My winning proposal: Seeing the bigger picture in art history

Humanities scholars should emphasise contemporary relevance in their Discovery Early Career Researcher Award bids

Top tips for humanities applicants:

• Only apply with a very well-developed idea on which you have already done some preliminary work
• Link your project to bigger themes and explain how it is relevant beyond your field, incorporate this into the title and project description if possible
• Your project should fit your research career narrative and you should demonstrate your expertise in the topic, ideally through publications
• Use your research office and the internal peer review process at your university to hone your bid

For many researchers, winning a Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (Decra) from the Australian Research Council is transformative.  Worth between $312,948 and $462,948 over three years, the grants cover research assistants and students, equipment, field research, travel, and dissemination costs.