Coversheet for External Research Funding

How to Apply for External Research Funding

Please note that the approval process has changed at the request of Deans and Associate Deans of Research.

Any research project that is undertaken by a staff member or student of La Trobe University and funded by external resources must be approved by the Faculty where the researcher is based. Research projects include grants, collaborative research agreements, tenders and consultancies, as well as research projects which are administered at other institutions.

The approval process commences with you notifying the Research Development office using the online coversheet but thereafter is different for each Faculty. As part of the approval process, your research proposal must also undergo peer review. Links to information on your Faculty's approval and peer review process are available below.

We recommend you submit the coversheet and email your draft research proposal to Research Development at least 3 weeks before the due date, so there is ample time to finalise the proposal and secure Faculty approval.

The finalised proposal and Faculty approval must reach Research Development at least 3 days before the funding body's closing date (for Australian schemes). Internal and external deadlines specific to funding opportunities will be advertised by your Faculty's Research Development team.

Please note that research proposals without the approval of your Faculty's authorised officer (Dean or Delegate) will not be processed by Research Development.

Approval and Peer Review Processes at your Faculty

• Faculty of Business, Economics and Law
• Faculty of Education
• Faculty of Health Sciences
• Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
• Faculty of Science, Technology and Engineering

Who do I contact?

If you have any questions about this process, please contact the Research Development team which is responsible for your Faculty.

Faculty of Business, Economics and Law

Faculty of Education

Faculty of Health Sciences

Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences

Faculty of Science, Technology and Engineering

What is 'research'?

Please note that the coversheet is guided by the following definition of research, taken from the HERDC specifications.

Research comprises creative work undertaken on a systematic basis in order to increase the stock of knowledge, including knowledge of man, culture and society, and the use of this stock of knowledge to devise new applications. Research is characterised by originality; it has investigation as a primary objective and the potential to produce results that are sufficiently general for humanity's stock of knowledge (theoretical and/or practical) to be recognisably increased. Research includes pure basic research, strategic basic research and applied research.