ALCG

The ALCG Call for Applications is currently closed.

The 2023 round of Australasian Leadership Computing Grants will be available to access NCI's high-performance computing system, Gadi. 

The call for applications is designed to identify meritorious research projects with demonstrated ability to use HPC systems effectively at scale, and to provide these projects with larger allocations for extreme scale computational science.

All fields of research are eligible to apply. Allocations through ALCG2023 will be valid for a 12-month period from 1 July 2023 – 30 June 2024.

Eligible Australian researchers will soon be invited to submit an Expression of Interest to participate in the ALCG scheme.

You can read about the previous recipients of ALCG allocations from 2022, 2021 and 2020.

Application Procedure

Please read the Information for Applicants document in full.

The ALCG application is a two-stage process:

  1. Expression of Interest
  2. Full Application for Shortlisted Applicants

Information Session slides and recording are available to view.

 

1. Expression of Interest

NCI invites applicants to submit an Expression of Interest through the NCI registration system https://my.nci.org.au.

Expressions of Interest are shortlisted by the Allocation Committee. The Lead CIs of unsuccessful EOIs will be notified of this outcome as soon as possible following assessment and successful applications will be invited to submit a full application.

2. Full Application

The applicant (Lead CI) provides additional track record information in the NCI registration system, and submits an 9-page written application (PDF document) to help@nci.org.au

Note that a Full Application will be accepted only for EOIs which have been favourably assessed and shortlisted by the Allocation Committee.

Important dates for the Australasian Leadership Computing Grants
Date Milestone
TBC Call for Expressions of Interest
TBC Information Session
TBC Expressions of Interest deadline (5pm AEDT)
TBC Shortlisted EOIs invited to submit a full application
TBC Deadline for invited applications (5pm AEST)
TBC Allocation Committee meeting
TBC Allocations announced

ALCG 2022 Information for Applicants

Click here to download the ALCG 2022 Information for Applicants document.

ALCG2022 Information Session Presentation Slides

Click here to download the ALCG2022 Information Session slides

FAQ's

1. What are the eligibility requirements?

Applicants are expected to have demonstrated experience using HPC at an Australian or international facility and a record of research outputs in one or more areas of computational science.

All fields of research are eligible to apply.

Lead Chief Investigators (Lead CI) of projects must hold at least a 0.2 FTE research position at an Australian higher-education institution or research institute for the financial year 2022-23, and be based in Australia.

Chief Investigators (CI) must hold at least a 0.2 FTE research position at an Australian higher- education institution, research institute or publicly-funded research agency, and be based in Australia.


Lead Chief Investigators and Chief Investigators on an application must provide evidence of independent research funding, for example, grants from the ARC or NHMRC. Any grants referenced by a Lead CI or CI must name that applicant as a primary recipient. Applications citing grants on which the applicants are not primary (named) grant recipients will be disqualified for non-compliance.

A person holding a Postdoctoral appointment or undertaking a higher degree by research is not eligible to be a Lead Chief Investigator on an ALCG EOI or application.

An individual may be named as a Chief Investigator or Lead Chief investigator on only one ALCG EOI or application.


An ALCG application must demonstrate scalability on one or more HPC systems, at an Australian or international HPC facility. Proposals based on serial, single-cpu workflows will be not be accepted.

2. Is industry participation allowed?
Industry engagement is allowed, but the Lead CI on an application must meet the above eligibility criteria. 

3. Can one application support multiple projects (ie a consortium bid)?
No. The ALCG is intended to identify meritorious research projects with demonstrated ability to use HPC systems effectively at scale, and to provide these projects with larger allocations for extreme scale computational science.

4. Can new users apply?
Yes, as long as eligibility requirements are met and the application demonstrates a track record of HPC utilisation at large scales. 

5. Does it matter which hardware we apply for?
No, proposals utilising Gadi CPU and/or GPU capabilities (or both) will be accepted. 

6. Can I include figures in my EOI?
No, EOI is submitted directly into the MyNCI portal. Tables may be added, but the system does not support figures. 

2022 Recipients

Professor Igor Bray, Curtin University

Electron-molecule collision modelling for fusion and astrophysical applications

Professor Richard Sandberg, University of Melbourne Hydrogen co-firing for power generation: what happens in the turbine?
Evelyne Deplazes, University of Queensland

Bacterial toxins as environmental friendly insecticides

Read about the recipients and their science.

2021 Recipients

Professor Ben Corry, The Australian National University Predicting the next coronavirus outbreak

Professor Alan E Mark,The University of Queensland

Understanding organic semiconductor morphology at an atomic level: Simulating the formation of realistic devices
Dr Bernhard Müller, Monash University Understanding organic semiconductor morphology at an atomic level: Simulating the formation of realistic devices
Associate Professor Ekaterina Pas, Monash University Design of Phase Change Materials of the Future
Professor Julio Soria, Monash University High-fidelity direct numerical simulation of high Reynolds number turbulent thermal boundary layer flow with distributed high energy heat sources: An analogy for high-fidelity simulations of bushfires

Read about the recipients and their science.

2020 Recipients

Professor Evatt Hawkes, UNSW Sydney Extreme scale simulations of combustion for low emissions gas turbines
Dr Simon Marsland, CSIRO Global climate modelling with ACCESS
Dr Richard Matear, CSIRO Global decadal climate forecasts
Associate Professor Chris Power ,International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research at The University of Western Australia Node Modelling Supermassive Black Hole Jets in Galaxy Formation Simulations

Read about the recipients and their science.