ARC Future Fellowships to Go International. (March 26, 2008)

The Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, Kim Carr speaking to the ANU Luncheon with Victorian Business Leaders in Melbourne today told them that Australian Research Council (ARC) fellowships will be progressively opened to greater international competition, including the new Future Fellowships scheme.

In his address to the National Press Club last week Senator Carr told them: "We are... funding 1,000 Future Fellowships for mid-career researchers. These are worth up to $140,000 a year plus $50,000 to help the host organisation meet costs related to the fellow’s research," while today he told the his listeners, "The ARC will award Future Fellowships to the very best applicants, irrespective of nationality. We want to bring these scholars to Australia. This is how our competitors operate."

Labor's election promise is shown in the table below, but has to be implemented in the May budget.

A spokeswoman for the ARC confirmed that there will be a level playing field for applicants, i.e. they will be judged entirely on merit and that they have no reason to believe that Labor's election promise won't be kept.

In addition the Minister confirmed that the ARC: "will award the ARC’s Australian Postgraduate Awards (Industry) to the highest calibre postgraduate students, regardless of nationality. And it will remove restrictions on the use of ARC funds for travel by international research partners."

Of course the matters which still need to be addressed are having individuals and facilities in our academe which will attract "the best" and to entice them to stay once they have completed their four year fellowship; that's the consummation yet to be realised.