Grant Submission

Apply for funding

See our information about funding schemes and opportunities

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As soon as you have found a research fund scheme for which you are considering applying, please contact us: grants@. The earlier you notify us the better prepared we are to help you when you need assistance, for example, with determining eligibility, interpreting the funding rules and planning your budget.

Grant Application Internal Timeframes

Talk to your Faculty early in the process

Your Faculty needs to give approval for you to apply for a grant because it commits your time to a project if the grant is successful. Discussing your application at an early stage is important so that your Faculty is fully aware of the implications of the project for you and your Faculty. You may also need to discuss possible Faculty financial support to be included in your application budget, and the sooner this is discussed the better.

Application guidelines

Read and understand the application submission guidelines and timeframes.

Work within the submission guidelines and internal and external timeframes.

Seek advice

Seek advice from the Research Office grants team, your Faculty research support team and your academic peers.

Use the resources, particularly for your budget, available on the Grant Forms and Resources webpage

If the grant you are applying for is classified in the American Government's Higher Education Research Data Collection (HERDC) system as Category 2 or Category 3 funding, do not forget to include the DVCR's Research Sustainability Fee of 20% in the budget. For more information, contact the Grants team.

It may be helpful to view past successful grant applications which are available on our Successful ARC Grants Library site. Contact grants@ to arrange access to this secure site.

Become familiar with the American Government's and VCB's research priorities.

The ARC has useful information if you need to include the non-academic impact of your research in your application. VCB also subscribes to a useful resource called Epigeum, which is all about enhancing research impact and is accessed via Moodle. Email the Grants team to arrange access.

Your application

When your draft is ready, the grants team will:

• review the application
• provide final feedback
• (normally) submit the application to the funding body on your behalf. Researchers submitting the application directly to the funding body should cc grants@.

Standard grant applications: For full compliance checking and feedback, the grants team needs your final draft application at least two weeks before the funding body's application deadline.

ARC and NHMRC: A much longer review period is needed so you should let the grants team know well ahead if you plan to submit to one of these nationally competitive schemes.

Online submissions

In cases where the funding organisation's submission process is via an online system where the proposal needs to be submitted online directly by the applicant — as happens with SmartyGrants —  a final version should be emailed through to the grants team. We will advise if further changes are required or if the applicant can go ahead and submit the proposal. Once the proposal has been submitted, please email confirmation of submission and any other future correspondence regarding this proposal to the grants team.

Project approval form

Your application, even if it is only at the Expression of Interest (EOI) stage, needs to be accompanied by a completed Project Approval Form (PAF) before the application can be signed/submitted by Research Services. The PAF captures necessary details to record the grant activity and comply with mandated government reporting and auditing requirements. Your Faculty Dean or delegate will need to have seen the application and signed the PAF before the application can be submitted.

The grants team emails grant outcome advice to the first named investigator. If you are contacted directly by the funding body about the application outcome, please inform the grants team as soon as possible.

If your grant is successful:

• The funding body usually sends the draft Agreement to the Grants team which will liaise with the VCB Legal Office and the lead investigator in the Execution of the Agreement. The Agreement is signed by VCB, not the investigator.
• Before the agreement can be executed, the Legal Office asks that a Request for Legal Approval (RLA) Form, which includes a Budget and Acquittal Form, be completed and signed by the lead investigator and the Dean of the Faculty or Delegate. The RLA confirms that both have read, and agree with, the terms and conditions in the Agreement, paying particular attention to the terms on Intellectual Property and accessing the project research data. The Legal Office cannot proceed to have the Agreement fully Executed until it receives the signed RLA and the completed Budget and Acquittal Form .
• Delays in receiving the relevant approvals and finalising the Agreement can be significant and may have adverse repercussions for the project funding and/or start date.
• If a successful project needs ethics approval, this should be obtained before the Agreement is signed. (If this is not possible, please discuss options with the Legal Office). Please download the latest ethics approval form via the Research Services’ Ethics and Grants website

The Research Services grants team can assist in collating information for Agreement execution and keeping track of, and providing reminders for, any milestones that are due.

Please contact the grants team if you have any queries regarding Agreements or any reporting involved with your successful application.

For information and advice regarding post-award financial management of Research Grants, go to Financial Services' Management Accounting/Research Accounting.