This page contains information about the sub funding types available under the NHMRC Career Development Fellowship funding scheme.
The NHMRC Career Development Fellowship scheme aims to:
- Develop Australian health and medical early to mid-career researchers so they establish themselves as independent, self-directed researchers;
- Help build Australia’s capacity for research in all fields of health and medical research, with a particular emphasis on clinical, public health, health service research and bioinformatics fields;
- Increase knowledge and support the development of evidence based health policies;
- Encourage the translation of research outcomes into practice;
- Encourage the growth of knowledge-based industries in Australia by helping to bridge the gap between research and industry and fostering an environment that values industry achievement; and
- Provide a means for Australian researchers working overseas to return to Australia to continue their career development.
The Fellowships are available to researchers in the early- to mid-stages of their careers. The proposed research must:
- be internationally competitive;
- develop the applicant’s capacity for original independent research;
- develop the applicant’s research leadership skills; and
- assist the applicant to establish themselves as independent self-directed health and medical researchers in a research program or as part of a research team.
Categories of Career Development Fellowships
Applicants for all four of the Career Development Fellowship categories listed below may also apply for a co-funded fellowship.
R.D. Wright Biomedical Career Development Fellowships
These fellowships are available for any aspect of biomedical research or fundamental research relevant to health. They are full-time fellowships and recipients will normally be expected to be working full-time on the development of their research careers during the term of the fellowship.
Clinical Career Development Fellowships
Clinical research involves contact with patients or has a direct link to patient outcomes. Applicants must demonstrate medical, paramedical, allied health or public health professional activity. The fellowships can be full-time or part-time. Part-time fellowships are for people who wish to maintain an active research role but continue to provide clinical care.
The part-time fellowships are available for 30-70% of a full-time position with the value of the fellowship adjusted pro-rata. Applications for part-time fellowships must be justified in professional terms. Applicants must plan to combine their clinical duties with their research and be able to demonstrate an interface between the two.
Population Health Career Development Fellowships
These fellowships are available for public health and health service delivery research.
The fellowships can be full-time or part-time. Part-time fellowships are available for researchers who want to maintain an active role in the delivery of public health services or the development of public health policy.
The part-time fellowships are available for 30-70% of a full-time position with the value of the award adjusted pro rata. Applications for part-time fellowships must be justified in professional terms. Applicants must plan to combine their public health or policy development practice work with their research and be able to demonstrate an interface between the two.
Industry Career Development Fellowships
These fellowships are full-time fellowships and are intended to support researchers with a track record of research excellence and commercial interest to spend between 1 and 2 years of their award research time in an industry placement (in Australia or overseas), followed by the residual proportion at a research institution in Australia. The Industry placement need not be taken over a single continuous period, but should provide maximum exposure to research at the commercial interface. Applicants need to provide clear evidence of engagement with their industry partner.
The fellowships are designed to support research and development work undertaken in such human health related fields as diagnostics, medical devices, pharmaceutical product development, biotechnology, bioinformatics, biomaterials, biostatistics, disease management systems, organic synthesis, fermentation technologies, manufacturing technologies, clinical trials, toxicology etc.
Co-Funded Career Development Fellowships
These fellowships are offered through funding partnerships agreed between the NHMRC and each partner organisation. Further information on the current Partners can be found here.
For more information on Career Development Fellowships and information about applying, see Applying for a Career Development Fellowship.