National Intelligence and Security Discovery Research Grants

The National Intelligence and Security Discovery Research (NISDRG) Grant opportunity is a research program created to boost innovation and support national intelligence security research in Australia.

The Office of National Intelligence and the Department of Defence National Security Science and Technology Centre are funding the NISDRG program, which will total $18 million. The grants will help deepen understanding of emerging science and technology to address intelligence and national security interests.

There are two grant opportunities available under this scheme:

Intelligence Challenges funded by the Office of National Intelligence, and

National Security Challenges funded by the Department of Defence, National Security and Technology Centre.

The grants will support research aligned with priorities identified by the Australian Government in the Intelligence Challenges and National Security Challenges developed under the broad National Security Science and Technology Priorities. It is anticipated the NISDRG program will fund about 12 research grants per year between $400,000 and $600,000 per grant for a period of up to three years.

Applications will be managed by the Australian Research Council on behalf of the Office on National Intelligence and the Department of Defence National Security Science and Technology Centre.

Total funding requests must be between $400,000 to $600,000, with a funding duration of up to three years.

There are no minimum cash or in-kind requirements for any organizations listed on the application.

1. Read the Grants Guidelines and Instructions to Applicants - see below for links to ARC documents.
2. Submit a NISDRG coversheet to the Research Office and full draft EOI submitted for review via ONI and Defence RMS Portals by the due date.
3. Submit finalised EOI submitted to the Research office via ONI/Defence RMS portals by the due date.
4. Use the DU templates provided below and liaise with your Case Manager as necessary.
5. 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:
• Application templates National Security Challenges:
  • Part D2 - NS22 project Description
  • Part E2 - NS22 Defence Budget Justification
  • Part E3 - NS22 Non-Defence Budget Justification
  • Part F7 - NS22 Research Load
  • Part F17 - NS22 ROPE Career Opportunities
  • NS22 Sample Form
• Application templates Intelligence Challenges:
  • Part D2 - NI22 Project Description
  • Part E2 - NI22 ONI Budget Justification
  • Part E3 - NI22 non-ONI Budget Justification
  • Part F7 - NI22 Research Load
  • Part F17 - NI22 ROPE Career Opportunities
  • NI22 Sample Form
• Certification Proforma - NS and NI
• Other Documents:
  • Deakin University Salary Calculator
  • Compliance Checklist Parts A-E
  • Compliance Checklist Part F (ROPE)