Department of Industry, Innovation, Science and Research (DIISR) (scheme formerly funded by DEST)

International Science Linkages - Australia-China Special Fund for S&T Cooperation

NOTE: Please check with your Faculty Office for Faculty deadlines as Monash contributions must be signed off by the Head of Department/School and the Faculty ADR.

The Australia-China Fund will provide financial assistance, on a competitive basis, for Australian participation in international collaborative scientific and research projects that seek support for Eligible Activities and which meet the objectives of the ISL programme.

Applications for the Australia-China Special Fund must support collaboration between Australian and Chinese partners in one of the agreed bilateral priority area of research:

• Advanced materials (including nanotechnology)
• Agriculture (including animal husbandry and animal health)
• Biotechnology (including health, medicine, and traditional Chinese medicine)
• Environment (including water resource management, air quality and climate change)
• Information and Communication Technology (ICT) (including remote sensing)
• Mining (including minerals)
• Energy (including renewable and nuclear energy)
  International Networking -  The fund will support the following expenses:
• international travel and living expenses associated with participation in collaborative scientific research and technology projects; and
• project-specific organisation and logistical costs.

Showcasing - The fund will support the following expenses:

• space rental, design and construction of showcasing facilities; and
• project management, administration and logistical costs.

Projects may range from short international visits or activities to more complex projects spanning up to 3 years.

Eligible activities include, but are not restricted to, workshops, strategic meetings, collaborative bench work, attendance of representative network delegations to appropriate for a associated with specific S&T collaborative projects. Funding does not extend to insurances and equipment expenses.

All fields (excluding social sciences and humanities) will be eligible with priority given in the areas of advanced materials, agriculture, biotechnology, the environment and mining and energy. However applications in other areas will be considered.

Funding

Under the Australia-China Fund, the total amount of funding available per round from the Australian Government is $500,000. For each project selected for bilateral funding, the Australian Government contributes to the costs (as per the eligible activities for funding) of the Australian partner and the Chinese Government contributes to the cost of the Chinese partner.

Under the Australia-China Fund the Australian Government will contribute the following funding support towards international travel and living expenses:

• travel costs of up to A$2,500 per person (maximum) for international economy airfares to China; and
• living allowance (per person) up to A$200 per day, or A$2,500 per month, whichever is the lesser amount.

DIISR support is available up to a maximum of 50% of the Australian component of eligible project costs. Matching contributions to the Australian component of any project costs may be in cash and/or in-kind from the applicant, collaborative participants and industry contributions. Applicants must demonstrate in their application that ISL funding is not being sought for activities funded from other Australian Government sources. There is no prescribed funding limit on individual applications. However, from time to time, a funding cap on individual applications may be applied as the availability of ISL funds dictates.

While not an activity eligible for ISL funding, the Project Managers' (Principal Researchers') salaries may be included as an in-kind contribution. In-kind contributions will be required to be detailed and costed. In-kind costs must be directly related to costs of delivering the activities of the project and can include salaries of staff for the time they are involved and other costs incurred for the duration of these activities.

As this is a joint Australia-China fund, both the Australian and Chinese partners must submit an application to their respective Government.
The application must be prepared jointly between the Australian and Chinese collaborators.

All applicants should refer toPart 3 of the ISL Guidelines before commencing an application. For the Australia-China Fund

Further Information and Resources

• DIISR Guidelines, Application form and Process.
• Advice regarding applications to DIISR (doc 38kb, pdf 25kb)

Submission requirements

• Online registration and application required by DIISR
• As applications are required online please see Monash Requirements for Electronic Submission of Grant Applications
• Referee's reports will be due by 11 April 2008.