Tracker - 19 January 2026

Public consultation on draft Australian Recreational Water Quality Guidelines

NHMRC is seeking public feedback on the draft Australian Recreational Water Quality Guidelines.

These draft guidelines will replace the Guidelines for Managing Risks in Recreational Water (2008) when they are finalised following public consultation. The guidelines aim to protect people from water quality threats when using coastal, estuarine and freshwaters for recreational or cultural purposes. The update of the draft guidelines was overseen by the Recreational Water Quality Advisory Committee.

For all information, visit NHMRC’s website. Submissions can be made on NHMRC’s consultation hub, closing on Friday 27 February 2026.  
 

$345 million announced to support 268 NHMRC grants to support health and medical research commencing in 2026

In January 2026, the Minister for Health and Ageing, the Hon Mark Butler MP, announced $345 million to support high quality health and medical research across 3 NHMRC grant schemes: 

• $55 million will support 11 outstanding multidisciplinary teams to work together to answer major questions that cannot be answered by a single investigator through the NHMRC 2025 Synergy Grants
   
• $280 million will support 190 innovative and creative projects that address specific health and medical research questions - from discovery to implementation through the NHMRC 2025 Ideas Grants
   
• $10 million will support the next generation of outstanding health and medical research graduates through 67 2025 Postgraduate Scholarships​​​​​​​. 

Full details of the outcomes are available on the scheme webpages: Synergy Grants, Ideas Grants, Postgraduate Scholarships. Outcomes and data for all grants rounds are available on NHMRC’s outcomes of funding rounds webpage.

Please contact help@nhmrc.gov.au for further information.
  

Invitation for public submissions: Australian Pregnancy Care and Postnatal Care guidelines

The Living Evidence for Australian Pregnancy and Postnatal Care (LEAPP) consortium is seeking NHMRC approval under section 14A of the National Health and Medical Research Council Act 1992 for its Australian Pregnancy Care Guidelines and Australian Postnatal Care Guidelines.

Consultation on draft living recommendations from both guidelines opened on Tuesday 16 December 2025 and will close on Saturday 31 January 2026. 

To view these recommendations and make a submission please follow the links below.

The Pregnancy Care living recommendations provide advice on:

• Models of care in the Optimising pregnancy care section
• Preparing for infant feeding in the Core practices in pregnancy care section
• Iodine, iron, vitamins B6 & B12, omega-3, choline, zinc & selenium, probiotics in the Nutritional supplement section
• Anaemia in the Key medical conditions section
• Fasting for religious reasons during pregnancy in the Nutrition section
• Mental health assessment for non-birthing partners in the Social and emotional screening section.

The Postnatal Care living recommendations provide advice on:

• Mental health assessment for non birthing partners
• Fasting for religious reasons while breastfeeding
• Minor amendments in considerations for infant feeding, formula feeding and secondary postpartum haemorrhage.

Find out more about the Australian Pregnancy and Postnatal Care Living Guidelines project on the LEAPP Guidelines’ website.
 

Invitation for public submissions: Australian and New Zealand Living Clinical Guidelines for Stroke Management

The Stroke Foundation is seeking NHMRC approval under section 14A of the National Health and Medical Research Council Act 1992 for living recommendations from its Australian and New Zealand Living Clinical Guidelines for Stroke Management.

Consultation on a draft living recommendation opened on Friday 12 December 2025 and will close on Friday 23 January 2026.

To view this recommendation and make a submission please click the link below.

• Adherence to pharmacotherapy (Chapter 4 secondary prevention) – weak recommendation updated based on new evidence and an expanded search including patients with cardiovascular disease.

Alternatively, feedback may be emailed to guidelines@strokefoundation.org.au.

Find out more about the Australian and New Zealand Living Clinical Guidelines for Stroke Management on the Stroke Foundation’s InformMe website.
 

Survey period extended – Australian code for the care and use of animals for scientific purposes

NHMRC has released a survey seeking feedback on the utility of the 8th edition of the Australian code for the care and use of animals for scientific purposes (the Code). We are particularly interested in hearing from people who use the Code in their daily work.

For more information, including how you can participate visit NHMRC’s consultation hub.

The survey will close on 16 February 2026.
 

Forecast opportunities 

2026 Global Alliance for Chronic Diseases forecast opportunity

NHMRC is considering participating in the 11th GACD Funding Call on the topic of ‘Multisectoral Approaches’.

For details, refer to GrantConnect and the GACD webpage.
 

2026 NHMRC-Swiss National Science Foundation grant opportunity

NHMRC is considering participating in the 2026 NHMRC-Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) grant opportunity. 

This grant opportunity supports research on artificial intelligence in healthcare for populations of diverse sex, gender or sexual orientations or other underrepresented population groups.

For details, refer to GrantConnect and the SNSF website.
 

2026 NHMRC-European Partnership for Brain Health grant opportunity open 

NHMRC is participating in the 2026 NHMRC-European Partnership for Brain Health (EP BrainHealth) grant opportunity.

Details are available on GrantConnect and EP Brain Health’s website. 

Applications from Australia based researchers partnering with EP BrainHealth research teams are now open. The funding opportunity is run in 2 stages – pre-proposals and full proposals. Pre-proposals must be submitted to the EP BrainHealth Secretariat by 12:00 AEDT on 11 March 2026 (14:00 CET, 10 March 2026).  

Researchers who are not applying for this grant opportunity are invited to self-nominate as peer reviewers by emailing help@nhmrc.gov.au. 
 

Medical Research Future Fund – Grant opportunities key dates

The following MRFF grant opportunities have minimum data due dates approaching:

• 2025 Brain Cancer Research grant opportunity (GO7827)
  •    Minimum data due on 21 January 2026 at 17:00 (AEDT)
  •    Applications close on 4 February 2026 at 17:00 (AEDT).
   
• 2025 Genomics Health Futures grant opportunity (GO7833)
  •    Minimum data due on 21 January 2026 at 17:00 (AEDT)
  •    Applications close on 4 February 2026 at 17:00 (AEDT).

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:

• their Sapphire account is active or access to Sapphire has been requested,
• their organisation is an approved MRFF Eligible Organisation before the minimum data due date, and
• any intended participating institutions are listed in Sapphire or request that a new participating institution be added by emailing help@nhmrc.gov.au, including the institution's website address (URL) and ABN (if applicable).

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

Key dates

Please see the funding schemes and calendar page.
 

Tracker

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