Timing of grant announcements and media embargo

Timing of announcements

We do not advertise grants’ announcement dates in advance because there are several points of uncertainty in timing from grant opportunity opening until public announcement that can affect the timing of a grants’ announcement.

What delays during the peer review process can affect the timing of a grants’ announcement?

• Applicant extensions and, in limited circumstances, NHMRC extending the closing date of a grant opportunity can delay peer review commencement.
• Reviewers requiring extensions to complete their assessments because of circumstances beyond their control.
• NHMRC seeking additional peer reviewers to reach the target number of assessments for each application because some peer reviewers are no longer able to provide assessments or fail to respond to NHMRC’s correspondence.

What can happen after peer review to delay a grants’ announcement?

• The funding recommendations process can only commence once all assessments are received. This process includes ensuring all quality assurance checks are completed and can take several weeks.
• Advice sought from NHMRC Research Committee (RC) and Council:
  • Once the funding recommendations are developed, they are submitted to RC to determine whether they should be recommended to Council. Council is asked to advise whether the funding recommendations should be submitted to the Minister for approval.
  • This process can take several weeks depending on the timing of pre-scheduled meetings and the availability of Members.
• Approval by the Minister for Health and Aged Care:
  • Once Council’s recommendation is received, NHMRC CEO submits the funding recommendations to the Minister for approval and also seeks approval to release outcomes under embargo. This allows NHMRC to release outcomes to applicants once approved, without waiting for a public announcement.
  • This process generally takes 2-3 weeks.
• Public announcement:
  • NHMRC works closely with the Minister’s office to support the public announcement of outcomes.
  • The timing of a public announcement is dependent on many factors, such as the availability of the Minister(s), the number of grant opportunity outcomes to be announced and the approach to be taken (media release or public event).

Outcomes released under media embargo

The Policy on MRFF and NHMRC funding outcomes released under media embargo details the requirements that applicants, administering institutions and administering organisations must adhere to when outcomes are released under media embargo, for both Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) and NHMRC grant opportunities.

The policy outlines:

• what is a media embargo
• why media embargoes matter
• media embargo conditions for successful and unsuccessful applicants
• when applicants may share outcomes publicly
• what happens if an institution, organisation or staff member breaches a media embargo.

Current and future MRFF and NHMRC applicants, administering institutions and administering organisations should read this policy to understand their responsibilities.

The Policy is available to read on the Department of Health and Aged Care website.

Notification that a media embargo is lifted

NHMRC will notify Administering Institutions and Eligible Organisations through an RAO Alert when an embargo is lifted. Once this occurs, applicants may share outcomes publicly.