About AIATSIS Research Grants

2012 Grants round suspended

With the greatest reluctance, the AIATSIS Council has decided that applications for research grants will not be invited for the 2012 year.  Although an important discretionary program, this will be the first time in over 20 years that grants will not be available.

AIATSIS funding from Government has fallen steadily over the past decade, in inflation-adjusted terms. Submissions to Government for increased base funding, or exemption from the efficiency dividend, have been unsuccessful. We have now passed the point where all legislated functions can be delivered, and in this context Council took the view that decisive action was called for. Whilst Council noted, and appreciates, the Government’s decision to exempt AIATSIS from the additional 2.5% efficiency dividend in 2012-13, this will have no positive impact on ongoing funding.

An internal review of the grants program found that it isn’t meeting the intended purposes. It has been substantially unchanged for over a decade, and would need to be redesigned to meet current expectations from Indigenous communities, researchers and AIATSIS priorities. In addition, the grants program is no longer eligible for inclusion in the Australian Competitive Grants Register, due to a Government policy decision in 2010.

For these reasons, Council reluctantly decided that the grants program could not be funded next year. Instead, the funds will be used to bolster research in priority areas which are critically short of resources.

A report will be provided to Council’s meeting in August 2012 on the impact of this change.

 

2011 Grant Round Results

Grant approvals for the 2011 round.

Contact the grants administration team

Email: grants@aiatsis.gov.au

Phone: +61 2 6246 1144

Post: PO Box 553, Canberra ACT 2601

Location: Lawson Crescent on Canberra's Acton Peninsula.