Research Infrastructure Block Grant Funding (RIBG) is distributed among institutions according to their income from Australian Competitive Grants, based on an average of two most recent years’ data collected through the Higher Education Research Data Collection (HERDC).

RIBG funding is allocated internally in accordance with guiding principles reviewed annually by the Research Committee and in a manner consistent with the purposes and spirit of the scheme and the University’s Research Strategic Plan.

The Research Committee determines the internal allocation in accordance with the guiding principles.  To assist in determining the allocation, the Research Office provides a two-year average of total Australian Competitive Grants (ACGs) received by each School as collected for the most recent HERDC.  Funding for strategic infrastructure may be deducted off the top. The remaining funding allocation is divided proportionally between the faculties and divisions based on overall ACG success of the Schools within each Faculty. 

In allocating the remaining funds, the following criteria must be considered:

1. the potential to draw substantial support from ACGs or other external sources;
2. the capacity to support the research of a significant number of researchers; and
3. equitable sharing of the infrastructure funds among nodes of activity that attract significant competitively awarded research funding.

Executive Deans make recommendations on the respective faculty allocations in accordance with the guiding principles and with the focus on the level of concentrations/nodes of high quality research activity.  Recommendations are forwarded to the Research Office to ensure compliance with the scheme guidelines and the definition of infrastructure.

In adopting success in attracting ACGs as an indicator for the distribution of the RIBG, the University is supporting the infrastructure of research projects that are necessarily of excellent quality by international standards and are of relevance to national needs and objectives.  This is directly relevant to the Research Strategic Plan, which prioritises research of this nature in its major research objectives.

Additionally much of the infrastructure funding goes to support Areas of Research Strength that take advantage of the University’s tropical location and strategic position on the Pacific Rim.  The objectives of the scheme as detailed in the DEST RIBG Scheme Guidelines are also met.