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Search our publications on this page including annual reports and corporate plans, guidelines, reports, statements and 10 of the Best.
For case studies, fact sheets, guidance, policies, and video see our Resources.
If you are unable to find what you are looking for, you can search for archived publications on the National Library's Australian Government Web Archive (Trove).
Annual Report 2025–26
This report contains information on NHMRC administration and performance, and a record of our activities for the reporting period 2025–26.
A web version of this document will become available on the Transparency Portal.
Joint report on MRFF and NHMRC funding from 2021–22 to 2024–25
This report provides a detailed overview of health and medical research funding awarded through Grant Opportunities (GOs) administered by NHMRC and MRFF over four financial years (2021–22 to 2024–25). It highlights the breadth of the Australian Government’s support for health and medical research and showcases key trends and the unique characteristics of both funders, illustrating how each contribute to Australia's funding landscape.
NHMRC Corporate Plan 2026–27
The NHMRC Corporate Plan 2026–27 presents our strategy for building a healthy Australia, across the strategic themes (purposes) of investment, translation and integrity of health and medical research. The plan also includes our strategic and health priorities, as well as our key activities planned for 2026–27 and over the next few years. The plan describes the operating context in which we work and outlines our performance criteria and targets for the next 4 years.
Building Capacity and Broadening Capability grant program evaluation report
The Building Capacity and Broadening Capability grant program evaluation report provides the results of a series of analyses of NHMRC grant data. These analyses investigated long-term trends in the types of researchers and research being funded. Their purpose was to determine the extent to which NHMRC is achieving its grant program objective. Specifically, the analyses examined how well the program supports the research capacity and capability needed to underpin a world-class national health system.
NHMRC Innovate Reconciliation Action Plan May 2026 – May 2028
It is with our Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) that our ideas and actions, as an organisation and as individuals, can contribute to the National Agreement on Closing the Gap.
This is NHMRC's third Innovate Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP).
NHMRC Research Translation Strategy 2026–2030
This Strategy outlines a focused approach to strengthening Australia’s capacity to translate health and medical research into improved health outcomes, stronger public policy, and a thriving knowledge economy. It reflects NHMRC’s leadership role in enabling research translation through targeted funding, capability building, and system-wide collaboration.
The complete Strategy is available in the download section below.
NHMRC Embryo Research Licensing Committee Report to Parliament - 1 September to 28 February 2026
The 47th biannual report
NHMRC’s peer review models
This paper explains NHMRC’s use of both panel-based and application-centric peer review models which underpin NHMRC’s mission to build a healthy Australia by identifying and funding research that improves health outcomes for Australians. These efforts ensure that limited resources are allocated to research of the highest quality and with the greatest potential impact, based on expert judgment.
National Health and Medical Research Strategy 2026–2036
The strategy sets out a 10-year vision for strengthening Australia’s health and medical research system. It will help shape the future of health and medical research in Australia.
NHMRC Strategic Workshop Report: Research preparedness for the next pandemic
Professor Steve Wesselingh, Chief Executive Officer of the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), with support from the Australian Centre for Disease Control (CDC), convened senior leaders from government, research, clinical practice, industry and community for a one-day workshop in February 2026 to examine how Australia can be research-ready for the next pandemic. Using a hypothetical ‘Disease X’ scenario, participants explored research needs across early and later phases of a pandemic, followed by a discussion on developing a roadmap to confidence in research preparedness.
NHMRC peer review analysis: Investigating the potential for jurisdictional bias
As part of our ongoing quality assurance processes for peer review, we recently conducted an analysis of our 2 largest grant schemes to investigate whether assessors have bias for applications originating from their own state or territory.
2026 Impact Case Study evaluation
This 2026 Impact Case Study evaluation assesses NHMRC’s Impact Case Study business activity with a focus on case study topics, promotion and use.
Statement on Consumer and Community Involvement in Health and Medical Research
The Statement on Consumer and Community Involvement in Health and Medical Research (the Statement) was released by NHMRC and the Consumers Health Forum of Australia (CHF) in 2026. The Statement was developed with consumers, community members, researchers, and representatives from consumer organisations, research institutions and funders. Its aim is to guide consumer and community involvement in all aspects of health and medical research.
10 of the Best – Seventeenth edition
10 of the Best: Seventeenth edition showcases 10 outstanding Australian health and medical research projects supported by NHMRC and completed in 2023.
NHMRC Embryo Research Licensing Committee Report to Parliament - 1 March to 31 August 2025
The 46th biannual report
NHMRC APS Census Results
The APS Employee Census is an annual employee perception survey of the Australian Public Service workforce. The census collects employee opinions and perspectives on a range of topics, such as employee engagement, leadership, communication, innovation, and wellbeing. On this page find results from the NHMRC APS Employee Census and an action plan for each year.
Annual Report 2024–25
This report contains information on NHMRC administration and performance, and a record of our activities for the reporting period 2024–25.
A web version of this document is available on the Transparency Portal.
ME/CFS scoping survey report
The ME/CFS Scoping Survey was released by NHMRC on 21 February 2025 and was open for 9 weeks through to 27 April 2025. The survey was open to the public and was designed to gather insights from individuals with ME/CFS and related conditions (Long COVID, postural orthostatic intolerance syndrome (POTS) and fibromyalgia), carers, GPs and other healthcare professionals that provide care to people with ME/CFS and related conditions, researchers and consumer organisations. The purpose of the survey was to understand what stakeholders consider priorities for inclusion in the new Australian ME/CFS Clinical Practice Guidelines and to understand patient and healthcare professionals’ experiences of barriers to and/or enablers of care.
The full report is available from the Downloads section.
Draft National Health and Medical Research Strategy
On 27 August 2025, the Minister for Health, Disability and Ageing announced the release of the draft National Health and Medical Research Strategy (the National Strategy). The National Strategy will build on Australia’s strengths in health and medical research and leverage Australia’s world leading research capability. It will aim to attract researchers and investors, strengthen coordination and impact and improve health outcomes in communities. Feedback on the draft strategy was sought through a public consultation. The consultation closed on 8 October 2025.
On 22 May 2026, the Minister announced the release of the National Health and Medical Research Strategy 2026–2036.
NHMRC Corporate Plan 2025–26
The NHMRC Corporate Plan 2025–26 presents our strategy for building a healthy Australia, across the strategic themes (purposes) of investment, translation and integrity of health and medical research. The plan also includes our strategic and health priorities, as well as our key activities planned for 2025–26 and over the next few years. The plan describes the operating context in which we work and outlines our performance criteria and targets for the next 4 years.
Good institutional practice guide
The Good institutional practice guide (the Guide) brings together information on values, concepts and ideas that underpin a high-quality research culture. Although developed to support institutional and research leaders as they implement positive change, the Guide can be used by anyone involved with the conduct, administration and oversight of research.
A PDF version of the complete Guide is available from the Downloads section.
NHMRC Action Plan for Responsible Research Assessment
The NHMRC 2025–2030 Action Plan for Responsible Research Assessment is a formal commitment to continuing to improve responsible research assessment. Building on existing efforts, the plan seeks to recognise a wider range of research career paths and outputs by incorporating qualitative assessment mechanisms and embracing the principles of open science. This statement is also published on the CoARA Zenodo repository.
NHMRC Evaluation Strategy Implementation Report 2024
The 2024 Evaluation Strategy Implementation Report outlines NHMRC's evaluation-related activities, challenges, and achievements during the 2023–24 financial year (the reporting period). For long-term initiatives that commenced within this reporting period but continued into the 2024–25 financial year, progress updates as of March 2025 are also included.
Procedures and requirements for meeting NHMRC standards for clinical practice guidelines
The Procedures and requirements for meeting NHMRC standards for clinical practice guidelines are designed to support guideline developers, including those seeking NHMRC approval, to ensure guidelines are developed to the highest standard.
Embryo Research Licensing Committee Report to Parliament - 1 September 2024 to 28 February 2025
The 45th biannual report
Ethical guidelines for cell, tissue and organ donation and transplantation
The Ethical Guidelines for Cell, Tissue and Organ Donation and Transplantation in Australia provide a framework to support ethical practice and inform decision-making by all those involved in Australia’s donation and transplantation system.
10 of the Best – Sixteenth edition
10 of the Best: Sixteenth edition showcases 10 outstanding Australian health and medical research projects supported by NHMRC and completed in 2022.
National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research 2025
The National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research (2025) consists of a series of guidelines made in accordance with the National Health and Medical Research Council Act 1992.
An evaluation of NHMRC funded Dementia and Diabetes research
An evaluation of NHMRC-funded dementia and diabetes research delves into the outputs, outcomes and pathways to impact arising from NHMRC-supported research in the areas of dementia and diabetes by analysing data captured by Scopus-indexed publications. It employs AI-driven analytics and narrative techniques combined with novel bibliometric methods to identify impacts or pathways to impact. The report also benchmarks NHMRC's contributions against major international funders, offering insights from 2000 to 2023.
2019-2024 Review of the Australian Government Rebate on Private Health Insurance for Natural Therapies: NHMRC Process Report
This process report refers to the development of documents that assessed the evidence on the clinical effectiveness of 16 natural therapies: Alexander technique, aromatherapy, Bowen therapy, Buteyko, Feldenkrais, homeopathy, iridology, kinesiology, naturopathy, Pilates, reflexology, Rolfing, shiatsu, tai chi, western herbal medicine and yoga.
For more information, visit Natural Therapies Review 2024.
Embryo Research Licensing Committee Report to Parliament - 1 March to 31 August 2024
The 44th biannual report
Annual Report 2023–24
This report contains information on NHMRC administration and performance, and a record of our activities for the reporting period 2023–24.
A web version of this document is available on the Transparency Portal.
NHMRC Artificial Intelligence Workshop Report
The report from an NHMRC-organised workshop that brought together experts to discuss the opportunities and risks from the use of AI in NHMRC and the Department of Health and Aged Care Health and Medical Research Office (HMRO)-funded health and medical research, and its translation. This was to ensure Australia is well positioned to make the best use of the technologies to improve human health.
Staying healthy guidelines
Staying healthy: Preventing infectious diseases in early childhood education and care services - 6th Edition is a best-practice resource that provides simple and effective ways for education and care services to help limit the spread of infectious diseases.
NHMRC is following a digital-first approach for the 6th edition of Staying healthy. The HTML pages are interactive, easy to navigate, accessible and will always be up to date. NHMRC is not offering hard copies of this publication, however you can download the PDF and print a copy if you would prefer.
Statement on Sex, Gender, Variations of Sex Characteristics and Sexual Orientation in Health and Medical Research
The Statement on Sex, Gender, Variations of Sex Characteristics and Sexual Orientation in Health and Medical Research (the Statement) is a joint initiative of NHMRC and the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing (responsible for implementation of the Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF)).
The Statement was developed in partnership with stakeholders, including researchers, consumers and advocacy groups with experience and expertise in consideration of sex, gender, variations of sex characteristics and sexual orientation in health and medical research. The diverse perspectives, experiences and knowledge of women and men, both cisgender and trans, non-binary people, people with innate variations of sex characteristics and people with diverse sexual orientations are valued, respected, and contributed to the final Statement.
A PDF version of the Statement is available to download.
The Statement was last updated in late 2025 to align with it being embedded in the NHMRC and MRFF grant programs from 2026.
NHMRC Corporate Plan 2024–25
The NHMRC Corporate Plan 2024–25 presents our strategy for building a healthy Australia, across the strategic themes (purposes) of investment, translation and integrity of health and medical research. The plan also includes our strategic and health priorities, as well as our key activities planned for 2024–25 and over the next few years. The plan describes the operating context in which we work and outlines our performance criteria and targets for the next 4 years.
Prioritisation Process Report for Older Australians
For the review of the evidence for dietary guidance for older Australians.
Published in June 2024.
Embryo Research Licensing Committee Report to Parliament - 1 September 2023 to 29 February 2024
The 43rd biannual report
Evaluation of large scale priority-driven grant opportunities
NHMRC funds priority-driven research in response to identified health priority areas to create a healthier future for Australians through relevant and targeted research initiatives which has included eight large scale one-off priority-driven grant opportunities. Though each grant opportunity was unique in design, each had a common focus of establishing a national collaborative research network.
NHMRC commissioned ORIMA Research to evaluate the effectiveness of these large-scale grant opportunities in fostering national collaboration in order to provide an evidence base to identify the best practice approaches to designing future priority-driven grant opportunities to achieve national research collaboration. The findings of the evaluation are published in this report.
Top 10 in 10 publications policy evaluation report
In 2021, NHMRC undertook a targeted consultation on NHMRC’s assessment of publications. Based on the results of this consultation, NHMRC began implementing a new policy relating to the assessment of publications for its track record-based schemes.
The new policy limited applicants to list no more than 10 of their top publications in the past 10 years. The Top 10 in 10 publications policy evaluation report – which may be downloaded at the bottom of this page – describes the results of a process evaluation that sought to determine whether the policy has been implemented as intended.
10 of the Best – Fifteenth edition
10 of the Best: Fifteenth edition showcases 10 outstanding Australian health and medical research projects supported by NHMRC and completed in 2021.
Guidelines approved under Section 95A of the Privacy Act 1988
The Guidelines approved under Section 95A of the Privacy Act 1988 are issued for the purposes of Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) and sections 16B(2) and 16B(3) of the Privacy Act.
Guidelines approved under Section 95AA of the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth)
The Privacy Legislation Amendment Act 2006 (Cth) made changes to the Privacy Act 1988(Cth) (the Privacy Act) to allow health practitioners to disclose patient’s genetic information, whether or not they give consent, in circumstances where there is reasonable belief that doing so is necessary to lessen or prevent a serious threat to the life, health or safety of their genetics relative(s). The amendments do not oblige disclosure of information but provide the framework for this to occur under the appropriate circumstances.
Guidelines under Section 95 of the Privacy Act 1988
These guidelines provide a framework in which medical research involving personal information obtained by Commonwealth agencies should be conducted, to ensure the information is protected.
Research Impact Track Record Assessment (RITRA) framework Evaluation Report
NHMRC’s Research Impact Track Record Assessment (RITRA) framework requires researchers to report on past research impacts in their applications for Investigator and Synergy Grants and requires peer reviewers to assess and score these reported impacts.
Implementation of this framework is intended to provide an incentive for researchers to consider future impact when planning and conducting research, ideally leading to an increase in the translation of NHMRC-funded research and improved public health.
The RITRA framework evaluation report describes the results of a process evaluation that sought to determine whether the RITRA framework has been implemented as intended.
Embryo Research Licensing Committee Report to Parliament - 1 March to 31 August 2023
The 42nd biannual report
IREC Review Consultation Report
The purpose of this report is to provide a summary of feedback received as part of the national consultation to review NHMRC’s Indigenous Research Excellence Criteria (IREC).
Evidence review strategy - Review of the 2013 Australian Dietary Guidelines
Evidence review strategy for the review of the 2013 Australian Dietary Guidelines. A summary map of the evidence review process is available in the Downloads section.
10 of the Best – Fourteenth edition
10 of the Best: Fourteenth edition showcases 10 outstanding Australian health and medical research projects supported by NHMRC and completed in 2020.
Post-implementation review survey results, Postgraduate Scholarships 2019-2022
The following data has been obtained from the 2019-2022 Postgraduate Scholarships (PGS) post-implementation review (PIR) surveys of peer reviewers. This document summarises key trends in these findings and details areas for improvement to better shape PGS peer review practices in the future.