MRFF Funding Opportunities

Several funding opportunities are currently available under the MRFF, seeking to address a range of different diseases and issues in different health settings. They are presented in order of application closing date below.

Want to assist with assessing MRFF grants?
The Department of Health is currently seeking interest from a range of stakeholders to assist in MRFF grant review and assessment as a member of a Grant Assessment Committee. More information is available here.

Open for application soon

Indigenous Health Workforce Traineeship (IHWT) Program

The Indigenous Health Workforce Traineeship (IHWT) program is a component of the Health Workforce Program. The IHWT program aims to ensure that the health workforce providing these services has the capability and skills to meet the health care needs of First Nations people. The Australian Government is providing a total of $11.553 million (GST exclusive) over three financial years for the IHWT program.

Estimated Period of Release: July to December 2024

More information here 

Youth Mental Health headspace Demand Management and Enhancement Program

This grant opportunity will contribute to the Australian Government’s implementation of mental health reforms. Under Program 1.2: Mental Health, the Australian Government is committed to supporting Australians with, or at risk of, mental illness by improving service integration for a more effective and efficient mental health system.

There are three funding streams available under this grant opportunity:

  • Stream 1 – Wait Time Reduction: the purpose of this stream is to address demand and wait list management at headspace services identified as highest need.
  • Stream 2 – Building Cultural Capability: the purpose of this stream is to build the cultural capability of headspace services. Building cultural capability will help to improve access and provide better support for young people from priority groups including but not limited to those from First Nations, LGBTIQA+ and Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) communities.
  • Stream 3 – Capital Enhancement and Infrastructure: the purpose of this stream is to enhance the quality of service, improve access to services and support headspace services by appropriately accommodating current and future staffing needs at headspace sites identified as highest need.

Estimated Period of Release – July to December 2024

More information here

Open for application now

Improving First Nations Cancer Outcomes: Partnerships for Cancer Research

The Partnerships for Cancer Research grant program will invest $9,600,000 over three years to strengthen cancer research to improve the health outcomes of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and to build the capacity of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cancer research sector.

The minimum grant amount is $0.8 million.
• The maximum grant amount is $2.5 million.
• The maximum grant period is three years.
• Up to twelve grants will be awarded.

Applications will be open to partnerships between organisations that will work together with community to deliver research activities.

Applications opened Wednesday, 9 October 2024
Minimum data due 5:00pm (AEDT) on Wednesday, 4 December 2024
Applications close 5:00pm (AEDT) on Wednesday, 12 February 2025

Critical Research Infrastructure

The 2024 National Critical Research Infrastructure initiative invests in research infrastructure to ensure Australian researchers find innovative solutions to complex health problems in areas of unmet medical need. This grant opportunity has four streams.

Stream 1 – Innovation enablers: Addresses an area of unmet medical need by promoting the development and implementation of new research infrastructure. Maximum amount available for a single grant is $3 million.

Stream 2 – Digitisation of health care: Developing and translating into practice digital therapeutics, artificial intelligence enabled health interventions and technologies (e.g. wearables integrated into clinical practice), applications or other software for use in clinical practice.   Maximum amount available for a single grant is $3 million.

Stream 3 – Co-investment partnerships:  Utilising co-investment (cash only) with the research sector, state and/or territory governments, and industry, in significant critical research infrastructure. Maximum amount available for a single grant is $7 million.

Stream 4 –  mRNA technology enabler. Leveraging and enhancing emerging mRNA technologies, platforms, and/or equipment to accelerate development of mRNA-based vaccines and therapeutics in an area of unmet medical need. Maximum amount available for a single grant is $4 million.

This grant opportunity is being administered by the Business Grants Hub, opened on 4 October 2024 and closing 31 March 2025.

Medical Research Future Fund – Clinical Trials Activity Initiative

Up to $63 million of funding is available in grants of up to $5 million in four streams:

  • Stream 1: conduct a pilot study to assess the feasibility of a new clinical trial for one or more treatments and/or management strategies for a rare cancer, rare disease and/or unmet need.
  • Stream 2: conduct a clinical trial of one or more treatments and/or management-based interventions for rare cancers, rare diseases and/or unmet need.
  • Stream 3: conduct a clinical trial that assesses the comparative effectiveness of two or more health interventions to treat a specific clinical condition, to inform the decisions of policy makers, clinicians, and consumers regarding healthcare and to minimise the use of unnecessary, ineffective, and harmful health interventions.
  • Stream 4: conduct an implementation science trial to determine the best ways to implement a proven preventive health intervention, screening or diagnostic test, therapeutic agent, technology or model of care that is not in routine use in Australia.

This grant opportunity is being administered by the NHMRC, Minimum Data closes at 5:00pm (ACT Local Time) on 5 March 2025. More information is available on Grant Connect.

Research Data Infrastructure

$10 million is available on grants of up to $2.5 million to support projects that use novel methods to harness multiple existing data infrastructure types in developing and implementing new approaches for addressing an unmet medical need. For the purposes of this grant opportunity, types of ‘research data infrastructure’ include clinical quality registries, biobanks, data collections, linkage platforms, data collection from wearables, use of artificial intelligence and informatics.

Administered by the Industry Grants Hub, applications close on 28 October. More information is available on Grant Connect.

2024 International Clinical Trial Collaborations Grant Opportunity

$12.6 million is available in grants of up to $3 million for projects that:

    • promote Australian involvement in international collaborative investigator-initiated clinical trials research through the establishment and co-ordination of clinical trial site/s in Australia.
    • provide high-quality evidence of the effectiveness of novel health treatments, drugs or devices in ‘usual care’ settings, which will support a decision on whether to deliver the intervention in an Australian setting.

This grant opportunity is being administered by the NHMRC in two rounds, with minimum data due by:

    • Round 1: 3 July 2024
    • Round 2: 4 December 2024

Long COVID

Funding for Post Acute Sequelae of COVID (PASC) research is available under 4 streams. $14 million is available in grants of up to $5 million.

Minimum data for Streams 1-4 was required by 18 October 2023.

  • Stream 4:
    • Stage 1 Minimum data was required by 18 October 2023.
    • Stage 2 will establish a multidisciplinary national adaptive platform trial that accelerates assessment and implementation of therapeutic interventions (pharmacological and non-pharmacological) for PASC. Up to $8 million will be available for Stage 2, and applications will close on 30 April 2025.

This grant  is administered by the NHMRC. More information on Stream 4, Stage 2 is available here.

MRFF Frontiers

Frontiers Health and Medical Research offers funding to support medical research and medical innovation programs of research that deliver a ‘moonshot’ by creating a treatment for a currently serious and incurable health condition, through a series of linked projects. The program of research can propose to develop novel health technologies and/or re-purpose existing health technologies in a novel way.

The process to get funding has two stages:

    • expression of interest – outlining a proposed program of research with a 10-year time horizon
    • full application, for a project of up to 5 years under the program of research.

Full applications may be submitted by invitation only. Applicants may propose to start research at any stage in the research pipeline from proof-of-concept, with the intention of achieving full implementation of the proposed technology in 10 years.

The program is administered by Business Grants Hub and an expression of interest can be submitted at any time. More information is available here.