Research & Research Study

SPIN, SMARTS & GENIUS

What is SPIN?

SPIN (Sponsored Programs Information Network) is a computer database with detailed and up-to-date information about thousands of government and private funding opportunities from Australia and Overseas.

The SPIN database currently contains details for over 19,500 funding opportunities, covering a broad range of subject areas and award types. Applicants in Australia are eligible for more than 4,400 of these programs, nearly 1,000 of which are offered by Australian organisations.

 

ACCESS THE SPIN DATABASE

 

What are SMARTS & GENIUS ?

GENIUS is an expertise database and SMARTS is a matching and retrieval system which provides personalised matching between researchers’ profiles and SPIN keywords, Emailing researchers

directly with information on funding opportunities as they become available.

The Australian Vice-Chancellors’ Committee has a contract with InfoEd for the provision, to most universities across Australia, of the SPIN database, SMARTS and GENIUS.

How do SMARTS and GENIUS work ?

SMARTS is a facility which will allow individual researchers to enter their research interests, categorised by the keywords within SPIN, and thereby develop a profile of personal research interests. Whenever a funding scheme is updated on the SPIN system, the keywords associated with that scheme are cross checked against the researcher profiles in SMARTS. If there is a match, then the researcher is automatically sent a targeted Email notifying them of the opportunity.

GENIUS builds on the profile data which is entered for SMARTS matching, and allows researchers to enter a comprehensive set of information about their research expertise. This then forms the basis for an institutional expertise database.

Setting up a Researcher Profile

In order to set up your personal research interests profile, you will need to go to the InfoEd eRA Portal and click on ‘Get Profile’

Existing users may select “Login” and enter their username and password when prompted. Your username and password are case sensitive. If you have forgotten or misplaced your username and password, got to the Getting Started page to have the information e-mailed to you.

Hints

Your Profile has links to the various sections which you can fill out to produce a detailed profile of your research interests and areas of expertise. Note that there are four types of information:

• General Data and Keywords (required for both SMARTS and GENIUS);
• Award Types, Locations Tenable and Geographical Restrictions (required for SMARTS only);
• Several categories to build a very detailed research profile (required for GENIUS);

Things to do when setting up your GENIUS profile:

1. You MUST use your Macquarie email address.
   As SPIN, SMARTS and GENIUS are University subscribed databases you have to have a Macquarie email address to use them. That is the same reason that the databases are only accessible on campus or through a University server/ISP.
2. You MUST select keywords. If you do not enter any keywords, SMARTS will be unable to email you details of schemes updated or added to the system. It is recommended that you enter keywords relevant to your area, ensuring that you receive information on funding opportunities relevant to your research.
3. Select your Division/Department When you update your details, you MUST also change your Department from DEFAULT to your Macquarie Divison/Department. If you do not do this, your profile WILL NOT be validated.
4. DO NOT provide your home address and phone number for security reasons. Please note that your profile may be accessed globally and if you wish to insert an address and phone number, it is recommended you use a Macquarie one.
5. Select your Profile Preferences to SHOW / HIDE your profile on GENIUS. Under Portal Preferences, you can set options for how your profile will appear in GENIUS search, and also how you would like to be contacted should an investigator locate your profile in GENIUS search. Select Global to make your profile available in all GENIUS searches regardless of whether they are run at or outside of your institution, or select Institution Access Only.