The National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) e-ASIA Joint Research Program supports Australian participation and collaboration in leading international collaborative research through the e-ASIA Joint Research Program (e-ASIA JRP). The e-ASIA JRP formulates and supports international joint research projects in the East Asia region on a multilateral basis and promotes the interaction of researchers through scientific workshops.
Program description
The e-ASIA JRP selects research projects through an open call for proposals. Fields of cooperation are decided among the e-ASIA participating member organisations and funding is for up to 3 years.
NHMRC’s participation in the e-ASIA JRP is consistent with NHMRC’s International Engagement Strategy and Corporate Plan.
The 2025 NHMRC e-ASIA grant opportunity will support Australian participation and partnership in international collaborative research through the e-ASIA JRP 14th call for proposals under the Health Research stream.
NHMRC e-ASIA 2024 – Health Research stream
NHMRC has allocated up to $3 million to support up to 4 grants (with a capped maximum value of $750,000 per grant) for the Australian component of successful projects in the e-ASIA JRP 14th Health Research stream. Applications are invited for projects commencing in 2026 addressing the research topic of Infectious Diseases and Immunology (including Antimicrobial Resistance) as identified in the e-ASIA JRP Health Research 14th call text available on the e-ASIA website.
Participating member organisations in this call are:
- Australia – National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC)
- China – The National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC)
- Indonesia – National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN)
- Japan – Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED)
- Malaysia - Academy of Sciences Malaysia (ASM)
- Philippines – Department of Science and Technology (DOST-PCHRD)
- Singapore – Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR)
- Thailand - Program Management Unit for Human Resources (PMU-B)
- United States of America – National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
- Vietnam - Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST)
Application process
- e-ASIA and member organisations open the call.
- The Lead Principal Investigator of the collaborative project is required to submit the Common Application to the e-ASIA Program Secretariat by the specified due date of 31 March 2025. For more details please visit the e-ASIA website.
- Collaborating partners are responsible for submitting completed applications to respective member organisations supporting the topic call in line with their application closing dates.
- Applicants from Australia-based teams must also submit an application as outlined in the Grant Opportunity Guidelines to NHMRC through Sapphire by 17:00 AEDT 2 April 2025.
- NHMRC conducts eligibility checks for Australian collaborations.
- NHMRC conducts peer review of applications submitted.
- NHMRC submits short listed eligible applications to the e-ASIA Joint Review Meeting.
- e-ASIA Joint Review Meeting compiles a final ranking list and recommendations for funding presented to the e-ASIA Board for approval.
- NHMRC funding recommendations approval process.
Eligibility
The e-ASIA JRP has specific eligibility criteria for applicants. Applications will be excluded from consideration if eligibility requirements are not met, including:
- A minimum of 3 collaborating partners from supporting member organisations participating in a call topic, per application.
- Applications specific to each participating member organisation must be completed by the Chief Investigator in their respective country. More detailed eligibility requirements can be found in the e-ASIA 14th Health Research call text available on the e-ASIA website.
For details regarding the 2025 NHMRC e-ASIA JRP peer review process, refer to the:
- 2025 NHMRC e-ASIA JRP Peer Review Guidelines available on GrantConnect.
Grant at a glance
Key changes
NHMRC requires that collaborations must include a Principal Investigator (PI) from at least one member organisation from the following countries:
- Indonesia
- Malaysia
- Philippines
- Singapore
- Thailand
- Vietnam
NHMRC has streamlined the application process and removed the requirement for an NHMRC Grant Proposal. Applicants are required to upload the e-ASIA Common Application which includes a Grant Proposal.