$483 million in grants to support Australian health and medical research projects
The federal government has announced more than $483 million in funding to support 601 grants across four National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) funding schemes.
More than 1900 researchers will share in the $483 million for a wide range of projects including:
- Understanding brain plasticity.
- Creating the world’s first molecular blueprint of exercise.
- Assessing whether stressful life events are associated with Graves’ disease.
- Developing new treatment approaches to chronic pain.
- Identifying a new approach for protecting against stomach cancer by preventing inflammation.
- Improving the treatment of viral infections in transplant recipients.
NHMRC CEO Professor Anne Kelso said that these grants would support an extraordinary breadth of research around Australia.
"They include 60 fellowships for our future research leaders, laboratory studies of the origins of disease and clinical trials of new therapies," she said.
Professor Kelso continued, "NHMRC is also funding a $5 million Partnership Centre in Health System Sustainability which will support the implementation of research-informed improvements in healthcare system performance."
Across all schemes, the funded rate was 15.6%. For the largest scheme, supporting 539 Project Grants, 15.2% of applications were funded — up 1.5% from 2015.
More information about the grants and the full funding outcomes are available on the NHMRC website.
An outline of the funding distribution is provided below:
Priority area
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health $23,514,593
Arthritis and Osteoporosis $7,993,255
Cancer $123,447,943
Cardiovascular Disease $64,816,360
Dementia $26,192,720
Diabetes $23,572,155
Injury $24,005,696
Mental Health $35,546,702
Obesity $14,853,890
Competitive type
Career Development Fellowships1 $26,234,208
NHMRC–NIH BRAIN Collaborative Research Grant $486,144
Partnership Centre: Health System Sustainability $5,250,000
Project Grants $451,264,320
Total for Competitive grants $483,234,672
1. Excludes $50,000 provision for funding of the Minister’s Medal (no actual grants attached).
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