Future Fellowships

The Future Fellowships scheme objectives are to:

1. support excellent basic and applied research and research training by outstanding mid-career researchers to be recruited and retained by universities in continuing academic positions;
2. support national and international research collaboration; and
3. enhance the scale and focus of research in Australian Government priority areas.

The intended outcomes of the Future Fellowships scheme are:

1. expanded knowledge base and research capacity in Australia; and
2. economic, commercial, environmental, social and/or cultural benefits for Australia.

Future Fellowships will be awarded funding in 2021 for a period of up to 4 years on a full time-basis. A researcher may only apply for up to 3 FTs over the period in which they are eligible.

FT21 is open to applicants who have been awarded a PhD on or between 1 March 2006 and 1 March 2016, or have an award of PhD date together with an allowable period of career interruptions that would be commensurate with an award of PhD date on, on or between 1 March 2006 and 1 March 2016. The allowable career interruptions set out and the period allowed for each are in Table 6 of the Grant Guidelines for the Discovery Program (2019 edition).

** Eligibility Update -  Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic **

The ARC acknowledge that this is a particularly difficult time for our mid-career researchers, who have specific eligibility timeframes to apply for the FT scheme. The ARC is therefore introducing a one year, automatic eligibility extension, for all researchers currently in their final year of eligibility for a FT submission.

Researchers in their final year of eligibility for FT may choose to apply in 2020 (for FT 2021) or utilise the automatic, one-year eligibility extension to apply in 2021 (for FT 2022). Final year applicants cannot apply in both FT21 and FT22 rounds.

A Future Fellowship may be requested at one of three salary levels. An administering organisation may be awarded up to $60,000 of project funding per annum.

1. Read the Grant Guidelines for the Discovery Program (2019) and Instructions to Applicants 2021.
2. Complete the Nomination form if competitive.
3. Submit Request Not to Assess if applicable via email to Deakin Research Grants
4. Commence your online application on RMS.
5. Work with your case manager and use templates provided.
6. Organise relevant certification forms.

The ARC will no longer publish scheme specific documents on its website, but will make these available through GrantConnect. Links to scheme specific documents can be found below.

Policies and Strategies can still be found on the ARC website.

Templates and Certification Form(s)

• D1 Project Description for FT21 submissions.
• D2 Statement by the Administrating Organisation (Guidance Sheet and Template)
• F20 ROPE - Academic career - impact and contributions
• E2 Justification of non-salary funding from ARC
• E3 Details of Administering Organisation contributions
• F6 Research load
• Certification Form

Deakin University Salary Calculator

Deakin University Data Management advice

Form to access library of successful Future Fellowship applications