Collaborative grants have different criteria and we have been more successful in obtaining these. The key criteria for success here is to have strong support from the industry partner - as well as having a good proposal of course. I'm happy to assist with applications. A call for proposals will be made through the staff newsgroups and proposals are then evaluated by the research committee. New staff without external research funds will receive priority for funding as long as they have a good proposals.
Proposals are quite short.
Departmental research funds do have to be used within the year and revert back to the department if they are not used. A call for proposals for departmental funds is expected to happen sometime in semester 1 this year. Normally it would happen at the end of the year, for funds for the following year. Involving students in your research is of course an excellent way to help move things along and also a way to ensure that you do spend some time on research yourself. The department has many opportunities to involve students in research at various levels, and many opportunities to supervise.