National Health and Medical Research Council Schemes

Pre-submission EOI Process

All researchers who intend to submit or re-submit an ARC application are asked to complete an EOI online. All deadlines for NHMRC schemes can be found in the Major Funding Body Calendar (login required) as can links to all EOI forms. For further information about the scheme you’d like to apply to, check our Grant Application Development site (login required).

Application submission

The National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) (opens in a new window) is Australia's peak body for supporting health and medical research; for developing health advice for the Australian community, health professionals and governments; and for providing advice on ethical behaviour in health care and in the conduct of health and medical research. NHMRC funding supports research across the full spectrum of health and medical research, from basic science through to clinical, public health and health services research.

Applications for funding must be submitted online using the NHMRC's grants management solution, Sapphire (opens in a new window). It is recommended that you commence your application in Sapphire as early as possible. Researcher profiles and CVs can be updated in Sapphire at any time and it is recommended that this be done prior to the scheme opening.

For all enquiries regarding NHMRC funding opportunities and application advice, including budgets and grant writing support, contact your RDO.

Grant schemes

The NHMRC grant program comprises of four funding streams:

• Investigator Grants: consolidates fellowships and research support into one grant scheme that will provide the highest-performing researchers at all career stages with funding for their salary (if required) and a significant research support package.
• Synergy Grants: provides $5 million per grant for outstanding multi-disciplinary research teams to work together to answer complex questions.
• Ideas Grants: supports innovative and creative research projects, available to researchers with bright ideas at all career stages, including early and mid-career researchers.
• Strategic and Leveraging Grants: supports research that addresses identified national needs. Include an enhanced Targeted Calls for Research scheme and a dedicated funding stream for Clinical Trials and Cohort Studies. It also includes existing schemes such as Centres of Research Excellence, Development Grants, international collaborative schemes, and Partnerships for Better Health (Partnership Centres and Partnership Projects).

Note that there are cross-scheme eligibility rules covering Investigator, Synergy, and Ideas grants. Eligibility information and tools are available on the NHMRC website (opens in a new window)

For all NHMRC deadlines, internal and external, check our Major Funding Body Calendar (login required).

Guidelines are available via Grant Connect (opens in a new window) (please note, registration required).