ACIAR welcomes ideas for new projects at any time. Initial project ideas should be addressed to the appropriate Research Program Manager (RPM). Suggestions may come from individuals, research institutions or government organisations in developing countries or Australia. Others can arise from ACIAR-sponsored workshops or from high-level consultations that are held on a three-yearly cycle with our major partner countries.

If the idea fits ACIAR and partner country criteria, and funds are likely to be available, the RPM may invite the proponent to develop the idea into a formal proposal (template and instructions below), in conjunction with potential partners. Details on research program priorities for partner countries can be found in the ACIAR Annual Operational Plan (see below).

Consultation is a key word for ACIAR in project development and delivery. Preparation of projects involves extensive consultation between interested parties in both Australia and potential partner countries. Throughout the development process proposals are assessed by ACIAR staff and independent expert referees, before the ACIAR CEO considers the final proposal.

Developing Project Proposals

ACIAR's Project Development Guidelines cover development of proposals for both bilateral and multilateral projects. The instructions describe the different project types, list issues to be explored in developing new ideas, and explain ACIAR's development and approval processes.

All new proposals should be prepared and submitted electronically, using the Proposal template and instructions, and Budget template and instructions.

Projects that are Small Research and Development Activities (SRA) or part of the Australia Indonesia Partnership (the SADI initiative) have different Proposal, Annual and Final report templates. Please contact your Research Program Manager for the appropriate template.

Project Reporting

Templates and instructions for both Annual and Final reports are below. Annual Reports are due on 31 May each year. They should outline progress achieved against the agreed objectives of the project during the reporting period. The Executive Summary section of the report is published on this website.

Final Reports cover the entire project period, and should be a stand-alone document covering the project’s total outputs and outcomes. As with Annual Reports, the Executive Summary section is published on this website. The Final Report is also published in full as a corporate publication on the ACIAR website.

Using photographs in reports

If you wish to use photographs in your report, please

• use low-resolution images only - information on reducing the image resolution can by found searching on the internet, or in your camera or image handling software. You can also read more at http://graphicssoft.about.com/cs/digitalimaging/f/howreducesize.htm
• make sure your photographs are relevant to the report, not just decorative
• caption your photos with subject, names of people in the picture, photographer's name and date taken.

Project Travel

Decisions on travel by Australian project personnel must be made by the relevant employing organisation. Travellers should check the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) Travel Advices prior to travel.

It is a contractual requirement that all personnel travelling on an ACIAR-funded project submit a completed travel advice note prior to travel, and a trip report once the travel is complete. The completed forms should be sent to ACIAR, quoting the ACIAR project number.

Project Development Instructions and Templates

Please read the instructions for using the Word templates - Using ACIAR Word templates.

• If you have problems using the templates, please contact the web team via email - aciar [at] aciar [dot] gov [dot] au.
• Note for Mac users: For some users the templates do not allow you to enter text, if you experience this problem, please contact us at aciar [at] aciar [dot] gov [dot] au and we will send out unlocked versions of the templates.

Templates and instructions

Project Development Guidelines(pdf)

Project Proposals

• Please see downloads section below

Budget

• Instructions (pdf)
• Template (Excel)
• Acquittal (Word)

Travel advice and trip reports

• Travel Guidelines (pdf)
• Travel advice note (Word)
• Trip report

Annual Reports

• Please see downloads section below

Final Reports

• Please see downloads section below

Background information

Program, country and project details

These details are also available from the right sidebar

• Links to projects by discipline, country, partner and multilateral program