This week at the Senate Estimates hearings, the ARC confirmed that in recent funding rounds for Discovery Projects, Discovery Early Career Researcher Awards (DECRA) and Future Fellows Awards, the then Minister for Education Senator Simon Birmingham denied funding to 11 projects recommended by the Australian Research Council. All of the projects were in the humanities, with a combined total proposed funding of 4.2 million dollars.
This action is very concerning, as is Senator Birmingham’s willingness to defend his interference in the award process with disparaging comments about the worth of the humanities projects denied funding.