Research Funding Opportunities and Research Grant Support
Finding Research Grant Funding
A range of organisations, institutions and government bodies provide funding for health and medical research in Australia. Funding can be from International, National, State or local agencies
A good list of nationally funded grants and agencies can be found through the Australian Government Department of Education and Training, Australian Competitive Grants Register (ACGR). The 2018 ACGR can be downloaded here.
All Australian Federal Government Grant Schemes are now advertised through GrantConnect. Registration is free and you can have GrantConnect e-mail grant opportunities as they become available.
State government grants are offered by the Office of Health & Medical Research, Office of Nursing & Midwifery and Cancer Institute NSW.
Non-Government Agencies also provide grant funding and these are often disease specific foundations. Some of these agencies are: Arthritis Australia; Australian Rotary Health; Bupa Foundation (Australia) Limited; Diabetes Australia; HCF Research Foundation; The Heart Foundation; MND Australia; Leukaemia Foundation; MS Research Australia; National Breast Cancer Foundation; Stroke Foundation of Australia; Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia; and Beyondblue.
Professional societies also offer grants to their members, such as Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists; Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand; Royal Australian College of General Practitioners.
Some drug companies such a Pfizer Pty Ltd offer Research Fellowships, Research Grants and Investigator-Initiated research funding
If you have a University affiliation, many Universities subscribe to a grant information provider, Research Professional. Your University Research Portfolio will be able to provide you with information on how to login through their University. Research professional has a YouTube site, so you can see what it does. Most Universities also have internal research grant funding available t staff and affiliates.
WSLHD has some internal research grant schemes. Annually, there is the Research and Education Network (REN) grants; Allied Health, Nursing and some Medical Kickstarter grants. The Westmead Charitiable Trust funds Early Career Clinician-researcher grants. Every 3 years we fund The Westmead Fellowship. The Westmead Medical Research Foundation funds research grants largely based on bequests it has received. When available, these grants will be advertised on our Internal Research Grants page.
Research Grants Submission Support
Western Sydney Local Health District is a National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Administering Institution and so research grants submissions can be made through WSLHD. Many other funding bodies (such as the Heart Foundation) require that grants are submitted through an NHMRC Administering Institution.
If you wish to submit a grant through WSLHD, you must contact the REN (E: [email protected], P: 8890-5125/0408 165 911). Contact should be made well in advance of the closing date for the application. Normally, full grant applications are required at least 1 week in advance of the closing date to allow time for the grant to be reviewed and returned prior to submission. If a grant required sign off by the WSLHD Chief Executive, the internal close will be 3 weeks.
Mark Smith has many years of experience in reading and critiquing grant proposals. He would be happy to read your grant proposal and provide feedback.
REN also provides a scientific writer, Olivia Wroth, who can assist WSLHD staff to get that “extra polish” on their grant application or publication.