Malcolm Moore Industry Research Award

This award was established by the late Malcolm Moore through a perpetual bequest donated to the University. Malcolm was the proprietor and director of a structural engineering company, and throughout his life, he displayed a keen interest in the development of institutions for vocational education.

Two grants of up to $35,000 will be available to two early career researchers in 2018 to support industry-partnered research projects. The funds must be expended by 31 December 2018 and are to be used to cover costs associated with the research project, including consumables, travel, and research assistance, but are not to be used for teaching relief.

‘Industry’ is defined broadly and encompasses all forms of end users, including business, government enterprises, and community services, similar to the definition of ‘partner organisation’ in Australian Research Council Linkage Project grants. Note that for the purposes of this award, tertiary institutions are ineligible industry partners.

The intention is to support new partnerships. The continuation or extension of existing industry linkages (e.g. where existing contracts are in place) will not be considered. The applicant will need to explain why the proposal is a new partnership. Please read the FAQs for more information.

Based on the quality of applications received, the selection panel reserves the right to not make an award in any given year.

The funding scheme will be managed and promoted by the Research and Innovation Portfolio on behalf of Alumni and Philanthropy. Contact researchdevelopment@rmit.edu.au for further information.

View previous awardees.

Eligibility

The scheme is open to Early Career Researchers (ECRs) who:

are current RMIT staff members (continuing or fixed term with at least 2 years to continue after the application closing date of 9 April 2018)
have been awarded a PhD (or equivalent) after 9 April 2013 or after 9 April 2009 with career interruptions including maternity or parental leave, carer's responsibility, illness, or non-research employment
have an appointment of at least 0.6 FTE
are not prior recipients of a Malcolm Moore Industry Research Award.

Eligible applicants may submit only one application per round.

Process and documentation

Applications must be submitted electronically by 9am on Monday 9 April 2018 as one PDF document to researchdevelopment@rmit.edu.au. In fairness to other applications, late applications will not be considered.

Applications must include the following:

a completed Malcolm Moore Industry Research Award application form

Note that the application form must be signed by the applicant's Head of School

proof of ethics approval (if applicable – see FAQ for more information)
an intellectual property agreement (if applicable – see FAQ for more information)
an academic CV
a letter from the industry partner*

*Note that the letter from the industry partner must:

include the official letterhead
be no more than two A4 pages
include a brief profile of the organisation
provide details of the Cash and/or Inkind Contributions
provide details regarding how the project aligns with the industry partner's organisational objectives
certify that if the project is funded by a Malcolm Moore Industry Research Award, it will enter into arrangements regarding intellectual property which do not unreasonably delay academic outputs
confirm that there is no existing linkage between them and RMIT and that the project will indeed be a new partnership if funded
be signed by the Chief Executive Officer, or delegate.

To be considered eligible for this funding scheme, all aforementioned documents must be submitted as one PDF document, and all must be compliant (e.g. page limit, font size, signed where applicable).

Obligations

The recipient of the award will be expected to:

complete the project and expend the research funds by 31 December 2018 (the Malcolm Moore Industry Research Grant funds will not be available to the recipient until after May 2018)
within one month after the completion of the twelve month project, submit a report detailing the outcomes of the research project (e.g. scholarly publications/submissions) to the Research and Innovation Portfolio
possibly deliver a presentation to the Alumni and Philanthropy Board
acknowledge Alumni and Philanthropy and the Malcolm Moore Industry Research Grant in all relevant presentations, publications and media releases as appropriate.

Selection criteria

The selection criteria are based on the:

quality of the project proposal and topic
applicant’s research track record
proposed research project alignment with RMIT’s Enabling Capability Platforms (ECPs). Applicants are strongly encouraged to develop their applications in consultation with the relevant Director(s) of the following ECPs:

Advanced manufacturing and fabrication
Advanced materials
Biomedical and health innovation
Design and creative practice
Global business innovation
Information and systems (engineering)
Social change
Urban futures

potential research outcomes.

Applications will be shortlisted and reviewed by the College Deputy Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research and Innovation) or delegate and reviewed by the Sector Managers, Research Engagement and Business Development before being forwarded to the Associate Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Research Innovation and Entrepreneurship, who will recommend which proposals are selected for funding. The Associate Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Research Capability will then confirm these selections.

Timeline

The following deadlines will be strictly adhered to where applicable.

applications accepted from: 9 March 2018
applications close: 9am on 9 April 2018
review of applications by panel: 10–31 April 2018
results announced: May 2018
funds available: May 2018
funds expended by: 31 December 2018
project outcome report submitted by: June 2019

Award composition

The Malcolm Moore Industry Research Award will comprise:

A grant of up to $35,000 paid into the research account of the awardee's school.
A certificate signed by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Vice President (Research and Innovation).
A permanent record of the award on an appropriate webpage (Honour Board) of the University.

Frequently asked questions

Is a PhD mandatory?

Yes. The applicant must have already completed a research doctorate e.g. PhD, DPhil, DEd, DEng, DSc, Dr Ing etc.

Why must I have an employment contract with RMIT for at least two years after the closing date to be eligible?

The Malcolm Moore Award can be viewed as 'seed funding', in that the recipient will be expected to further develop the partnership between the industry partner and RMIT in the year after the project.

Can I still apply if I have had my PhD for more than five years but have been doing research for less than five years?

Yes. Although the funding rules state that an applicant must have been awarded a PhD in the last five years, like other funding schemes, exceptions can be made if the applicant can demonstrate that there was a legitimate break in their research careers (e.g. for maternity leave, illness, misadventure, working in a different field etc.).

Where on my application should I discuss the gap in my research career?

If you have had a break in your research career, please mention it in the top right-hand corner of the application. For example, if your PhD was awarded in 2009, you can state "I worked in industry for five years post-PhD and have only been research-active since 2013"; you can then state additional details later in the application to explain the gap in your research track record.

Do I need ethics approval before applying?

No. If your project will ultimately need ethics approval, then you can apply for it once you have been offered the award. The funds will be transferred to your School when you provide the Research Office with evidence that ethics approval has been granted.

Do I need to have a signed intellectual property agreement before applying?

No. If your project will ultimately need an intellectual property agreement, then you can apply for it once you have been offered the award. The funds will be transferred to your School when you provide the Research Office with evidence that an intellectual property agreement has been signed by all parties.

Are any prior winning applications available as a guide?

No. Since applications are so detailed, they cannot be de-identified and made available. However, you can read previous winners' biographies, and details of previous projects are listed below.

2017

Awardee 1: Dr Jianzhen Ou
School: School of Engineering
Project title: Physisorptive gas sensors for portable monitoring of toxic gaseous pollutions
Industry partners: Sichuan SmartQ Environment Protection Technology Pty Ltd, China

Awardee 2: Dr Megan Nethercote
School: School of Global, Urban and Social Studies
Project title: Housing as Home: Evaluating Triple-Bottom Line Apartment Development
Industry partner: Nightingale Housing

2016

Awardee 1: Assoc Prof Ingo Karpen
School: Graduate School of Business and Law
Project title: Patient Engagement: Conceptualisation, Operationalisation, Antecedents and Consequences
Industry partners: QV Medical

Awardee 2: Dr Ruwini Edirisinghe
School: School of Property, Construction and Project Management
Project title: Improved construction safety: Analysis of real time physiological data through innovative 'smart' safety vests
Industry partner: Unik Constructions Pty Ltd

2015

Based on the quality of applications received, no awards were made.

2014

Awardee 1: Dr Judy Burnside-Lawry
School: School of Media and Communication
Project title: Increasing local level engagement to build resilient communities: Stakeholder perspectives of conditions that enable local action to reduce disaster risk
Industry partners: United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) Asia Pacific; Plan International Australia (PIA)

Awardee 2: Dr Madhu Bhaskaran
School: School of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Project title: High performance piezoelectric thin films for haptics applications
Industry partner: STMicroelectronics SAS

2013

Awardee: Dr Suelynn Choy
School: School of Mathematical and Geospatial Sciences
Project title: Water Vapour Variability and Climate Monitoring using Ground-based GPS
Industry partner: Australian Bureau of Meteorology (BOM)

2012

Awardee: Dr Olivia Guntarik
School: School of Media and Communication
Voices from the Margins: First and Second Generation Migrant Narratives of Place and Belonging
Industry partners: Immigration Museum, Victorian Immigrant and Refugee Women’s Coalition, Centre for Multicultural Youth

2011

Awardee: Dr Lara Wallis
School: School of Property, Construction and Project Management
Project title: An evaluation of How Occupational Health and Safety is Embedded in the education of Australian Building, Design and Construction courses
Industry partner: The Office of the Federal Safety Commissioner

2010

Awardee: Dr Lisa French
School: School of Applied Communication
Project title: Women in Victorian Film, Television Industries
Industry partners: The Australian Film Institute (AFI), The Australian Writers Guild (AWG, Vic.), Women In Film and Television (WIFT, Vic), The Australian Teachers of Media (ATOM)

Can we apply for this award as a team?

No. This scheme is aimed at individuals, so only one name should be on the application. The eligible ECR in your research group could apply, but please note that it will be their track record alone (not the team's) that will be assessed.

Can I apply if I have never done research with this company before?

Yes. Instead of having an established partnership in place (like some other schemes require), the Malcolm Moore Award should be extremely attractive to ECRs in that the exact opposite is required: you must demonstrate that you do not have an established link in place already.

RMIT already has linkages in place with my prospective large, multi-national industry partner, but they are in a totally different field to mine. Should I still apply?

Yes. Although RMIT has many existing partnerships with large organisations, one of those organisations could be your partner if you can demonstrate in your application that your project does not build on an existing linkage (e.g. it could be in a different field, in a different department, with a different team). Indeed, it is a requirement that your industry partner explicitly state in their letter of support that there is no existing linkage between them and RMIT, and that the project will be a new partnership if successful.

How much should my industry partner contribute?

Competition for this award is fierce, so although there is no minimum cash or in-kind contribution required from an industry partner, the more they are willing to commit, the more favourably your application will be viewed by the selection panel. Note that the selection panel acknowledges the difficulty ECRs may face in securing cash contributions, and indeed, many past recipients of this award have had zero cash contributions from their industry partner.

What is an “in-kind contribution”?

For the purposes of this award, the Australian Research Council (ARC) definition will be used: “In-kind Contribution” means a contribution of goods, services, materials or time to the Project from an individual, business or organisation. These are calculated based on the current market rates/valuations/rentals/charges (that is in the financial year of the date of the Proposal’s submission) of the costs of labour, work spaces, equipment and databases.”

Can the Research Office provide any advice on developing a competitive application?

Prospective applicants are encouraged to read this blog post and to contact researchdevelopment@rmit.edu.au with additional queries.

Am I eligible for the award, and how do I apply?

Information about eligibility and how to apply.