The National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Postgraduate Scholarships scheme funds successful applicants to attain a research based postgraduate degree – Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) or a Research Masters Degree.
It aims to support these outstanding health and medical graduates early in their career so they can be trained to conduct research that is internationally competitive and develop a capacity for original independent research within Australia.
The intended outcome of the Postgraduate Scholarships scheme is increased research capacity within Australia.
Funding support
Postgraduate Scholarships may be funded by, or in conjunction with, other organisations. These grants offer opportunities to researchers whose work is particularly relevant to the priorities and research interests of the partner organisations.
Information on how organisations and individuals can support NHMRC to fund health and medical research is available on GrantConnect (GO8345) – refer to the Grant Guidelines and the Postgraduate Scholarships funding partners document for information on our funding partners.
Peer review
Applications to the Postgraduate Scholarships grant opportunity will be assessed in accordance with the assessment criteria and category descriptors set out in the Grant Guidelines and Peer Review Guidelines (available on GrantConnect (GO8345)).
Grant at a glance
Key changes
Applicants need to note the following changes for Postgraduate Scholarships 2026:
- Eligibility requirements relating to Australian Government funded stipends have been clarified to apply to Research Training Program (RTP) stipends specifically (see section 4.1.1).
- Minimum Data: ‘Research Stream’ and ‘Scholarship Category’ are required for Minimum data (see Section 3 of Appendix C – Guide to Applicants).
- Track Record: In addition to Publications, ‘Research Outputs’ can be included in the Top 10 in 10. The score descriptor for Academic Record and Achievements has been updated to reflect this inclusion (see section 6.6 of Appendix C – Guide to Applicants).
- Grant proposal page limit: The total pages for the grant proposal attachment has been increased from 5 to 6 pages: 5 pages for the research proposal and 1 page for a separate references section (see section 6.9.2 of Appendix C – Guide to Applicants).
- Leave provisions for Postgraduate Scholarship recipients have been updated to increase paid parental leave, to include paid partner leave, and to include Family and Domestic Violence leave (see section 10.8).
- Requirements for Scholarship Categories and Research Streams have been consolidated into the Eligibility criteria section (Section 4 – see sections 4.1.2 and 4.1.3).
- Applicants are required to declare any other scholarships they may be holding or applying for, with specific additional disclosures required in relation to Australian Government scholarship funding (see section 6.5 of Appendix C – Guide to Applicants).
- Supervisor Certification section has been included (see section 7.7.2).
- Section 8.1.2 Explanation of fundable applications has been included.
- Section 13.1 Information about fraud and corruption has been added.
- ORCID iD: The CIA must have a valid ORCID iD in their Sapphire profile for the grant to commence (see section 10.1.1).
- Section 13.4 Information about publication of outcomes including ORCiD has been added.
- Checklist for applications (Section 8 of Appendix C – Guide to Applicants) has been updated to include an additional check that any images of people are appropriately de-identified or informed consent has been given.
- The Statement on Sex, Gender, Variations of Sex Characteristics and Sexual Orientation in Health and Medical Research is being embedded in application and assessment processes (see section 7.6) including:
- The Postgraduate Scholarships 2026 application form in Sapphire includes a new mandatory question about the integration of sex, gender, variations of sex characteristics and/or sexual orientation in the proposed research (see section 6.2 of Appendix C – Guide to Applicants).
- The score descriptor for the Research Project assessment criterion includes an additional component on the appropriateness of how sex, gender, variations of sex characteristics and/or sexual orientation are integrated in the proposed research and/or the strength of the justification for why any of these Variables are not integrated (see Appendix B).
