Industrial Transformation Research Hubs

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What is an Industrial Transformation Research Hub?

The Industrial Transformation Research Hub is a scheme which aims to encourage and support university-based researchers and industry to work together to address a range of strategic government priorities to transform Australian industries.

Background

The Industrial Transformation Research Program (ITRP) supports university researchers to partner with industry in priority areas for Australia.  

Industrial Transformation Research Hubs  fund research projects focused on issues facing industry and Industrial Transformation Training Centres - support Higher Degree by Research (HDR) students and postdoctoral researchers gain practical skills and experience through placements with industry.  

The priorities for ITRP commencing 2023 (ITRP23) are:  

• Advanced Manufacturing  
• Cyber Security  
• Defence  
• Food, Beverage and Agribusiness  
• Medical Technologies and Pharmaceuticals  
• Mining Equipment, Resource Technology and Services, Critical Minerals Processing  
• Oil, Gas and Energy Resources  
• Recycling and Clean Energy  
• Space 

Objectives

The objectives of the Industrial Transformation Research Hubs scheme are to:

• encourage collaborative R&D projects between universities and organisations outside the Australian higher education sector that will solve challenging industry issues relevant to the Industrial Transformation Priorities
• drive growth, productivity and competitiveness within key growth sectors
• leverage national and international investment in targeted industry sectors, including from industry and other research end-users.

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Funding

The scheme provides project funding of $500,000 to $1 million per year for three to five years.

Eligible Projects

You can only spend the grant on eligible expenditure items that directly support the project and in accordance with any additional special conditions in the grant agreement.

Eligible expenditure items are:

• personnel, which may include:
  • salary support for personnel who perform research or activities that support the research
  • stipends for HDR students
  • expert services of a third party if the services are directly related to and essential for the project
• travel costs essential to the project
• expenditure on field research essential to the project
• equipment (and its maintenance) and consumables essential for the project.
• other, which may include:
  • access to national and international research and infrastructure facilities;
  • access to technical workshop services linked to and justified explicitly against the project (for example, machine tools and qualified technicians);
  • publication and dissemination of project research outputs and outreach activity costs;
  • specialised computer equipment and software essential to the project;
  • web hosting and web development specific to the project;
  • workshops, focus groups and conferences that are essential for the conduct of the project (including reasonable hospitality costs such as morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea); and
  • reasonable essential costs to allow a participant who is a carer, or who personally requires care or assistance, to undertake travel essential to the project.

Eligible Applicants

To be eligible Your application must:

• address one or more of the current Industrial Transformation Priorities;
• include at least one Australian Partner Organisation. You may also include additional Partner Organisations, Other Eligible Organisations and Other Organisations; and
• meet the participant requirements in Part A – Industrial Transformation Research Hubs or B – Industrial Transformation Training Centres.

You and each Other Eligible Organisation and Partner Organisation on an application must each commit a significant contribution of cash and/or in-kind and/or other material resources to the application having regard to the total cost of the proposed Research Hub or Training Centre and the relative contribution of any Chief Investigator(s) (CIs) or Partner Investigator(s) (PIs) at the organisation.

The minimum contribution required from each Eligible Organisation, Partner Organisation and/or Other Organisation is explained in the relevant Part of the grant guidelines.

You can only submit one application for the same project in any grant opportunity. This includes applications which fundamentally have the same research intent, approach and outcomes, regardless of any variations in the research, the named participants and/or organisations.

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Timing

Applications close 15 December 2022.

More Information

• Source
• Grant Guidelines