Expression of interest: Technical reviewers for the Clean Technology Research and Development Grants Program

Technical reviewers play 2 key governance roles in the program. Firstly, they provide expert advice on the technical feasibility and merit of shortlisted applications. This may include providing commentary on the scientific basis of an application, identifying risks that need to be managed and suggesting any areas of an application that need to be clarified or strengthened.

The second role is to appraise the implementation and progress of successful projects toward their expected outcomes. They do this by reviewing milestone reports against a set of standard questions or criteria.

Each Trust program is required to have a Technical Review Committee. The Technical Review Committee provides funding recommendations to the Environmental Trust Board, which makes decisions to award grants. The Trust acknowledges the significant breadth of the program priority areas and that a Technical Review Committee may not have the expertise to consider the technical components of every application. Technical reviewers are therefore appointed to assist the Technical Review Committee with its recommendations by providing specialist technical advice.

Unlike technical reviewers, the Technical Review Committee does not play a role in reviewing project progress beyond the award of grants.

Technical reviewers are responsible for reviewing and providing expert advice on applications or milestone reports. It is expected that reviewers will:

• read all materials provided to them by the Trust
• review applications or milestone reports using their specialist expertise, based on the materials provided (including standard review templates), and following any specific instructions provided by the Trust
• submit their review by the due date set by the Trust (generally 10 working days)
• declare any actual or perceived conflicts of interest to the Trust immediately so the Trust can reallocate the application or milestone report to another reviewer
• seek clarification from the Trust if they are unsure of any information provided to them
• sign a confidentiality agreement and keep confidential all information contained within any materials provided for review, as well as the contents of the review
• be receptive to feedback from the Trust on the standard of reviews, including opportunities for improvement
• be receptive to requests by the Trust to amend reviews that are of insufficient quality, lack sufficient detail or are incomplete.

Technical reviewer remuneration starts at $90 per hour (excluding GST) for the first year of active reviewing (see note below), and may increase to a maximum of $100 per hour in subsequent years subject to satisfactory performance (in terms of quality and timeliness of reviews).

Application reviews are expected to take 1 to 2 hours to complete.

Milestone report reviews are expected to take 2 to 5 hours to complete, depending on the complexity of the project and the type of report (final reports will take longer than progress reports).

Note: The Trust will establish a pool of reviewers and call upon relevant people based on their expertise. Workloads can be sporadic, and inclusion in the reviewer pool does not guarantee a minimum level of work.

1. High level of expertise and/or research experience in one or more of the program priority areas (Electrification and energy systems; Land and primary industries; Power fuels).
2. Experience in project governance, budget management and risk assessment.
3. Capacity to provide impartial expert advice, including evidence of good judgement and environmental and social awareness.
4. Capacity and flexibility to undertake reviews within required timeframes.
5. Experience in grants and understanding of the opportunities and constraints of grant-delivered projects and adaptive management principles (highly desirable).