Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) for EOI and Full Applications

How can I demonstrate the endorsement of participants and my institution?

Please make sure that you follow your institution’s  internal rules about submitting competitive funding applications. At the EOI stage AJIF does not need formal endorsement of the EOI from the lead institution. Please just state in your proposal that all participants have agreed to participate. If you are invited to submit a full application we will require evidence of lead institution support for the proposal and agreements with partners in the form of emails or signed letters from the participants and your institution. 

How many partners do I need?

The number of partners in the application will not affect the likelihood of success, but the team must include Japanese and Australian institutional members (one of which will be the lead applicant) and industry (or other non-university) involvement in some form.

Does an industry or governmental organization need to play a specific role in research or is it enough that they make a financial or non-financial contribution?

Many forms of industry engagement are acceptable. Partners are not required to contribute financially but that is often a sign of their real interest, so it's a useful indicator of potential impact. They do not have to be directly involved in the research but there should be some indication of their role (e.g. through co-creation of the research questiona or providing access to materials or equipment or data or expert personnel). 

Does my industry partner need to contribute FINANCIALLY ?

Partners are not required to contribute financially but that is often a sign of their real interest so it's a useful indicator of potential impact. 

Am I eligible if I don’t have an industry partner yet?

EOIs and full applications need to show some engagement with industry. If an industry partner is  not engaged directly in the project then indicate whether they have helped develop the project, design the research question, or played some other role. If you are currently in discussion with industry about applications of your research but they are not willing to be formal partners please explain that in the application. 

What type of partners are needed if the applicant is a university?

You do need to have an ‘industry partner’ (non-university partner) engaged at some level. If you don't have industry engagement directly in the research itself you need to explain the extent of discussion with industry about the relevance of the research or its industry applicability. This is covered in the selection criteria which we ask you to address in applications. ‘Industry partner’ for the purpose of this program includes government agencies, NGOs and other non-university partners. 

What is the success rate for applications?

It depends on the size of the application pool. We expect to make 2 or 3 substantial grants annually. 

What happens after I submit my EOI?

If your EOI is shortlisted for progression to a full application you will be invited to add information to the application. There will be a few weeks available to develop this and the format it is not extremely detailed. 

What can the budget be used for?

Please see the AJIF guidelines under the headings ‘What the grant funds may be used for’ and ‘What the grant funds may not be used for. 

Can I hire research assistants or provide student assistance/scholarships with the budget?

Yes. You can hire staff or give scholarships for the fixed period of the project only. If the individuals are already in positions you must show that AJIF funds are used for additional periods of employment or support that would not have been provided otherwise. 

Can money be transferred between partners?

Our grants are given to a single lead institution. It is possible for the recipient to share the grant with the overseas partner. The method to do this will depend on the policy of the lead institution. In general, we do not expect that money will be transferred to the industry partner but the lead institution may use funds to cover some industry partner expenses such as travel for joint research. 

Will I get feedback about my application?

We are not able to give individualised feedback for applications. However, but we will publish summaries of the successful applications. 

You will be able to ask questions about the grant process prior to submission in a scheduled online information session. 

FAQ For Shortlisted (full) Applications

Should two references be from academia or from industry. Is there any preference?

Reference letters may be from either or both academia or industry. One letter of each type will generally be most effective but there is no requirement on them except that they must be independent of your research project. 

Is the section “Industry or other non-university partner details and roles” asking about the named industrial partner in our application, or additional potential industry partners other than named industry partner in our application?

The section in the application is about your current partner. We would like to know something about what the company/business/organisation does (e.g. what type of company are they and what industry sector are they in) and what role they will play in the research project (for example, will staff from the company carry out research with you or will the company provide facilities or equipment for your project etc)?. 

Does the application require the endorsement from only the lead applicant institution or from all Partner institutions?

We only need a formal endorsement signature from the lead institution. We do need an indication of agreement and willingness to participate from the other institutions (if this was not provided at the EOI stage). Email messages will be sufficient. 

Should we list contact details of our industry partner?

Please give us the contact details for the industry partner. 

Do we need our industry partner sign off? We have a letter of support, but will that be okay?

A signed letter of support or an email from an authorised representative of the industry partner confirming the industry partner contributions will be sufficient for full applications.

What is the allowable start date and end date for the project funding?

The normal start date would be the date on which the Agreement document is signed by the lead institution and AJIF. Projects that have other sources of funding may have already commenced before the AJIF funding becomes available. The end date will be 12 months after the AJIF Agreement start date. 

When will funds be paid?

Funds will be transferred as soon as AJIF receives an invoice from the lead applicant, after the Agreement document is signed. 

At the very end of the online application form, after the names of the two referees, there is a part to fill in one address. Is that intended for our address (the applicant)? Or is that intended for the referees' address?

Please put your own address in the section at the bottom of the form. 

I'd like to know how you distribute the funds. Will you give it directly to the lead institution or divide it among the partner institutions? I am asking this because it affects our overhead calculations.

We award the full amount to the lead institution and ask them to flow the funding to their partners in the amounts agreed among the partners. We do not anticipate funds transfer to industry partners but lead institutions can cover some industry partner expenses if permitted by their institution and agreed with AJIF in advance of starting the project 

Can the funds be used to pay ‘overhead’ costs at the lead applicant or partner institutions?

The Guidelines say that the grant funds cannot be used for items that we would normally expect a university or research institute to provide for all researchers (such as electricity, phone, room rent etc.) 

AJIF allows an overhead fee to be paid where this is part of the normal policy of the institution when accepting grants. The maximum overhead payable by AJIF is 25% (across all budget items).  

If the institution’s policy is to charge room rental for specific projects (for example, if they need extra lab space to carry out this project and if the university normally charges researchers for their lab space) this needs to be specified in the application budget. 

IF I am a fixed-term early career researcher and one of the applicants, can I ask for a salary contribution?

If you are not a continuing (permanent) employee of the lead institution (e.g. a fixed term early career researcher participating in on the project) your salary contribution would be an allowable budget item in an AJIF grant. Your institution should confirm that the AJIF funds will pay for additional time (or an extension of your contract) and will not be substituting for expenses that the institution was already committed to pay for. 

How will intellectual property be handled?

AJIF does not claim any of the IP created by the funded research (or any pre-existing/background  IP). The IP arrangements need to be decided between the lead institution and your partners.  Most universities will have their own policy about IP. Industry partners should discuss it with the university partner so both sides are clear about the IP arrangements from the beginning of the project.  Background IP (that is any IP that the parties bring in to a research project from their previous work) should be recognised as belonging to that party.    

If a full application is successful the Foundation and the lead institution  will sign a grant Agreement that makes clear that the Foundation does not claim any of the IP created by the research.