Background

The Grants Search portal for Research Grant Services (RGS) provides details of research-based grants managed through the ARC’s Research Management System (RMS). This includes details of both ARC funded research grants, and those from other Grant Funding Entities.

The ARC has been providing grant management services to other Grant Funding Entities since 2020.

The RGS data portal only shows funding information once the grant is initiated, this differs from the NCGP Grants Search portal which shows grant information upon announcement.

Search Items

Search Field

To undertake a search, enter your search term in the search field. Details of the searching protocols available are provided in the Searching Protocols section below.

RGS Grants Search freetext field

Search Filters

Your free text search can be further filtered using the fields below.

Term Description
Grant Funder The Grant Funding Entity who awarded research funding.
Program The funding program under which the research funding was awarded.
Scheme The funding scheme under which the research funding was awarded.
Funding Commencement Year The calendar year in which the grant funding was scheduled to start.
Grant Value The current funding for a research grant, that is, at the time of data extraction, taking into account post-award variations (for example, indexing of grant amounts).
Grantee The organisation responsible for the administration of the funding for a grant.
State/Territory The (Australian) state or territory where the Grantee is located.
Primary Field of Research For grants that include Field of Research codes, the 6-digit FoR codes are 'rolled up', based on their combined proportions, to derive a 4-digit 'primary' code. Further information on FoR codes can be accessed from the ARC website: https://www.arc.gov.au/grants/grant-application/classification-codes-rfcd-seo-and-anzsic-codes
Socio Economic Objective For grants that include Socio Economic Objective codes, the 6-digit SEO codes are published in the grant details. Further information on SEO codes can be accessed from the ARC website: https://www.arc.gov.au/grants/grant-application/classification-codes-rfcd-seo-and-anzsic-codes
Status The current status of the research grant.
Active: The research grant is being conducted; includes post-award variations.
Closed: The research grant is complete and all funding has been acquitted; or the grant has been relinquished part way through its duration.

Sort Functionality

You can also choose a parameter by which the Grants Search results will be sorted. The parameters are:

  • Most relevant
  • Current grant value – lowest to highest
  • Current grant value – highest to lowest
  • Funding year – oldest to newest
  • Funding year – newest to oldest

Most relevant: Individual grants are sorted by the strength of their relevance to search terms identified in the main search field.

Current grant value: Individual grants are sorted by the 'current grant value'. Where grants are identified as 'closed' and have null current grant value, they will be listed at the bottom of the list of grants returned.

Funding Year: Individual grants are sorted by the funding commencement year.

Searching Protocols

You can enter multiple search terms in the search field, for example, you could enter the name of the investigator, a field of research, a Grantee name (shortened versions are acceptable) and/or the name of any participating organisation.

Please note, the search will return results that contain all of the words you have entered (that is similar to using the 'AND' connector). The search will attempt fuzzy matching of the search terms, for example, singular, plural, uppercase, lowercase, related words (stemming). All searches ignore upper/lowercase.

In this release of Grants Search, you can refine your free-text search further using the instructions below.

Query Description
Quantum Computing
Returns entries that have occurrences of words like 'Quantum' AND 'Computing'.
+Nuclear or "Nuclear"
Putting '+' before the search term or enclosing the term in double quotes will search for an exact match. Returns entries that contain exactly the term Nuclear, no plurals or other fuzzy matches.
"Quantum Computing"
Enclosing a phrase in double quotes will return entries that contain exact occurrences of phrase like 'Quantum Computing'.
"Quantum Computing" +USA
Returns entries that have exact occurrences of phrases like 'Quantum Computing' AND exact match of the word 'USA'.
Physics -Nuclear
Putting '-' in front of a word, excludes it from your search. This will return records that contain Physics but not Nuclear.
Note: it is not valid to have '-' as the first element in a search.
Australia -"New Zealand"
Returns entries that have occurrences of words like Australia AND NOT 'New Zealand'.
Nuclear OR Physics
Returns entries that have at least one of Nuclear or Physics.
<health significant challenge>
Returns search entries with the three terms health, significant and challenge in close proximity. A proximity search looks for entries where the search terms are near to each other in the result text.
Cryst*
Trailing wildcard (*) - putting a '*' at the end of a search term searches for words that start with the search term fragment. This example will return entries containing crystal or crystallography or crystalline or crystallisation, etc.
(health child OR (military -profile) 
OR <mother daughter>)
Brackets '(' and ')' can be used in combination with 'AND', 'OR' and other search features to search for complex conditions. This example returns entries that have terms Like 'health' AND Like 'child' OR Like 'military' AND NOT Like 'profile' OR (mother proximity to daughter).
Note: unmatched brackets will cause phrase search fall back.
climate a the then
Common letters/words such as 'a', 'the', 'then', 'it', 'as', 'of', numbers, punctuations are excluded from search terms. In this example, the search will return entries that match the term climate (equivalent to search term climate).
Note: any searches with special characters, punctuation or letters other than English will need to be enclosed in double quotes, otherwise the search may not work as expected and may return no results.

For advanced searches, the free-text query can be combined with expression filters. The expression filter begins with the '=>' key. Expression filters can be combined with operators 'AND' and 'OR'. Parentheses '(...)' can also be used to enclose sub queries to form a more complex query.

Syntax: <search text> => <filter queries>

The following are the supported expression filters with examples:

Expression Filter Description
grant-funder
Filters results by Grant Funder.
=> grant-funder="ARC"
Gets Results having word like ARC filtered by Grant Funder.
Australia => grant-funder="Discovery"
program
Filters results by Program.
=> program="Discovery"
Gets Results having word like Discovery filtered by Program.
Australia => program="Discovery"
scheme
Filters results by Scheme.
=> scheme="Discovery Project"
Gets Results having word like Australia filtered by Scheme.
Australia => scheme="Discovery Project"
year-from
Filters results by funding commencement year from.
=> year-from="2015"
year-to
Filters results by funding commencement year to.
=> year-to="2019"
grant-value-from
Filters results by current grant value from.
=> grant-value-from="300000"
grant-value-to
Filters results by current grant value to.
=> grant-value-to="1000000"
grantee
Filters results by Grantee's full name.
=> grantee="The University of New South Wales"
grantee-short-name
Filters results by Grantee's short name.
=> grantee-short-name="UNSW"
state-name
Filters results by the full state/territory name of the Grantee.
=> state-name="New South Wales"
state-short-name
Filters results by the short state/territory name of the Grantee.
=> state-short-name="NSW"
four-digit-for
Filters results by the Primary Field of Research Code at the four-digit level.
=> four-digit-for="0101"
two-digit-for
Filters results by the Primary Field of Research Code at the two-digit level.
=> two-digit-for="01"
seo-code
Filters results by the Socio Economic Objectives Code.
=> seo-code="700101"
status
Filters results by status.
=> status="Active"

Searching Results

Individual grant details

Search results returned for individual grants will look like the following:

Grants Search individual grant screenshot

The details provided for individual research grants include the following information:

Term Description
Title The title of the research grant provided in the application.
Summary The description of the research grant provided in the application.
Program Name The funding program under which the research funding was awarded.
Scheme name The funding scheme under which the research funding was awarded.
Priority / Challenges The priority research areas, as identified by the Australian Government, the funding addresses.
Status Status of the research grant at the time of data extraction. Options are: Active and Closed.
Funding Commencement Year Scheme funding commencement year
Grant Start Date The actual start date of the research grant.
Anticipated End Date The anticipated end date of the research grant, taking post-award variations into account.
Primary FoR code See also FoR Codes below.
For the ARC to collect information on the FoR of each application, research applicants are invited to classify their applications with one to three, or more in some rounds, 6-digit FoR codes and to indicate the proportion of the research content attributable to each of those codes. The 6-digit FoR codes are rolled up to 4-digit level on the basis of the combined proportions of the 6-digit FoR. A code with the highest (or higher) proportion is defined as the primary code (at the 4-digit level).
FoR Codes 6-digit FoR codes nominated by the research applications as being relevant to the research grant. Note that Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC) 2008 supersedes the Australian Standard Research Classification (ASRC 1998). The equivalent to the current Fields of Research under ASRC 1988 were Research Fields, Courses and Disciplines (RFCD). The adoption of the ANZSRC 2008 commenced in submission year 2009.
SEO Codes 6-digit Socio-Economic Objective codes nominated by the research applicant as being relevant to the research grant; note prior to (when) these were SEO codes. Note that ANZSRC 2008 supersedes the Australian Standard Research Classification (ASRC 1998). The equivalent to the current Socio-Economic Objectives under ASRC 1988 were also known as SEOs.
Grant Value Current funding, that is at the time of data extraction, taking into account post-award variations (for example, indexing of grant amounts). Where the grant is closed, 'Grant Value' refers to the total amount allocated by the Grant Funder over the life of the grant.
Investigators Current details of the grant, that is, at the time of data extraction, taking into account post-award variations (for example, change in named investigators involved with the research grant).
Organisations Current details of the grant, that is, at the time of data extraction, taking into account post-award variations (for example, move of grant between Grantee or withdrawals/addition of participating organisations).

Data Downloads

CSV

Following a search, the results that are displayed on the screen can be extracted into a comma separated values (CSV) file. These files can then be opened and manipulated using products such as Microsoft Excel.

JSON

Following a search, the results that are displayed on the screen can also be extracted in JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) format. JSON is a way of storing and transporting data, usually from one system to another.

The JSON data can also be extracted through the API. Further help regarding the API is provided in the following section.

Status of the data in CSV and JSON

Note that the status of the information in the CSV and JSON files is as per the table below, where 'current' indicates that the information provided includes post-award variations.

If you are looking for information, SEO codes for example, that are contained in the Grants Search portal which are not available in the below table this can be sourced through reviewing the project details on screen, or by calling the data through API.

Field Name Explanation
code static
program-name static
scheme-name static
funding-commencement-year static
scheme-information static
grantee current
grantee-funder current
grant-title static
grant-summary static
lead-investigator current
grant-value current
grant-status current
primary-field-of-research static
anticipated-end-date current
investigators current
grant-priorities static

Calling The API

Returning a list of Grants

The DataPortal API for the Grants Search follows the JSON API Specification (v1.0). The API supports Pagination, Filters and error handling as per the specification. Sparse Fieldsets and Sorting are not supported at this stage.

The Grants Search API data is provided in a paginated format. Clients can access this API by specifying a page size of up to a maximum of 1000 records. The following is an example of the URL format that will return the first page in a set of paginated results containing the first twenty (20) grants.

https://dataportal.arc.gov.au/RGS/API/grants?page%5Bnumber%5D=1&page%5Bsize%5D=20

The following is an example of the URL format where searches and filters are included:

https://dataportal.arc.gov.au/RGS/API/grants?page[size]=20&page[number]=1&filter=[SEARCH TEXT]=>(scheme="[SCHEME]") AND(grantee-short-name="[GRANTEE SHORT NAME]" OR grantee="[GRANTEE]") AND(status="[STATUS]")

Where

  • SEARCH TEXT - free text word or phrase to search on. Optional filters can be added to SEARCH TEXT using the separator '=>'
  • SCHEME - results are filtered by scheme
  • GRANTEE SHORT NAME - results are filtered by Grantee short name
  • GRANTEE - results are filtered by Grantee
  • STATUS - results are filtered by status

The API URL components must be encoded before calling the API. The following is an example of an encoded URL.

https://dataportal.arc.gov.au/RGS/API/grants?page%5Bnumber%5D=1&page%5Bsize%5D=20&filter=Astronomy%20%3D%3E%20(scheme%3D"Discovery%20Projects")%20AND(grantee-short-name%3D"ANU")%20AND(status%3D"Active")

The following is a snippet of a paginated JSON API call that returns the first page of all grants with one grant per page.


{
	"meta": {
		"requested-page-number": 1,
		"requested-page-size": 20,
		"actual-page-size": 1,
		"total-pages": 1,
		"total-size": 1,
		"search-description": {...},
		"sort-by": ""
	},
	"links": {
		"self": "https://dataportal-uat.arc.gov.au/RGS/API/grants?page%5Bnumber%5D=1&page%5Bsize%5D=20&filter=LP180100122",
		"first": "https://dataportal-uat.arc.gov.au/RGS/API/grants?page%5Bnumber%5D=1&page%5Bsize%5D=20&filter=LP180100122",
		"last": "https://dataportal-uat.arc.gov.au/RGS/API/grants?page%5Bnumber%5D=1&page%5Bsize%5D=20&filter=LP180100122",
		"prev": "https://dataportal-uat.arc.gov.au/RGS/API/grants?page%5Bnumber%5D=1&page%5Bsize%5D=20&filter=LP180100122",
		"next": "https://dataportal-uat.arc.gov.au/RGS/API/grants?page%5Bnumber%5D=1&page%5Bsize%5D=20&filter=LP180100122"
	},
	"data": [{
		"type": "grants",
		"id": "LP180100122",
		"attributes": {
			"code": "LP180100122",
			"program-name": "Linkage",
			"scheme-name": "Linkage Projects",
			"funding-commencement-year": 2019,
			"scheme-information": {
				"scheme-code": "LP",
				"program": "Linkage",
				"submission-year": 2018,
				"round-number": 1,
				"scheme-round": "LP18 Round 1"
			},
			"grantee": "Swinburne University of Technology",
			"grant-funder": "Australian Research Council",
			"grant-title": "Coordinating Innovation in Knowledge-Based Multinational Organisations",
			"grant-summary": "Integration into global supply chains is one of the fundamental challenges for manufacturing companies in Australia. This project seeks to identify the optimal design for coordinating innovation in globally-dispersed organisations. It will analyse three mechanisms for transferring knowledge within organisations: hierarchies, communities of practice, and social networks. Outcomes will include a new multilevel statistical network modelling framework and organisational designs to overcome barriers to knowledge-transfer, such as language, culture and distance. The project will collect and apply data from Boeing Global Technology, the international research arm of The Boeing Company, a world leading business with major subsidiaries in Australia.",
			"lead-investigator": "Prof Dean Lusher",
			"grant-value": 433981,
			"grant-status": "Active",
			"primary-field-of-research": "1608 - Sociology",
			"anticipated-end-date": "2023-05-01",
			"investigators": "Prof Graham Schaffer; Prof Dean Lusher; Dr Peng Wang; Prof Michael Gilding; Prof Giuseppe Labianca; Mr Michael Edwards",
			"grant-priorities": [{
				"priority-type": "Science and Research Priority",
				"priority-name": "Advanced manufacturing"
			}]
		},
		"links": {
			"self": "https://dataportal-uat.arc.gov.au/RGS/API/grants/LP180100122"
		}
	}]
}

In the snippet above, the meta attribute has the information related to page size, page number, total results and search description. The search description is in Abstract Syntax Tree (AST) format. The links attribute has navigation links to other pages and the data attribute has the collection of research outputs data.

Clients can fetch a maximum of 1000 results per page and then keep navigating the results of subsequent pages by following the navigation links. They can also get the desired results using filters and search text as described in the Search Items section. The API also supports Free-Text search operations like AND, OR, NOT. Words like ‘as’, ‘the’, ‘if’, ‘of’, etc may be ignored for a more predictable result, however phrases within a double quote will return exact matches.

Returning the details of a single Grant

After calling the API for a list of grants, each result will contain a links section within the data object of the payload. The URL contained in this section is specific to an individual grant, which can be called to access a more detailed API for that grant.

Troubleshooting

No relevant data in the response


{
"meta":{...}
"links": {...}
"data": []
}

For a specified search, there is no data.

A 'Failed/Unexpected/Unauthorized' response


{
"links": {
    "self": "https://dataportal.arc.gov.au/RGS/API/grants?page%5Bsize%5D=0&page%5Bnumber%5D=1&filter=titlenotfound"
},
"errors": [
    {
    "id": "500InternalServerError",
    "status": "InternalServerError",
    "code": "500",
    "title": "SqlException",
    "detail": "The number of rows provided for a FETCH clause must be greater then zero."
    }
]
}
                

{
"links": {
    "self": "https://dataportal.arc.gov.au/RGS/API/grants"
},
"errors": [
    {
        "id": "401Unauthorized",
        "status": "Unauthorized",
        "code": "401",
        "title": "UnauthorizedAccessException",
        "detail": "..."
    }
]
}
                

A failed/unexpected/unauthorized response will occur when :

  • The URL has invalid attribute values
  • The client has issued a bad request
  • The client is trying to access unauthorized URL or data.
  • The client is blocked