To further support Australia’s world-leading medical researchers, the Morrison Government will invest almost half a billion dollars in funding for health and medical research.
Funded through the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), $471.9 million in funding will support hundreds of research leaders and teams around the country to undertake research that will ultimately save lives and make Australians healthier.
This investment includes:
- $399.7 million for 254 Investigator Grants, NHMRC’s largest scheme, which provides funding over five years for the highest performing researchers at all career stages.
- $44 million for 17 Centres of Research Excellence over five years, building collaborative teams and developing capacity to improve research translation into better health outcomes.
- $4.6 million in targeted funding to support four projects developing coordinated and best practice interventions for better care at the end of life.
- $1.5 million for collaborative research on osteoarthritis to be funded in partnership with the United Kingdom’s National Institute for Health Research.
- $1.8 million to fund a clinical trial at Melbourne Health involving combination immune therapy for type 1 diabetes.
In addition, thanks to our Government’s ongoing collaboration with health providers and other sectors, $28.6 million has been committed by partners alongside $20.4 million from the Australian Government to fund 16 projects through the NHMRC Partnership Project scheme.
More than $12 million in funding is dedicated to research on SARS-CoV-2 – the virus that causes COVID-19 – and over $84 million for research in infectious diseases.
Minister for Health and Aged Care, Greg Hunt MP, said the over $472 million committed would help Australian researchers continue to make life-changing and life-altering discoveries.
“Every day we acknowledge the extraordinary work of Australia’s health and medical researchers not only to confront the challenge of the COVID-19 pandemic, but also to continue their outstanding research to find solutions to the ongoing health issues we face,” Minister Hunt said.
“The grants include support for the next generation of research leaders seeking to develop more effective vaccines for respiratory diseases, investigate the missing genetics of rare diseases and help make the revolution in genomic medicine accessible and useful to everyone.”
“Through decades of investment, the NHMRC has helped build the foundations of this critical sector based on competitive, peer-reviewed health and medical research of the highest quality and the highest standards of ethics and integrity.”
Through these funding rounds, NHMRC CEO Professor Anne Kelso said NHMRC also seeks to address the challenges currently facing the health and medical research sector by supporting additional early and mid-career researchers and women in the sector, as well as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health research and researchers.
“NHMRC funds investigator-led research where Australia’s highest-performing health and medical researchers set out to solve the health problems they see in their community, in their clinical practice and in their own lives.
“As have all sections of the community, the health and medical research sector has contended with the disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The sector has delivered against these odds, bringing Australia’s best science and scientists to the problem. The remarkable quality of projects funded in these schemes shows that Australia’s health and medical researchers are as passionate and skilled as ever to explore solutions for the range of health problems that concern us most.”
Details of all grants are available on NHMRC’s website.