Apply for funding

Notre Dame Approval to Apply for External Funding

Preliminary approval is required before negotiating or applying for any external funding at Notre Dame, or committing to being a Chief Investigator on another organisation’s application. The University’s policy on Staff Research Grants and Contracts Application and Management provides more information on this requirement.

This step is essential to support your quality application, to develop a comprehensive budget, to enable a compliance check against funder guidelines, and to allow allocation of appropriate resources for the proposed project. The process at Notre Dame starts by creating a project coversheet in our research management system IRMA.

Preparing an Application for External Funding

The following advice and information is relevant to governmental funding schemes and can be useful when preparing a funding application:

  • Research Strategy

    Consider whether your research interest and project topic meet Notre Dame's and/or Federal Strategic Research priorities.

  • Budget Preparation

    Make a comprehensive assessment of the research budget required for the successful conduct and completion of the study. Consider direct research expenditures, but also personnel and research project specific overhead costs.

  • Track Record of Research Team

    Compile research publication records of investigators involved in the research funding application to meet the quality and suitability assessment of the proposed research team. This review is most often based on expertise and research output.

  • Research Classification

    Consider how to classify your research project. This is important for accurate reporting on research activities by the University. However, it can also be important for your application for national funding, as it may influence the selection of a panel and/or experts involved in the grant peer review process.

  • Australian External Research Funding Categories for HERDC

    If your research funding application relates to a Higher Research Degree (HRD) project, it might be helpful to understand to what category of research income data in Australia your research project funding contributes. This HERDC information influences the University’s annual income for research through Australian Government research block grants.

    Category 1: Australian competitive grant research & development income
    Category 2: Other public sector research & development income
    Category 3: Industry and other research & development income
    Category 4: Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) research & development income