Funding and grants

The ARC and NHMRC have confirmed that any variations to funded research projects and researchers that have been directly affected by the Coronavirus pandemic can be considered via their usual post-award procedures.

Impacts may involve changes in circumstances, including scope changes, personnel changes, suspensions and extensions to end dates. The ARC and NHMRC will consider variation requests on a case-by-case basis. It is currently recommended that requests for variation not be submitted immediately as circumstances are rapidly changing. The ARC has provided information, guidance and FAQs on the impact of COVID-19 at the Pre Award and Post Award stages. The NHMRC has released FAQs on the effect of the COVID-19 outbreak on applications for NHMRC funding, peer review, grant management and other NHMRC processes.

The DVCR portfolio is in the process of establishing variation procedures for internal grants affected by Coronavirus. Please keep records of the nature and length of impacts of Coronavirus (eg research data collection impacted by an inability to recruit required participants from March 2020).

In relation to internal grants that are due to finish:

• in late April-early June 2020 – please liaise with your Faculty Officers for submission of variation/carry forward requests
• at the end of 2020 – please do not submit variation requests at this time. Post Award will be in touch with further information as it becomes available and in good time for variation requests, if necessary.

Meanwhile, the ARC, NHMRC, Macquarie and other organisations are continuing to administer schemes and provide updates on submission deadlines. The Pre Award team will share advice on changes but researchers can continue to aim for planned funding submissions in 2020.

• Pre Award – please refer to the Fellowship and grant opportunities links above for current details.
• Post Award FAQ – current information for Post Award management is available at Research Project Management COVID-19.

For further information on Macquarie University's response to COVID-19, please visit the Macquarie University’s COVID-19 website.

Eligibility for the DVCR Co-Funding Scheme is now contingent upon on-time submission of grant applications by your mandatory compliance and eligibility check.

Many applications for external funding require cash and in-kind contributions from the host institution in order to be considered for funding. This funding includes project support funds, funding for research associates, scholarships, and major equipment and in most cases is processed via the DVCR Co-Funding scheme. View further information on deadlines, processes and FAQs.

• Applications led by Macquarie University researchers must be submitted to the Research Services Grant Development Team four weeks prior to the external deadline, if requesting an optional strategic review; and two  weeks prior for a mandatory compliance and eligibility check. Please refer to the individual fellowship and grant opportunity webpage, for specific information on deadlines and processes.
• Applications that do not have a Pure record and/or do not have all the appropriate approvals in Pure (Head of Department/School [HoD/HoS] and Deputy Dean of Research and Innovation [DDRI]) will not be submitted to the external funding body.  It is the lead applicant’s responsibility to ensure the approvals in Pure are complete prior to submission.

Let us know of your intention to apply for competitive research grants, engage with partners or work with philanthropic funders by completing the Notification of Intent (NOI) form.

You should complete the NOI as early as possible, even if you don’t have all the details.

After completing the NOI form, you will be provided with regular updates about your funding scheme and sent valuable resources that will assist you in developing a highly competitive research grant application.

Once reviewed by the appropriate research support team, the NOI will generate a Pure application record. One form that will do two jobs. You will need to enrich the Pure record with additional details, but the NOI will do a lot of it for you! The newly developed form will be managed by the Grant Development Team in Research Services, and utilised by the Research Partnership Team in Research Innovation and Enterprise, and the Trusts and Foundations Team.

One form for all external funding opportunities!

Instructions for how to complete the NOI can be found here.

Download the MQ salary rates for proposals submitted in 2024 that contains the costs for academic, professional and PhD scholarships for grants

Salary on-costs

Macquarie University is liable for payment of costs additional to salaries and wages, including payroll tax, worker's compensation, superannuation and – where applicable – leave loading and severance. These additional costs are commonly referred to as 'on-costs'. Rates payable for on-cost components vary depending upon the employment type of the staff member.

The 'Total on-costs' figure provided in the table below is the sum of the relevant on-cost components of payroll tax, superannuation etc. for that employment type. Rates provided are correct as at January 2024.

All research grant applications (apart from partner-funded research) must be submitted using the Pure Research Management System. This system is used to obtain the necessary approvals required for submitting grant applications.

Macquarie University is supportive of Higher Degree Research (HDR) Candidates applying for relevant external grants, such as grants for travel, conference attendance, project costs, or scholarship top-ups. Nonetheless, the University expects that external research grants should not interfere with candidature at the University nor require extended periods of Offsite Research. HDR Candidates who intend on applying for external funding must follow this University process.

Please note that unless stated otherwise (eg: major grant schemes such as those run by ARC and NHMRC), the Research Services deadline for draft applications to external funding agencies is a minimum of two weeks prior to that of the funding agency. View the grant applications process. This allows the proposals team to compliance check applications and provide feedback. Please contact your Faculty Research Office for the dates of earlier deadlines.

This open access and funding compliance guide explains how to ensure research outputs are as openly accessible as possible (Open Access) and how to comply with Open Access policies of funding agencies (ie ARC and NHMRC). Making research outputs as openly accessible as possible increases the impact of Macquarie’s research on wider audiences and helps increase citation rates for our researchers.