In late 2003, the Australian Research Council requested proposals for seed funding to explore the setting up of a number of research networks. Of the 290+ applications received, about 135 were funded to produce full proposals. Three of these successful applications were in the broad area of language and communication:

• SR0354513: The Computational Processing of Human Language
• SR0354750: Developmental Disorders of Language: Causes and Treatments
• SR0354596: Perception and Action in Auditory Scenes (PAAS): Neural, Behavioural, Computational and Mechanical Systems

Those involved in these applications decided to merge the three proposals to build a broad-reaching interdisciplinary network in Human Communication Science; the proposal to create this network was successful, resulting in HCSNet.