Furthering our research excellence

Support for essential research costs

A world-class research system will boost productivity by helping Australia to create knowledge and adopt ideas from the rest of the world. With this in mind, the Government will provide an additional $512 million to universities for the indirect costs of research, progressively increasing funding to around 50 per cent of the direct costs. The Government will also provide $52 million to help small and regional universities build collaborative research networks and adapt to a more performance-focused research environment.

Improving research quality

The Government will provide $35.8 million to improve the measurement of research standards through Excellence in Research Australia. This will improve accountability and encourage researchers to strive for excellence.

Support for researchers

To support and attract top-quality researchers, the Government will increase the Australian Postgraduate Award stipend from $20,427 in 2009 to $22,500 in 2010 at a cost of $51.7 million. It will also establish a three-year post-doctoral fellowship program which will offer 100 places in targeted research fields to early-career scientists, at a cost of $27.2 million. This will build on the Future Fellowships established for mid-career researchers.