DECRA not considered a highly regarded form of accolade by the ARC's ERA 2015

The third round of the ARC's Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA 2015) is underway; and, unfortunately, if you have a Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA) it is not being considered an 'esteem' measure. However, you will be considered 'esteemed' if you hold a NHMRC Early Career Fellowship.

The ERA includes a number of measures of 'esteem' and they are defined as measures that:

constitute recognition of the quality ... and indicate that a researcher is held in particularly high regard by peers in their field of research and/or by other well qualified parties. ...embody a measure of prestige and are recognised by experts within the discipline as a highly desired, highly regarded form of accolade or acknowledgement.

The ERA requests institutions submit data on only five esteem measures (listed below) of which one is 'nationally competitive research fellowships'. Unfortunately it looks like the DECRAs did not make it onto the list this time so are not considered a measure of esteem by the ERA.

The esteem measures eligible for ERA 2015 are the following:

• editor of a prestigious work of reference;
• fellowship of a learned academy and membership of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS);
• recipient of a nationally competitive research fellowship; 
• membership of a statutory committee; and 
• recipient of an Australia Council grant or Australia Council fellowship.

And, only nationally competitive research fellowships in the following programs are eligible (where are the DECRAs?):

• ARC Discovery—Australian Laureate Fellowships; 
• ARC Discovery—Federation Fellowships; 
• ARC Discovery—Future Fellowships; 
• ARC Discovery—Indigenous Researchers’ Development; 
• ARC Discovery—Projects (including Australian Professorial Fellowships, Queen Elizabeth II Fellowships, and Australian Postdoctoral Fellowships); 
• ARC Linkage—International; 
• ARC Linkage—Projects (including Australian Postdoctoral (Industry) Fellowships); 
• NHMRC Practitioner Fellowships (Formerly Practitioner Fellowships Scheme); 
• NHMRC Research Fellowships; 
• NHMRC Australia Fellowship (Formerly Australia Fellowship Scheme);
• NHMRC Career Development Fellowships (Formerly Career Development Awards); 
• NHMRC Early Career Fellowships (Formerly Postdoctoral Training Fellowships); 
• NHMRC Sir MacFarlane Burnett Fellowship;
• NHMRC John Cade Fellowship in Mental Health Research; and 
• NHMRC Translating Research Into Practice (TRIP) Fellowships.

To check out the ERA 2015 and related documents yourself you can visit: http://arc.gov.au/era/era_2015/2015_keydocs.htm