NHMRC grant program schemes

NHMRC grant program schemes

Investigator Grants

Objectives:

• to support the research program of outstanding investigators at all career stages
• consolidate salary and research support into a single grant scheme by offering a salary component (if required) and a Research Support Package (RSP).

Intended outcomes:

• flexibility for investigators to pursue important new research directions as they arise and to form collaborations as needed
• innovative and creative research
• opportunities for researchers at all career stages to establish their own research programs
• reduced application and peer review burden on researchers.

For more information, visit Investigator Grants.

Ideas Grants

Objective: to support innovative research projects addressing a specific question(s).

Intended outcomes:

• innovative and creative research
• funding of researchers at all career stages
• funding any area of health and medical research from discovery to implementation.

For more information, visit Ideas Grants.

Clinical Trials and Cohort Studies Grants

Objectives:

• to support high-quality clinical trials and cohort studies that address important gaps in knowledge
• leading to relevant and implementable findings for the benefit of human health.

Intended outcomes:

• reliable evidence of the effects of health-related interventions on health outcomes (or appropriate surrogates)
• reliable evidence on the relation of important risk factors and other exposures to health-related outcomes.

For more information, visit Clinical Trials and Cohort Studies Grants.

Synergy Grants

Objective: support outstanding multidisciplinary teams of investigators to work together to answer questions that cannot be answered by a single investigator.

Intended outcomes:

• support multidisciplinary research that addresses major problems in all areas of human health and medical research, from discovery to translation
• support highly collaborative teams of diverse researchers including by gender, career stage and cultural background, working together to address major problems in human health.

For more information, visit Synergy Grants.

Centres of Research Excellence

Objectives:

• improve health outcomes
• promote or improve translation of research outcomes into policy and/or practice
• support researchers in capacity building activities, including in specific areas of need identified by NHMRC.

Intended outcomes:

• support the conduct and development of innovative, high quality, collaborative research
• promote effective translation of research into knowledge gain, health policy and/or practice
• foster and build capacity and capability in the health and medical research workforce
• provide opportunities to expand and improve collaborations between research teams.

For more information, visit Centres of Research Excellence.

International Collaborative Schemes

Objectives: NHMRC facilitates Australian researchers' participation in collaborative research projects with international researchers through both bilateral and multilateral arrangements.

For more information, visit International collaborative health research funding.

Partnership Projects

Objectives:

• meet the need for a more effective integration of research evidence into health policy and service delivery
• create partnerships among policy makers, managers, service providers and researchers
• provide support to answer often complex and difficult questions that policy makers, managers and service providers face when making decisions and implementing policies that affect Australians’ health and health care
• be highly responsive to the priorities of government, the community and health professionals
• enable applicants to apply for funding at any time during the year to allow researchers and Partner Organisations to develop timely collaborations.

Intended outcomes:

• studies of mechanisms of knowledge transfer and exchange which will lead to improved Australian health outcomes through improved health services
• research involving preventative programs, primary and community health care, hospitals, access to services, workforce, infrastructure and funding
• application of existing evidence to develop advice
• increased reach and knowledge of how to implement through partnerships
• identification of opportunities to improve the performance of programs or services
• the evaluation of new approaches to services and programs, their dissemination and uptake
• monitoring and review of current policy and practice to gauge its impact and determine whether change is necessary.

For more information, visit Partnership Projects.

Development Grants

Objectives:

• to expedite the translation of health and medical research outcomes through to commercialisation, within a foreseeable timeframe
• to support proof-of-concept research with a feasible commercialisation pathway and a high likelihood of producing protected IP
• to provide a potential mechanism through which research outcomes can be progressed to a stage that makes them competitive to receive industry investment through other government schemes or from the private sector
• to encourage collaboration between health research, the private sector and industry (domestic and international).

Intended outcomes: increased rates of translation of health and medical research into commercial outcomes, resulting in improved health and medical knowledge.

For more information, visit Development Grants.

Targeted Calls for Research

Objective: to stimulate research or build research capacity in a particular area of health and medical science to the benefit of Australians. In general, NHMRC’s health priorities reflect broad health challenges and emerging issues where national capacity or capability in health and medical research is most needed, rather than specific diseases.

Intended outcomes: Provide a mechanism to respond to emerging research needs and prioritise potential topics according to relative urgency and impact.

For more information, visit Targeted Calls for Research.

Postgraduate Scholarships

Objective: to support outstanding graduates early in their careers so they can be trained to conduct health and medical research that is internationally competitive.

Intended outcome: increased research capacity within Australia.

For more information, visit Postgraduate Scholarships.

Infrastructure schemes

Independent Research Institutes Infrastructure Support Scheme (IRIISS)

Objective: to develop and maintain infrastructure to support high quality health and medical research by contributing to infrastructure costs associated with competitively awarded NHMRC research grants managed by independent medical research institutes.

Equipment Grants

Objective:

To support Administering Institutions to:

• be strategic in the purchase of larger items of equipment that will benefit health and medical research in Australia
• purchase equipment that will be used collaboratively
• where possible, purchase Australian-made equipment
• and provide ongoing service, upgrades, maintenance and repair costs for equipment used on NHMRC funded Research Activities.