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.

Opening Soon

Research Infrastructure- 2023 Innovative Trials Opens  6 February 2024

A total of $23.7 million in funding will be available across three streams:

    1. Promote the development and implementation of adaptive platform trials
    2. conduct a registry-based randomised controlled trial in an area of unmet medical need by embedding a registry-based randomised controlled trial into a pre-existing clinical registry
    3. generate evidence of the efficiency and cost effectiveness of innovative trial designs over conventional trial designs for adaptive platform trials OR registry-based randomised controlled trials.

Applications can be made through Grants Hub from 6 February 2024 and close on 10 July.

Grant guidelines are available on Grant Connect here.

Open for application now

2023 International Clinical Trial Collaborations (ICTC)  Round 2

$12.6 million is available, with maximum grants of $3 million, to:

    • 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 over two rounds. Minimum data is due on 6 December 2023 for Round 2.

2023 Research Data Infrastructure

$10 million is available in grants of up to $2.5 million to support the creation or extension of national research data infrastructure to support world-class health and medical research in Australia.

Research proposals should incorporate:

  • new linkage and/or use of data from multiple (at least two) existing research data infrastructure sources of different types (e.g. administrative and biobank data, registry and biobank data, wearables and use artificial intelligence); and/or
  • novel methodologies and approaches that leverage and enhance existing linked research data infrastructure of at least two different types (e.g. administrative and biobank data, registry and biobank data, wearables and use artificial intelligence); and
  • a clear outcome of how the proposed project will produce knowledge and outcomes that address an area of unmet medical need.

The program is administered by Business Grants Hub and the guidelines are available here.  Applications close on 8 December.

Sleep Apnoea

$12 million in grants of up to $2million is available for research into obstructive sleep apnoea.

Stream 1: develop and assess clinical and cost effectiveness of novel approaches for screening and diagnosis.
Stream 2: conduct a clinical trial assessing the comparative-effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of sleep studies for screening, diagnosis or monitoring of obstructive sleep apnoea.
Stream 3: develop and evaluate clinical and cost effectiveness, and patient acceptability of novel approaches for monitoring obstructive sleep apnoea and/or improving therapeutic adherence, through co-design with consumers. Two streams for urban (MM1) and regional, rural and remote (MM2-7).

This grant opportunity is being administered by the NHMRC. Minimum data is due on 17 January 2024. More information is available here.

2023 Indigenous Health Research Grant Opportunity

$21.6 million is available, with maximum grants of $5 million. Applications to this grant opportunity must propose research that addresses one of the five Streams of research. An application may be submitted to one of the five Streams only. Applicants must specify the Stream to which they are applying in their application.

This grant opportunity is being administered by the NHMRC. Minimum data is due on 7 February 2024.

2023 TTRA Drugs and Devices

A total of $28.5 million is available for organisations partnering with small to medium enterprises (SMEs) to accelerate into practice promising drugs and devices focused on cardiovascular disease and the complications of diabetes (types 1 and 2).

The successful independent organisation/s will be responsible for ensuring that the funding by each organisation:

    • targets investment and related support through partnership projects to accelerate promising drug (topic A) or device (topic B) development projects
    • promotes commercialisation of novel drugs and devices for cardiovascular disease and for complications of diabetes (types 1 and 2)
    • provides a maximum of $1.5 million for each promising drug/device project
    • leverages support (including co-funding) from partner organisations such as industry
    • provides a minimum investment of $3 million into each of the following: cardiovascular disease; the disease-related complications in people with type 1 diabetes; and the disease-related complications in people with type 2 diabetes.
This grant opportunity is being administered by the Business Grants Hub. Applications close on 7 February 2024.

2023 TTRA Cardiovascular Disease and Diabetes Mechanisms Grant Opportunity

$12 million is available for grants of up to $1 million for two years for projects that investigate the common pathophysiological mechanisms and pathways of disease or disease-related complications, focused on cardiovascular disease and diabetes.
This grant opportunity is intended to support early stage, small scale research projects that seek to assess the potential and feasibility of novel strategies to address critical or intractable health issues. For each topic, the top 2 ranked applications overall and the next 2 highest ranked applications led by early to mid-career researchers will be funded.

This grant opportunity is being administered by the Business Grants Hub. Applications close on 7 February 2024.

2023 Childhood Mental Health Research Grant Opportunity

$30 Million is available in grants of up to $5 million under the Childhood Mental Health Research Plan, developed by an independent Expert Advisory Panel mid-2023.

  • Stream 1 (Targeted Call for Research): conduct large-scale multidisciplinary projects to build knowledge of the biological, environmental, social, cultural, structural, economic, and individual factors that contribute to mental illness in children, and keep children mentally healthy
  • Stream 2 (Incubator) conduct small-scale developmental projects to create assessments, treatments, preventions, and/or improve our understanding of the mechanisms of therapeutic change for childhood mental illness and psychological distress in a range of specified target areas.

This grant opportunity is being administered by NHMRC on behalf of the Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care.

This grant opportunity is being administered by the NHMRC. Minimum data is due on 28 February 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.

  • 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 opportunity is being administered by the NHMRC. More information on Stream 4, Stage 2 is available here.

2023 Clinical Trials Activity Grant Opportunity

$65 million, in grants of up to $5 million, is available across four streams:

Rare Cancers, Rare Diseases and Unmet Need

    • Stream 1 – a pilot study to assess the feasibility of a new clinical trial
    • Stream 2 – a clinical trial of one or more treatments and/or management-based interventions for rare cancers, rare diseases and/or unmet need.

Effective health interventions

    • Stream 3 – a clinical trial to assess the comparative effectiveness of two or more health interventions to treat a specific clinical condition.
    • Stream 4 – an implementation science trial to identify scalable strategies for reducing the provision of low value care.

This grant opportunity is being administered by the NHMRC. Minimum data is due on 29 May 2024.

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.