Australian Research Council
The Australian Research Council (ARC) is a statutory agency within the Australian Government, which provides advice to the Government on research matters, manages the National Competitive Grants Program (NCGP), and administers Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA).
The NCGP constitutes a significant component of Australia's investment in research and development through which the ARC supports the top quality fundamental and applied research and research training. Funding is awarded through national competition across all disciplines, with the exception of clinical medicine and dentistry.
The function of ERA is to assess research quality within Australia's higher education institutions and provide government, industry, business and the wider community with assurance of the excellence of research conducted. It also compiles a national measure, by research discipline areas, of research strength against international benchmarks.