Information Session: ARC funding for FHMS researchers

Are you interested to learn about funding from the Australian Research Council? If so, please join our information session with three renowned speakers, each with extensive ARC experiences. Following, we will have a light lunch to meet with colleagues and chat about these opportunities.

Session commences at 11:15am with a light lunch at 12:30pm.

Speakers:

Professor Laura Parry

Laura is the Pro Vice-Chancellor Research Excellence at the University and has worked on ARC grant schemes for over 20 years – as an applicant and an assessor. She received two ARC Fellowships (postdoctoral fellowship and a mid-career QEII) and was on the ARC College of Experts (2016-2019). She now regularly interacts with the ARC Executive on new schemes and data analytics. Her particular expertise for this discussion is to provide a detailed overview of the schemes relevant to biomedicine, the assessment/ranking process and also some insight into the strategies required to optimise success in fellowship schemes.

Professor Sarah Robertson

Sarah Robertson is Professor of Reproductive Immunology and NHMRC Investigator Fellow in the School of Biomedicine and Robinson Research Institute. Her research focus is the immune response to conception and pregnancy, and consequences for reproductive outcome and offspring health. This work involves tackling knowledge gaps in the fundamental biological processes and evolutionary drivers of reproductive success, including research questions relating to partner compatibility, and the female immune response in regulating cryptic female choice and receptivity to pregnancy. This part of her research program has been funded by the ARC over many years. She is an elected Fellow of The Australian Academy of Science and the Australian Academy for Health and Medical Sciences.

Professor Mark Hutchinson

One day Mark got a phone call from the Minister of Education asking him to be a contributor to the landmark Review of the ARC Act 2001. His relationship with the ARC changed forever. Mark’s experience spans the legislative reform that reshaped the ARC, the strategic policy implementation within the University, and his own work as an ARC-funded researcher. This background provides him with unparalleled insight into the recent shift towards a more independent, streamlined, and robust ARC. This allows a unique, multi-faceted perspective on Australia's research funding landscape allowing a potential untangling of where ARC funding sits in the complex patchworked "system". If we are lucky, that phone call and the subsequent roles he has played, might allow him to translate to the attendees these high-level policy changes into practical, strategic advice, empowering researchers to navigate the new grant system and thrive in an apparently ever changing system. It may also help future ARC funded researchers understand how to better collaborate and communicate with the ARC to help achieve the impact we all desire.

Bookings and further enquiries

Bookings close at 4pm on Monday, 14 July 2025

Email: fhms@adelaide.edu.au or steven.wiederman@adelaide.edu.au