GRDC International Visiting Fellowships Program 2024/25

Reference number: PROC-9177097

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Release date:: Wednesday 11 September 2024
Closing time:: Thursday 31 October 2024, at 02:00 PM ACT local time
Enquiry deadline:: Thursday 17 October 2024, at 02:00 PM ACT local time

Summary

GRDC International Visiting Fellowships Program (IVFP) is targeted at supporting Australian grains researchers connecting with new partners by providing more opportunities for talented young international researchers to engage with talented early/mid-career Australian researchers.

This will be achieved by bringing international research talent to Australia on a sabbatical program to bolster grains-focussed national and regional research efforts targeted at predominantly GRDC prioritised pillars. The IVFP will facilitate improved connection of the best early and mid-career researchers in Australia and overseas to ensure enduring global scientific networks that promote the transfer of knowledge and technology for the benefit of the Australian grains industry.

Further, the GRDC IVFP would address a current gap available for Australian travel awards with the Fulbright program targeting researchers at a more junior level (post-doctoral scholarship) or senior level (Scholar Awards), and other programs targeting established researchers at a more senior level than the proposed GRDC IVFP.

Offer period

Offers will remain open for acceptance by the GRDC for a period of 6 months after the Closing Time.

Document contact and enquiries

Attention: Sarah Marchioro
Grains Research and Development Corporation
Email: tenders@grdc.com.au

Make all requests for further information or clarification in relation to this procurement in writing (email) prior to 2:00PM 17 October 2024.

GRDC will publish all requests and responses to requests on the GRDC website under Questions and Answers at the bottom of this webpage.

Consortia responses

GRDC will not accept Tenders from Consortia.

Lodgement of Tender

Submit your Tender response electronically through the Grains Investment Portal.

AusTender

https://www.tenders.gov.au/Advert/Show/e62c3ca9-ceb0-4c8a-8d4f-5609cc649544

Description

GRDC has identified access to capacity in new/emerging research disciplines or access to capacity in scientific disciplines that have not historically been applied to Agricultural research as one mechanism through which to address perennial research problems and create greater value for grain growers. Further, it has recognised that the current and future research landscape requires fostering collaborative international engagement by providing enabling support to accelerate the delivery of research outputs in GRDC’s 2023-2028 RDE Strategic Plan through International Network-to-Network Collaborations involving multidisciplinary, complementary, and cross-cultural teams.

This investment seeks to partner emerging national and international research leaders from existing, new and/or traditionally non-grains focussed research disciplines with established Australian grains industry researchers to tackle intractable problems in GRDC’s strategic priority investment areas. The proposed investment program presents a broad open-call mechanism to drive further Australian grains industry access to new research capacity in GRDC’s strategic priority areas.

IVFP goals include:

1) Support for building research capacity towards activities that launch the international research network of networks (NoN) that will catalyse collaboration that results in an accelerated advancement of solution to R&D challenges after the award period and;

2) Foster a diverse and internationally competent Australian-based workforce trained in conducting and leading multiteam international collaboration that can be harnessed to address industry challenges targeted at the GRDC’s 2023-28 RD&E Strategic Plan to deliver benefit to Australian grower

The Proposal MUST be submitted by the Host Institution in Australia and not by the international visitor.

Outcome

From 2024/25, increased engagement and collaboration between early/mid-career Australian grains industry researchers and early/mid-career international research leaders (including from new research fields or research disciplines not historically engaged in grains research) leading to delivery of novel solutions to long-standing production constraints and new value creation opportunities for the Australian grains industry.

Outputs

Output 1. International Visiting Fellowship Program

International Visiting Fellowships Program: From January 2025, Australian researchers engaged in grains industry research are increasing collaboration with outstanding early/mid-career international researchers to deliver research outputs of greater value to Australia and international partners.

The IVFP is established to facilitate improved connection of the best early and mid-career researchers in Australia and overseas to leverage international R&D capability and promote the transfer of knowledge and technology for the benefit of the Australian grains industry. Under the IVFP, Australian research institutions will sponsor international visiting fellows (IVF’s). IVF’s will collaborate with researchers within the Australian host institution on grains-related research and visit researchers/industry at other institutions and within other regions during their Australian sabbatical. Opportunities to coordinate IVF sabbaticals with Australian-based international conferences will be explored.

Proposed Budget

The budget for this investment is up to $100,000.00 per award.

Allowances for the budget are:

Return International Airfares: Up to $30,000.00
Rent and Living Allowances: Up to $30,000.00

The ATO provides guidelines for the reasonable rates for accommodation and meals whilst travelling. This guide must be used when estimating accommodation and meal allowances.

Research and Engagement: Up to $40,000 (including regional travel program, research bench fees, consumables etc).

Proposed Contract & Term

GRDC will contract under the terms of the Visiting Fellowship Agreement.

The schedule(s) attached to the contract will detail the project details: the outcomes, outputs, milestones, budget, participating personnel and required intellectual property.

It is anticipated that any resultant contract in relation to this procurement will commence with a proposed term of 3 to 6 months.

Conditions for Participation

The following are mandatory conditions with which a Tenderer must comply to participate in this procurement process:

The Tenderer must be a single legal entity or recognised firm of partners
The Tenderer and any proposed subcontractor must be compliant with the Workplace Gender Equality Act 2012, the Modern Slavery Act 2018 and any other applicable labour laws and standards in the jurisdiction in which they operate.
The Tenderer and any subcontractor must not have a judicial decision against it (not including decisions under appeal) relating to employee entitlements and who have not paid the claim.
The Tenderer and any subcontractor must not be named on the Consolidated List, being the list of persons and entities who are subject to targeted financial sanctions or travel bans under Australian sanction laws, as maintained by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Minimum Form and Content Requirements

The following are the mandatory content and format requirements that the Tenderer must complete and provide to participate in this procurement process:

Submit Tenders using the Grains Investment Portal.
Write Tenders in English and express any measurements in Australian legal units of measurement.
Budget details must be submitted on the ‘GRDC Budget Template’ as part of Additional Minimum Form and Content Requirements.
Statement of Compliance against the GRDC International Visiting Fellowship Agreement.

Evaluation Criteria

In the table below are the Evaluation Criteria that the Tender Evaluation Team will use to assess the value for money of all Tenders.

No	Type	Weighting
	Technical – Qualitative evaluation criteria related to non-price factors such as methodology, project plan, track record, experience.
1	Personnel and Organisational Capability The area of collaborative research between the Visiting Fellow and host must have a connection to GRDC 2023-28 RD&E strategy. A. Host and Applicant must be able to demonstrate they are: i) Collaborative ii) Expert in their field iii) They have Freedom to Operate (FTO) with the tools they will be applying iv) Minimum 5 years since award of PhD v) Have directly supervised at least one HDR (higher degree research) PhD students for a minimum of 3 years in their career (some may be current) B. The Host must also demonstrate: i) Have led or made a significant contribution to a GRDC project or other grains-focused research in the past 3 years. ii) Timeline of visiting fellow’s activities, including length of stay (minimum 3 months, up to 6 months) C. The applicant must demonstrate how the IVFs work aligns with GRDCs 5-year strategic plan and which focus area the work aligns to.	100%
2	The applicant must have the support of the host and visiting fellow’s home institutions to undertake the IVF program in Australia, noting that: the host institution will be responsible for facilitating Visas, hosting the Visiting Fellow, facilitating collaborations/connections with other researchers and institutions and reporting back to GRDC at the end of the Fellow’s visit on the value provided to industry. the home institution will continue to employ the Visiting Fellow and pay the Visiting Fellow’s salary (unweighted).	N/A
3	Visa The applicant must obtain a visa to undertake the IVF program in Australia.	N/A
2	Price - The tendered budget.	N/A
3	Risk - Risks inherent in the application including the degree of compliance with the draft contract and any actual or perceived conflict of interest.	N/A

Lodging a Tender

Attachments

Questions and Answers

Q1. I was wondering if you could confirm whether there’s a specific academic level, such as Associate Professor or Professor, required for both the Host and Visiting roles under this offer.

A1. There is no specific academic level required of the Visiting Fellow. However, the applicant needs to demonstrate that the host and applicant have sufficient experience, expertise and are at least 5 years post PhD as stated in the evaluation criteria.

Q2. Researchers are keen to benefit from the expertise of Dr Name Withheld, who is a researcher at the University of Name Withheld, under the GRDC scheme - International Visiting Fellowships Program.

Dr (Name Withheld) completed his PhD 19 years ago – could he be eligible to apply under the scheme?

A2. There has been no cut off specified for time since completion of PhD in the tender. It would be up to the host and applicant to determine if they believe they are still a mid-career researcher and justify this in the application.

Q3. I would like to clarify the budget of $30,000.00 for airfares.

A3. The $30,000.00 allowance for airfares is to allow the Visiting Fellow to bring family/dependents with them as they may be here for anywhere from 3-6 months. Airfares are for economy class only.

Q4. Does this fellowship have to be conducted over 3 to 6 consecutive months and within a 12 month period? Specifically, I was wondering if the fellow ship could be completed over three visits spanning up to three years?

This would allow in-person support of early and mid-career researchers as their research activities progress through different stages.

A4. The International Visiting Fellowship must be completed in one 3-6 month visiting period.

Q5. Is there a template for the proposal? We found some general guidelines of themes that need covered under the write up (Box 1 below), but no guidance about min/max number of pages, sections needed in the proposal, etc. Any guidance here would be appreciated.

A5. There is no template for the proposal. There is no minimum or maximum number of pages for the response, applicants need to ensure they respond to all evaluation criteria.

Q6. Should the fellowship be funded, what is the range in start dates for the program? We see it should last between 3-6 months, but were not able to find a range in start dates for these 3-6 months.

A6. GRDC would expect the International Visiting Fellowship to begin early in 2025 and depending on the length of stay it may run into the 2025-2026 financial year.

Q7. From the perspective of the institution where I work overseas, I would need to request the approval for sabbatical leave now (internal deadline: November 2024) for the leave to be approved to be taken next fiscal year (I would be able to take up to 6 months leave but they would need to be between July 2025 – June 2026). In other words, the earliest I would be able to go would be with a start date of July 2025.

With this in mind, would a proposal with a start date of July 2025 still be considered, or would you say this start date would be outside the funding range for GRDC this funding cycle?

A7. Any tenderer that meets the Conditions for Participation may apply for this award opportunity, in that respect you are not precluded from being considered based on your proposed budget needing to commence post 1 July 2025 regardless of GRDC’s indication that we are ideally targeting a contract commencement prior to the close of this financial year. You must be clear in your proposal and the GRDC Budget Template in relation to timelines. Your proposal will be evaluated, along with all other submissions, against the Evaluation Criteria as published.

Q8. Can the fellowship include experiments to be conducted at the IVF's home institution after the visit? This approach would allow the IVF to train Australian researchers in techniques that are not currently available in Australia.

A8. We encourage collaboration to continue between the institutions after the followship has been completed which could include experiments being conducted at the International Visiting Fellow’s home institution. However, funding for the International Visiting Fellowship is only available for the time the Fellow is in Australia.

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