Monday

Welcome to Tracker, the National Health and Medical Research Council’s (NHMRC) fortnightly newsletter with the latest information on major activities and funding opportunities.

Speaking of Science - Discovering a breakthrough in the fight against cancer with Professor Andrew Wilks

Did you know that both the key underlying cause of the rare chronic blood cancer myelofibrosis (MF) and its treatment were discovered in Melbourne, Australia?

In this webinar hosted by NHMRC in acknowledgement of World Cancer Day, you will hear from entrepreneur and PM prize winner, Professor Andrew Wilks, and his highly successful academic career as a cancer researcher and his journey towards drug discovery and development.

Professor Wilks will discuss how he discovered the drug momelotinib that is used in the fight against MF, and how he took it from bench to bedside to treat the estimated 1 in 100,000 people diagnosed with MF. There will be a Q&A session at the end, so we encourage you to attend and ask questions! 

The webinar will take place on Tuesday 18 February 2025 from 10:00AM–11:00AM AEDT.

Register to attend.

Australian Standards of Care and Treatment Guidelines for Trans and Gender Diverse Children and Adolescents

The Australian Government has requested NHMRC to undertake a comprehensive review of the Australian Standards of Care and Treatment Guidelines for Trans and Gender Diverse Children and Adolescents in Australia, first published in 2018, and to develop new national guidelines.

These will be the first NHMRC-approved national guidelines for the care of trans and gender diverse people under 18 in Australia. The guideline will be developed in accordance with the NHMRC’s Standards for Guidelines and the GRADE approach.

The guideline will focus on ensuring that trans and gender diverse people under 18 receive safe and appropriate care. Development of the guidelines has begun and is expected to take 3 years, with interim advice on the use of puberty blockers expected to be available in the middle of 2026.

NHMRC recognises the importance of stakeholder input into this project. The guidelines, once drafted, will be issued for public comment and consultation. Other opportunities for input are likely and will be communicated through NHMRC’s website and the contact list.

Australian Immunisation Handbook – third party guidelines

On 2 January 2025 NHMRC’s acting CEO approved updates to recommendations of the Australian Immunisation Handbook – Zoster Chapter under section 14A of the National Health and Medical Research Council Act 1992.

The updates include:

  • Removal of information on the Zostavax vaccine, as it is no longer available in Australia
  • Changes to recommendations to allow people who have previously received varicella vaccine (e.g. in childhood) to receive a zoster vaccine, regardless of their history of varicella infection.

2025 NHMRC Awards 

NHMRC recognises excellence in the health and medical research sector through its annual Research Excellence Awards and celebrates leadership and outstanding contributions to the sector through its Biennial Awards.

The agency recently sought public nominations for our 2025 Biennial Awards, and we were blown away by the vast number of outstanding nominees that make up the fabric of our national health and medical research community.

We would like to take the opportunity to sincerely thank those who submitted nominations across each of the 6 award categories

  • Consumer Involvement Award
  • Ethics and Integrity Award
  • Outstanding Contribution Award
  • Research Quality Award
  • Science to Art Award
  • Peer Review Excellence Award.

We appreciate your time and efforts in getting involved and recognising a group or individual who have made a special contribution in an area of importance to NHMRC.

NHMRC’s Biennial Awards, as well as our Research Excellence Awards, will be awarded at a ceremony held in Canberra on Wednesday 26 March 2025. We can’t wait to share the full list of winners with our Tracker subscribers, please stay tuned.

Prime Minister's Prize for Aboriginal and Torres and Strait Islander Knowledge Systems

Nominations are now open for the new Prime Minister’s Prize for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Knowledge Systems.

This is an exciting addition to the Prime Minister’s Prizes for Science – Australia’s most prestigious and highly regarded science awards.

This new $250,000 prize category will recognise the practice and preservation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledge systems occurring in Australia.

Nominations close on Tuesday 18 March 2025 at 5:00PM AEDT.

Find out more and nominate someone.

NHMRC-AMED 2024 Collaborative Research Grant Scheme: Adopting Sustainable Partnerships for Innovation and Research Ecosystem (ASPIRE) funding announced

The funding outcomes for the joint NHMRC and Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED) 2024 ASPIRE grant opportunity were announced on Wednesday 12 February 2025.    

The media release for this announcement is available on NHMRC’s news centre and the outcome data can be downloaded from the outcomes page. 

Key NHMRC grant program dates

NHMRC grant opportunities are funded through the Medical Research Endowment Account (MREA).

Opening soon:

NHMRC Ideas Grants
NHMRC Ideas Grants 2025 grant opportunity will open on Wednesday 12 March 2025.

  • Minimum data due on Wednesday 9 April 2025 17:00 AEST
  • Applications close on Wednesday 7 May 2025 17:00 AEST.

NHMRC-GACD
NHMRC has forecast anticipated participation in the 10th Global Alliance for Chronic Diseases (GACD) funding call on ‘strengthening health systems’ on GrantConnect.

GACD has published intended key dates for this funding call:

  • Participating funding agencies confirmed: 28 March 2025
  • Application portal opens: April 2025
  • First stage proposal deadline: 16 June 2025 (18:00 CET)
  • First stage proposal outcomes: 10 September 2025
  • Second stage proposal deadline: 22 October 2025 (18:00 CET)
  • Awards: January-April 2026.

NHMRC Partnership Projects Peer Review Cycle 2 (PRC2)
NHMRC Partnership Projects PRC2 grant opportunity will open on Thursday 20 March 2025.

  • Minimum data due on Wednesday 23 July 2025 17:00 AEST
  • Applications close on Wednesday 6 August 2025 17:00 AEST.

NHMRC Postgraduate Scholarships
NHMRC Postgraduate Scholarships 2025 grant opportunity will open on Wednesday 9 April 2025.

  • Minimum data due on Wednesday 14 May 2025 17:00 AEST
  • Applications close on Wednesday 4 June 2025 17:00 AEST.

Minimum data due soon:

Targeted Call for Research (TCR): Addressing the Needs of People with High Healthcare Service Utilisation
Key dates:

  • Minimum data due on Wednesday 26 February 2025 17:00 AEDT
  • Applications close on Wednesday 12 March 2025 17:00 AEST.

Synergy Grants
Key dates:

  • Minimum data due on Wednesday 5 March 2025 17:00 AEDT
  • Applications close on Wednesday 2 April 2025 17:00 AEDT.

NHMRC e-ASIA Joint Research Program (JRP)
Key dates:

  • Minimum data due on Wednesday 19 March 2025 17:00 AEDT
  • Applications close on Wednesday 2 April 2025 17:00 AEDT.

2025 NHMRC e-ASIA Joint Research Program application requirements:
Applicants to the 2025 NHMRC e-ASIA JRP are reminded that mandatory profile information is indicated in the ‘My Profile’ section of Sapphire. All mandatory profile fields are required to be completed by all Chief Investigators (CIs) -including any international CIs - named on the application. CIAs will need to verify that each of the CIs has completed and updated their profile before an application is certified. Please refer to Section 5, Appendix D of the 2025 NHMRC e-ASIA JRP guidelines for further information.

Overseas institutions that will be involved in the planned research activity must be listed in the Participating Institutions section (Section 5.14, Appendix D).

NHMRC Partnership Projects Peer Review Cycle 1 (PRC1)
Key dates:

  • NHMRC approved Administering Institutions to submit partner waiver requests for applications are due on Wednesday 5 March 2025 17:00 AEDT
  • Minimum data due on Wednesday 19 March 2025 17:00 AEDT
  • Applications close on Wednesday 2 April 2025 17:00 AEDT.

Network of European Funding for Neuroscience Research (NEURON)
Key dates:

  • Applications close on Wednesday 26 June 2025 17:00 AEST.

Key NHMRC grant program dates

Please see the Funding schemes and calendar page.

Medical Research Future Fund – grant opportunities key dates

The following MRFF grant opportunities have opened for applications:

Details on how to apply for MRFF grant opportunities and all MRFF close dates are available on GrantConnect. Applicants are reminded that only applicants who completed minimum data by the due date can submit an application. It is also the applicant’s responsibility to ensure they meet all eligibility requirements, including limits on the number of times a person can be named as a Chief Investigator on applications submitted to a grant opportunity.

Applicants should ensure:

MRFF grant assessment committee self-nomination
Register your interest to become a member of a MRFF grant assessment committee.

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