs B) • RF with a PhD MUST start at Level A Step 6 minimum • Preference for use of ARC funds is to employ Deakin staff located at Deakin. Staff may visit PO premises. Complications may arise if they are full-time at PO premises; if this is the intention, we recommend that the PO provide these staff as an in-kind contribution instead

19. RMS Budget – PhD Stipends • PhD stipend at $26,088 pa for 3 years (this is APA rate + a generous allowance for relocation, thesis costs) • Deakin University will not fund a PhD stipend for ARC Linkage applications • You should request these from the ARC or use some of your PO cash contribution

20. Budget Notes – Teaching Relief (TR) • Up to a total value of $40,000 per year for ALL CIs • No longer a special condition • ie the ARC can no longer disallow any awarded funds from being used for TR if you included it in your original budget. However, they may slash the funding if you include too much TR • add as a Personnel Budget item eg “Teaching Relief, CI Firkin x 2 months”

21. RMS Budget – Equipment • Large equipment items (>$150k) belong in the LIEF Scheme • We would not recommend asking for any items > $50k value wholly from the ARC, but if you do, make it Year 1 (builds a stronger case for need) • Used for hardware and software items • Do NOT estimate costs – justification required

22. RMS Budget – Maintenance • Some projects require large amounts of consumables or other “maintenance” items (eg molecular biology reagents; survey-based research) • Itemise carefully and demonstrate in your justification that you have costed accurately • Do not include computer equipment or software

23. RMS Budget –Travel • Keep descriptions clear but simple: • CI Firkin – Melbourne to New York return + costs Years 1 & 3 • CI Firkin – Melbourne to London return + costs Year 2 • PI Smith – London to Melbourne return + costs Year 1 • CI Firkin – Field research Borneo accommodation & meals x 7 nights - Year 1

24. Budget Notes - Travel • All travel costs must be strongly justified • It builds a strong case for support of the proposal overall if other organisations can contribute to travel costs, especially for overseas conferences for CIs • These would be listed as a cash contribution in the justification section (if they are paid to Deakin and DU then manages the monies) • Due to the likelihood of the ARC reducing travel funding, we recommend that POs contribute PI travel as an in-kind contribution

25. Budget Notes - Travel • Travel – International – be reasonable in requests for o/s conferences – we recommend including them in Year 2 - 3 only, after you have research output from your project (exception are fields such as IT where conferences are the main fora for output) • Travel – Other – include brief details in the budget line but itemise domestic travel carefully in the budget justification

26. RMS Budget –Other • As the budget table combines “Partner Organisation” and “Other Eligible Organisation” commitments you will need to manually enter these yearly amounts in the separate “Partner Organisation” and “Other Eligible Organisation” tables

27. Budget –Justifications (ARC) • Use the space – we anticipate you will have 3 pages • Keep the assessor in mind – make it easy • Use same headings as the RMS budget table • Ensure $ amounts match those in the budget table

28. Budget –Justifications (ARC) • Carefully outline costs & show your working e.g. CI Firkin will travel from Melbourne to New York in Years 1 and 3 in order to work on xxxx with Prof Smith to xxx. Total Cost of $xxx includes: • Return economy air fare (QANTAS) = $xxxxx; 5 nights accommodation (ATO rates) $yyyy x 5 = $zzzz; Per diem (ATO rates) $yyy x 5 = $zzzz; taxi transfers at departure and destination $yyyy x 4 = $zzzz

29. Budget –Justifications (ARC) • Don’t go overboard but use “confident” language to justify major items eg: • “A machine that goes ‘ping’ is essential to this project because xxxx” • “The Research Fellow is critical to underpinning the research program described in section C. An appointment at Level B is needed as expertise in xxx is required.”

30. Budget –Justifications (non ARC) • Use the same headings as the budget table • Use the space to further “sell” your project and why each item is essential to its success • Ensure in-kind commitment matches the Budget table and is appropriate for each Investigator’s role • The justification is the only place to fully explain each organisation’s contribution to each budget line item, especially when there are multiple POs and Other Eligible Organisations involved • Outline, explain and justify any cash contributions

31. Common Issues - Budgets • Figures do not meet scheme requirements • Incorrect figures • Discrepancies between budget & justification • Inconsistencies in Part C or justification (eg. different amounts or descriptions) • Inconsistencies in Partner Organisation letters (eg. different amounts, aims, objectives or title)

32. Common Issues - Budgets • Overly complex budgets • “Padding” in-kind contributions

33. Tips & Hints • Construct your budget NOW in excel • Some faculties provide help but you must check & understand your budget • If you can’t, will the assessor understand it? • Keep budget descriptions simple • Requests MUST be strongly justified • Concentrate on making a strong case • Match your budget table with your justification

34. Tips & Hints • Get someone objective to read the budget & the justification • Do they understand what you are asking for & why you need it? • Does it add up? • Do the 2 sections tally?

35. Final Tips and Hints – Avoiding Pitfalls • Get an RMS profile immediately and gain familiarity with the system • Get your co CIs and PIs to do the same • Read the Instructions to Applicants and keep these nearby as you enter your RMS budget

36. Useful Websites & Resources • ATO rates for accommodation, meals and per diems are available at • http://www.ato.gov.au/content/70617.htm (background) • http://law.ato.gov.au/atolaw/view.htm?docid=TXD/TD201117/NAT/ATO/00001 (actual rates)

37. Useful Websites & Resources • Deakin Research has costing information – drafted for industry and tender applications • You should carefully and specifically cost services such as transcription, translation, data collection & analysis but the costing sheet may act as a guide • http://www.deakin.edu.au/research/partnerships/staff-only/documents.php

38. Budget Notes – Other • Any grant applications proposing to use animals in research – contact Nick Branson, Manager Animal Services & Welfare at Deakin Research – Animal Services • Costing for use of animal facilities – visit http://www.deakin.edu.au/research/animal-services/index.php

39. Grants Website & Resources • Dedicated page for ARC LP 2013 round http://www.deakin.edu.au/research/grants/opportunities/arc-linkage-projects.php • Contains links to ARC documentation, timelines and specific resources (salary calculators, application templates, stipend rates)

40. Important Note • Deakin Research – Grants will • Provide support, advice and resources to help you draft and construct your budget • Deakin Research – Grants will NOT • Prepare your budget for you

41. Questions?