The Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) is a $20 billion long-term investment supporting Australian health and medical research. The MRFF aims to transform health and medical research and innovation to improve lives, build the economy and contribute to health system sustainability.
The MRFF funds research around four key themes: patients, researchers, research missions and research translation. Funding is allocated to these themes according to the national research strategies and priorities.
Eligibility Criteria
MRFF grants are administered through either the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) or the Commonwealth Department of Health. The application and process for submission differs depending on which organisation is administering the particular MRFF grant opportunity.
Please note for both types, there are generally strict limits on how many applications a chief investigator can be named on per call, noting it is the CIA’s responsibility to ensure eligibility of all CIs on their applications.
For NHMRC administered MRFF grants:
- Applications are submitted through Sapphire therefore CI/AI user accounts and profile requirements apply.
- Minimum data requirements apply – please check the relevant guidelines on GrantConnect for minimum data fields and dates.
- NHMRC Personnel Support Packages (PSPs) apply to personnel salaries being requested, therefore please be mindful of ‘salary shortfalls’ and required internal costings and approvals.
For Commonwealth DoH administered MRFF grants:
- Applications are submitted through the Australian Government Business portal.
Funding Opportunities
MRFF Funding Opportunties can be found here.
Key Dates
The MRFF funding calendar can be viewed here. Please note that the internal deadline for all grant opportunities is 10 business days prior to the external deadline.
Funding documents
Each MRFF grant will have its own specific guidelines and instructions. Please refer to the relevant grant opportunity via GrantConnect.
Resources and Templates
Resources
- You can read about some of the previous MRFF projects here
- MRFF grant recipients summary and full list (updated monthly)
- Funded rates of MRFF grant opportunities opened between November 2020 and November 2022
- Financial assistance report - this report contains a range of information about the funding provided through the MRFF including:
- overall funded rates of grant opportunities opened between 7 November 2020 and 5 November 2022. The number of applications submitted and funded, and percentage funded for these grant opportunities are provided, categorised by the respective MRFF initiative
- high-level summary lists by MRFF theme and initiative of funding disbursed (Appendix B), number of grants awarded (Appendix C), and number of grant opportunities opened (Appendix D) since inception
- funded rates based on other information such as Chief Investigator gender, age and location; field of research; broad research area; and MRFF theme are also provided in tables throughout the report.
- MRFF grant opportunity gender report (March 2022)
- MRFF report on the Coronavirus Research Response