National Interest Test

Overview

On 31 October 2018, the federal government announced the implementation of a National Interest Test (NIT) as part of the ARC grant funding application process.

Under the NIT, applicants seeking funding under the National Competitive Grants Program (NCGP) must provide a NIT Statement that articulates the extent to which the proposed research will contribute to Australia’s national interest through its potential to have economic, commercial, environmental, social or cultural benefits to the Australian community.

In addition to the assessment criteria, the Minister may consider the NIT in determining which applications to approve.  The intent of the NIT is to provide a statement to enable the community to understand the value of the Government’s investment in research.

On  30 November 2022, the ARC announced changes to the NIT to significantly reduce the administrative burden for researchers and universities and make the NIT clearer, simpler, and easier for the public to understand.

As part of the changes, NIT statements will now be available to Assessors and will be considered as part of the overall assessment of a grant application. The NIT should address, in terms that are easily understood by the general community, the potential of the project to contribute to Australia’s national interest. The statement should clearly articulate the extent to which the applicant’s research might provide any specific economic, commercial, environmental, social or cultural benefits to the Australian community over the short, medium or longer terms how the research might be used to deliver those specific benefits, and outline what translation and adoption pathways might be used to achieve the outcomes. Applicants are advised to approach the writing of the NIT statement as an opportunity to promote the value of your research to the broader community.

When writing the NIT Statement, the ARC recommends considering the following:

  1. What is the project about and what research gap is it addressing for Australia?
  2. How could the research benefit Australians (economically, socially, environmentally, commercially, or culturally)?
  3. How might you promote your research outcomes beyond academia to maximise understanding, translation, use, and adoption of the research in the future?

These three considerations should be addressed as a single cohesive statement. Statements must provide an adequate explanation of the benefit to the Australian community that is beyond the intrinsic value of undertaking the research or the reputation of a particular research discipline. This section pertains to the 'why' not repeating the 'what' covered in the proposal summary. The following should not be the sole rationale for why the proposed research is being undertaken:

  • enhancing the discipline's reputation
  • training of the research workforce (instead, this could be linked to outcomes and their value)
  • production of academic publications (this is an output of the research)