Don't let the name fool you - it's not ‘just’ an expression of interest…
- Dr Catherine Dandie
- Nov 5
- 2 min read
Hot on the heels of the Future Fellowships that have been keeping us (and some of you!) busy of late, next up, ARC DPEI27 – the ARC Discovery Project Expressions of Interest. The last round of this scheme, but perhaps not the last of the EOI as a concept, as we’re all still waiting with bated breath to see what the ARC has come up with as part of its ‘New Plan for ARC-Funded Research’.
But back to the DP EOI. It's just 2 pages you say – how hard can it be?
Talk to anyone who has put one of these little beauties together, and you will soon come to realise that, despite their short page limit, they still require thoughtful composition, careful crafting and a fair bit of time and effort.
Here’s a few of our thoughts on where to spend your energy as we ramp up our DPEI review ready reckoners before this scheme opens on 3 November:
Think about your pitch: why is your research important to Australia and Australians, what big audacious problem is your research trying to solve?
What are you proposing that’s new? (After all, at this EOI stage, the main assessment criterion is Project Quality and Innovation, worth a whopping 70% of your total score.)
Why are you and your team, with your range of expertise in the relevant research fields, the right people for the job? Because next up, it’s the Investigator/Capability assessment criterion worth the other 30% of your score.
Then think about your project plan – while you don’t have a lot of space in this 2-pager, it really helps to have thoroughly thought through (like that alliteration?) the project and how you will achieve your goals. Assessors can see straight through a poorly conceived plan and are keenly attuned to picking holes in it to help them whittle down the ~4000 applications expected to be received (maybe more this year given this is going to be the final round) to the ~1100 that will go through for assessment at the full proposal stage. So do a deep dive into the project plan. Map it out fully, then pull out the key aspects that you can include within the space available in the EOI.
Finally, who is going to benefit and where will your research have impact? The scheme is assessed based on your capacity/potential to create new knowledge and deliver benefits to Australia, so make sure you don’t miss this and instead think carefully about your end-users/stakeholders and how your research will potentially benefit them.