20 May 2024

Welcome to Tracker, NHMRC’s fortnightly newsletter with the latest information on major activities and funding opportunities.

$77 million boost for collaborative health and medical research 

 The Australian Government is investing $77 million through this year’s NHMRC Clinical Trials and Cohort Studies grant scheme. Twenty-five research teams from across the nation aiming to improve the health and wellbeing of all Australians will share in this funding.

The media release for this announcement is available on NHMRC’s website.

Outcome data for the 2023 Clinical Trials and Cohort Studies round is available on the NHMRC Clinical Trials and Cohort Studies webpage, and the corresponding factsheet publication is available on NHMRC’s website. The factsheet contains outcomes by gender, broad research area, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health research and researchers.

The 2024 Clinical Trials and Cohort Studies Grant round will open for applications on Wednesday 26 June 2024, and will close Wednesday 28 August 2024.

Public consultation: Good Institutional Practice Guide 

 NHMRC has released the draft Good Institutional Practice Guide for public consultation. The Guide aims to provide advice to NHMRC-funded institutions and NHMRC-funded researchers about good institutional practice to promote open, honest, supportive, and respectful institutional cultures conducive to the conduct of high-quality research. 

Online consultations are now open and will close Wednesday 10 July 2024 at 5:00pm AEST.

Information about this consultation is available on NHMRC’s website.

Submission extension: Review of the 2016 Statement on Consumer and Community Involvement in Health and Medical Research

 NHMRC and the Consumers Health Forum of Australia Ltd (CHF) are reviewing the 2016 Statement on Consumer and Community Involvement in Health and Medical Research.

The revised Statement will focus on the principles and values that underpin consumer and community involvement in health and medical research, and the roles and responsibilities of all involved.

All interested stakeholders are encouraged to share their views online on NHMRC’s Consultation Hub.

The closing date for submissions has been extended to Sunday 16 June 2024.

To receive future updates on the review of the Statement, please subscribe to the Consumer Statement contact list or email  priorities@nhmrc.gov.au.

Multi-Factor Authentication guide for Sapphire reminder

 To meet Australian cyber security standards, Sapphire is only accessible once Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) has been setup. NHMRC encourages all Sapphire users to login and ensure MFA has been set up ahead of any required Sapphire activity.
Common issues reported by users include:
• Using an unsupported authenticator app.
     - Sapphire only supports the free Google Authenticator and Microsoft Authenticator apps.
• Scanning the QR code with the camera app instead of the authenticator app.
      - When setting up MFA for the first time in Sapphire, use the supported authenticator app to scan the QR code.

The Sapphire MFA guide has been updated to incorporate the latest troubleshooting questions and a dedicated MFA guide page is now available on NHMRC’s website.

For further information please contact help@nhmrc.gov.au.

NHMRC Speaking of Science – Unlocking the power of Indigenous co-design and intervention: Transformative outcomes through authentic collaboration with Professor Maree Toombs

 This National Reconciliation Week, join us as we host distinguished researcher and Indigenous leader, Professor Maree Toombs, for our Speaking of Science May webinar.

With over 20 years' experience in teaching and developing curriculum with an Indigenous perspective both in education and health, Professor Toombs, now the Professor of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health in the UNSW School of Population Health, is a leader in research focused on mental health and suicide intervention.

In this webinar, Professor Toombs will discuss how unlocking the power of Indigenous co-design and intervention can lead to transformative outcomes through authentic collaboration. There will also be an opportunity to engage in a Q&A session, so we encourage you to attend and ask questions.

Join us for this free webinar on Thursday 30 May 2024 from 11:00 to 12:00 AEST.

Register on Eventbrite here.

Please note that this webinar will be recorded and published to NHMRC’s website afterwards as part of our new ‘Speaking of Science’ series.

If you have any questions for the event organisers, email media@nhmrc.gov.au.

Reflecting on health and medical research excellence

 What inspires health and medical researchers to pursue a career in research? And how do they become the top-ranked researchers of NHMRC’s largest grant funding schemes?

Recipients of 2023 NHMRC Research Excellence Awards have reflected on their careers to date and have written first person pieces describing the significance of their research and how their hypotheses are helping to build a healthy Australia.

• 2023 NHMRC NHMRC Fiona Stanley Synergy Grant awardee, Professor Alta Schutte’s, first person piece on her groundbreaking research into solving Australia’s hypertension treatment problem.

• Dr Jiayan Liao, recipient of the 2023 NHMRC Bernie Banton Investigator Grant Award, tells us her inspiring story into pioneering early cancer detection through nanotechnology.

• Professor Sharon Lewin AO, recipient of the 2023 NHMRC Elizabeth Blackburn Investigator Grant Award (Clinical Medicine and Science (Leadership), has shared her interesting research into novel interventions to treat and cure acute and chronic viral infections.

Keep your eyes on NHMRC’s news centre for more research story-telling from our awardees.

NHMRC/MREA – grant opportunities key dates

 The following NHMRC/Medical Research Endowment Account (MREA) grant opportunities have closed:

NHMRC Ideas Grants 2024:
Applications for the Ideas Grants scheme closed on Wednesday 15 May 2024 with a total of 2254 applications submitted by the close date. 

Peer review membership is currently being finalised, thanks to those who have agreed to participate. Peer reviewers will declare conflicts of interest and suitability in June and do peer review assessments in July/August.

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 opportunity has a minimum data due date approaching:

The following MRFF grant opportunity has a close date approaching:

 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.

There is a tutorial available for RAOs about how to check the CI application count dashboard. You can download as PDF on the HMRO website. A range of other Sapphire tutorials are also available. RAOs should open the Institution > Our applications menu to view the videos.

Applicants should ensure:

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

Tracker

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Comments, suggestions, questions about Tracker—please email communications@nhmrc.gov.au.

 

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