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Welcome to the Australian Research Council website

The ARC is a statutory agency under the Industry, Innovation, Science, Research and Tertiary Education (IISRTE) portfolio within the Australian Government. Its mission is to deliver policy and programs that advance Australian research and innovation globally and benefit the community.

In seeking to achieve its mission, the ARC provides advice to the Government on research matters, manages the National Competitive Grants Program (NCGP), and administers Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA).

Through the NCGP - a significant component of Australia's investment in research and development - the ARC supports the highest-quality fundamental and applied research and research training through national competition across all disciplines, with the exception of clinical medicine and dentistry.

ERA assesses research quality within Australia's higher education institutions and gives government, industry, business and the wider community assurance of the excellence of research conducted.  It also provides a national stocktake, by research discipline areas, of research strength against international benchmarks.

Discovery Program: Discovery Projects for funding commencing in 2014

The Discovery Projects for funding commencing in 2014 proposals are now open.

Proposals close on Wednesday 6 March 2013.

For further information, visit the Discovery Projects page.

ARC Open Access Policy

The ARC has introduced a new open access policy for ARC funded research which takes effect from 1 January 2013. The policy will be incorporated into all new Funding Rules and Agreements released after 1 January 2013. For more information visit the Information for Applicants page.

Discovery Program: Australian Laureate Fellowships for funding commencing in 2013

For more information, visit the Australian Laureate Fellowships page.

ERA 2012 National Report

The Science and Research Minister, Senator Chris Evans announced the outcomes of the ERA 2012 process, with the release of the ERA 2012 National Report.

The ARC released the Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) 2012 National report outcomes.

For more information, visit the ERA 2012 National report results page.

Murchison Widefield Array telescope unveiled in West Australian outback

MWA tileARC Chief Executive Officer, Professor Aidan Byrne, has congratulated Curtin University on the launch of the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) telescope.  The eight-year project, worked on by 13 institutions within Australia and internationally, has the potential to save the world billions of dollars providing an early warning in the event of solar storms, and giving researchers new information about our Universe. Read more...

Producing results

The ARC is proud to fund many important and worthy research projects across Australia.

If you would like to read about some of the exciting outcomes of ARC-funded research please visit our Research Profiles page.

Submissions for this page are welcome, please contact publications@arc.gov.au.

Small muscles to have big impact on smart clothing

Professor John CairneyAustralian scientists are among a team to develop a new artificial muscle with exciting possibilities for use in self-powered intelligent textiles that could automatically react to environmental conditions like heat or sweat.

Researchers at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Science (ACES) at the University of Wollongong are part of a team spread across four continents, to develop the new hybrid yarn muscle. Find out more

Major Grant Announcements for funding commencing 2013

The Science and Research Minister, Senator Chris Evans has announced the funding outcomes of the ARC Major Grants for funding commencing in 2013 and the Special Research Initiative for an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Researchers' Network for funding commencing in 2012.

For further information on outcomes for Special Research Initiative for an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Researchers' Network for funding commencing in 2012 and Discovery Early Career Researcher Award, Discovery Indigenous, Discovery Projects and Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities for funding commencing in 2013, please visit our Announcement Kit page.