Australia · Commercialisation
Why Australia’s early-career research award rate fell to 13.1%
The ARC approved 200 early-career awards for a second year running, while the number of applications considered increased by 412. The five assessment panels had markedly different application volumes but similar approval rates.
Sources checked
Considered
Shared scale · 0 applications to 515 applications
Approved
Shared scale · 0 applications to 515 applications
Switch between applications considered and approved. Rates and funding appear in the table.
The application denominator grew
The ARC considered 1,532 applications for awards commencing in 2026, up about 37% from 1,120 in 2025. It approved 200 in each round. The published success rate therefore fell from 17.9% to 13.1% even though the award count held steady. The 2026 denominator excludes two withdrawn applications. Source 1
Engineering had the largest count in both columns
Engineering, Information and Computing Sciences accounted for 515 considered applications and 67 approvals. Humanities and Creative Arts had 183 considered and 24 approved. The corresponding success rates were 13.0% and 13.1%. The ranking by awards mainly reflects different application volumes in these two panels. Source 1
Total allocation rose while approvals held steady
The ARC allocated A$102.79 million over the life of projects in the 2026 round, compared with A$93.00 million in 2025. Dividing by 200 gives about A$514,000 per approval, against about A$465,000 in the earlier round. These are arithmetic means of multi-year allocations, which leave the distribution across individual grants open. Source 1
The funding label refers to commencement
Applications for the 2026 award round opened on 30 January 2025 and closed on 18 March 2025. The round name gives the year funding begins. The ARC publishes requested and allocated amounts separately, and the table uses allocations to approved projects so that the figures measure the same budget concept for each panel. Source 1