The following information is provided to assist researchers and research students to complete the Application Coversheet (ACS) that must accompany applications for research support to an external funding entity. 
 

• The Application Cover Sheet can be downloaded in rtf format.
• This "instructions" page is also available as an rtf document.
• Also available is a specimen ACS.

Please note: Alteration of font types and sizes will adversely affect the formatting of the ACS. 

PAGE 1

Project Title: The full title of the project as it appears on the application. 

Funding Body: The name of the individual, organisation, agency or corporate body from which the funding is sought and/or with which JCU will have a contractual relationship. 

Fund Scheme: Some funding bodies split their funding opportunities into different schemes while other organisations/institutions can be approached for either research grants, research contracts or consultancies. 

Requested AUD: Show the total amount requested excluding GST in Australian Dollars ($). The total must agree with the total of the Financial Summary - requested table on page 2. 

Foreign Currency: If applicable, show the total amount requested in the currency of the granting body [add a currency symbol]).

Short title: Enter a short, descriptive title of no more than 40 characters (including spaces). 

Project Summary: Provide a summary of the project in no more than 100 words outlining the aims of the research, its overall significance and expected outcomes. The summary should be presented in clear, plain English, use a minimum of terminology unique to the area of study and be intelligible to a lay reader.
If the application is successful the summary will be used for JCU web and print publications and may be used for media releases and other publicity materials.  

Project Period: Enter the intended start date and end date in short date format: dd-mm-yy 

Application Type: Please type an “x” next to one of the four options. An overview of the types of externally funded research. 

Community of Science (COS) Funding Alert: JCU is a member institution of the Community of Science, the leading Internet site for the global R&D community. To be able to evaluate JCU’s investment in membership fees, we would like to know if this application is a result of the receipt of a Community of Science (COS) Funding Alert. 

Chief Investigator(s) Details

Each participant must be entered on a separate line in order of his or her role in the project. Each participant must be entered on a separate line in order of his or her role in the project. In the ESN column, enter E for an employee, S for a student or N for someone not affiliated with JCU.
Where possible, identify participants by name, starting with the last name, then a comma, then first name (followed by the second and consequent initials). 

For staff members and students the 4-digit Orgu number of their discipline must be entered (an Orgu identifies an organisational unit within JCU data systems.

For external investigators, type the name (or standard abbreviation) of the institution and add for overseas institutions the country between the brackets, as indicated in the table below. 
 

#	ESN	Last Name, First Name (Initials)	Orgu	[if not JCU] Institution (Country)	FTE
1	E	Farmer, John W	6481		0.25
2	N	de Boer, Jan P		RUG (Netherlands)	0.1

You must fill in each participant’s time commitment to the project as a fraction of his or her Full Time Equivalent (FTE). The FTE calculation is the number of hours devoted by individuals to this project, expressed as a proportion of the standard of 40 hours per week worked by full-time staff. Project participants who work or study part-time will have to factor this in to account when calculating their FTE. For instance, if they have a 50% appointment and devote 50% of their time to this research they would commit (0.5* 0.5 =) 0.25 FTE to the project. Or a commitment of 8 hours per week by a full-time staff member would result in 0.2 FTE.

If necessary, when more than 6 CI’s are involved with the project, insert rows into the Chief Investigator Details table above CI-6 and renumber.
To maintain a length of just 3-pages delete an equivalent number of rows from the Other Participants table. 

If a student is the sole Chief Investigator on the application, enter for administrative purposes the details of the most appropriate JCU supervisor in the next section (Other Project Participants) and insert “S” in the supervisor’s FTE column. 

Other Project Participants: Provide names and associations (as above) of any other participants involved in the project, e.g. other researchers, research staff, postgraduate research or honours students. 

If a student is the sole Chief Investigator on the application, enter for administrative purposes the details of the most appropriate JCU supervisor and insert “S” in the FTE column. 

PAGE 2

Financial Summary: 

Requested: Provide a summary of the expenditure requested per year, as per this application. Check that the total agrees with the amount Requested AUD on Page 1. 

Other Contributions: Provide a summary of cash and/or in-kind contributions for the project, from either JCU or another extra-mural organisation than the granting body. 

Applications that include a cash and/or an in-kind contribution must have formal confirmation from the relevant Heads of School, Executive Deans or other appropriate authority that the contributions will be provided and the ACS should be accompanied by an appropriately signed letter of support on the organisation's letterhead, that further details the cash and/or inkind support as well as the purpose(s) of the contribution. 

Research Codes

Universities are required to provide research statistical data to several government agencies in Australia. If selected precisely, research codes also provide a valuable tool for internal research management. 
The Australian Standard Research Classification codes are set out in a hierarchical structure and applicants are required to choose codes at the most detailed class level. Application coversheets without appropriate research codes entered will be returned to the applicant. 

Applicants may describe the project with up to three codes per classification, as appropriate. Enter the relevant percentage for each classification coded. The total % allocated per classification must equal 100%. NOTE: At least one code per classification is required. 

All research classification codes are detailed and listed on this webpage. 

Type of Research Activity: Enter the appropriate percentage for each type of research activity. The total must equal 100%. 

Keywords: Carefully select up to six keywords. These keywords should be of the kind required for submitting an article to a refereed journal. A species name should be accompanied by its family name. 

Keywords are also used in combination with research codes and can provide further information on the directions of JCU’s research activities. 

Ethics / Safety Compliance Requirements: Completing this section will indicate which ethics/biosafety approvals will be required if the application is successful, and enable identification of applied research using organisms and biological materials. More information about ethical conduct and principles   (Please Note: the project cannot proceed unless appropriate ethics/biosafety approvals have been granted.) 

Infrastructure and Facilities Management: The Facilities Management Office would like to know in advance when to expect installation or establishment costs associated with the purchase of equipment and /or the setting up of new research facilities.

The Relevance of Research questions provide indicators of JCU’s goals and targets as outlined in the Research (Training) Strategic Plan. The University’s Research Strategic Plan can be accessed at http://www.jcu.edu.au/div2/rrtmp/axb.rtf

Certification by Head of School: The Chief Investigator’s Head of School must authorise the application. (Please Note: if the Head of School is an Investigator on the project, in accordance with University signing authority, the Executive Dean of the relevant faculty must sign the ACS.) 

Principal Investigator: The Principal Investigator is the primary contact at JCU for this application on behalf of all Chief Investigators and is either a JCU employee or a JCU student. The Principal Investigator will be either: 

• The first named Chief Investigator (CI 1) or, if the CI 1 is not affiliated with JCU, then
• The subsequent Chief Investigator affiliated with JCU.

Administrative Overheads: If you select that administrative overheads do not apply to this project, tick one of the boxes below and provide a reason for non-inclusion of overheads in the budget of the application.
Administrative overheads for grants are detailed on the page can be found at " Research Grants and Overheads". 

Certification by Principal Investigator: The Principal Investigator must authorise the completed application cover sheet.