The primary and arguably most prestigious source of research funding available in Australia is the Australian Research Council (ARC).

“The process of devising and lodging an application, however, for ARC funding consumes significant resources, including but not limited to time and money,” explained Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic & Research) Ron Davies.

In order to make the application process more attractive Central Queensland University will provide incentives – including financial rewards – to assist applicants to produce successful applications for ARC Discovery and Linkage projects funding.

The first such incentive will be the provision of free external expertise, according to DVC Davies. Well in advance of submission closing dates, the Office of Research will host a visiting external expert employed specifically to assist with grant writing and editing. Applicants are urged to take advantage of this free service. Follow-up iterations will be available with the external consultant by way of email, facsimile and telephone. Only one actual visit to campus will be funded. Staff from campuses other than Rockhampton should be funded by their Faculty to travel to meet with the visiting expert. Where no Faculty or Centre affiliation exists, the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic and Research) will consider requests for special travel funding.

The second part of the incentive program will be a staggered reward system. Each application for Discovery of Linkage, which is recommended by the external expert to the Deputy Vic-Chancellor (Academic and Research) as professional and tenable, will attract an incentive of $5000 to the designated account of the Chief Investigator (total to be split between multiple Chief Investigators) upon submission.

When ARC Discovery outcomes are announced and rankings of unsuccessful applications provided, further incentives will be provided on a sliding scale relative to the ranking of the application as follows: - Any application which falls within the top 10% of those unsuccessful applications will attract $20 000 (total value to be split between multiple Chief Investigators).

-Any application which falls within the next 20% of those unsuccessful applications will attract $10 000 (total value to split between multiple Chief Investigators).

-Any application which falls within the next 10% of those unsuccessful applications will attract $5000 (total value to be split between multiple Chief Investigators).

Any applications ranked under 60% do not attract incentive payments.