Epidemiology and Surveillance

This grant opportunity 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 initial application process to secure funding through this grant opportunity will be conducted in two stages: expression of interest (EOI) – outlining a proposed program of research comprising of a series of linked projects with a 10-year time horizon full application, (invitation only – following EOI) for a project of up to 5 years under the program of research. Applicants may propose to commence 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. Funding for subsequent projects under the program of research that continue to progress the technology towards full implementation can be sought by submitting additional full applications to this grant opportunity (i.e. applicants do not need to recommence with an EOI). These applications may be submitted by invitation only. We expect that expressions of interest will close on 31 March 2027, with the last grants awarded by 30 June 2028.

The Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) Clinical Trials Activity Initiative (the Initiative) aims to increase clinical trial activity in Australia in order to improve the evidence base supporting clinical care and to help patients access trials relevant to their health circumstances and enable researchers to bring international trials to Australian patients.   The objective of this grant opportunity is to provide grants of financial assistance to support medical research and medical innovation projects that:   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. The intended outcome of the research is to improve the health and wellbeing of Australians by investing in new clinical trials that support increased access to high-quality, evidence-based and effective health care.  Applicants to this grant opportunity must propose a clinical trial in Australia in collaboration with international counterparts. The clinical trial should not have commenced recruitment at the Australian trial site/s.  Please note the 2026 MRFF International Clinical Trial Collaborations grant opportunity will be open for one round only.   This grant opportunity is being administered by NHMRC on behalf of the Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing.  Further information on the Medical Research Future Fund is available from the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing's website.  A list of Eligible Organisations can be found on the NHMRC List of MRFF Eligible Organisations webpage

The objective of this GO is to provide grants of financial assistance to support medical research and medical innovation projects that: Stream 1 (TCR): develop genomic tools and technologies to identify genetic predisposition to cancer and improve screening and targeted intervention. Focus on increased access to genomic testing and on liquid biopsy. Stream 2 (TCR): conduct scalable research to enhance novel gene discoveries, increase diagnostic rates and enable disease modelling to support development of targeted therapies or prevention strategies. Stream 3 (Incubator): develop novel methods for using polygenic risk scores to identify subgroups of the population at high risk of common and complex diseases. -Topic A: Cardiovascular disease -Topic B: Diabetes -Topic C: Other common and/or complex diseases Stream 4 (Incubator): develop novel methods for improving accuracy and usefulness of polygenic risk scores to stratify people with common cancers for surveillance and treatment. -Topic A: Breast Cancer -Topic B: Colorectal cancer -Topic C: Prostate cancer -Topic D: Other common cancers Stream 5 (TCR): undertake research to enhance or streamline uptake of clinical genomics into practice. Stream 6 (Accelerator): develop and maintain infrastructure to support research collaboration by enabling data sharing, portability, longevity and connectivity of analysis across Australia. Research conducted should address emerging ethical, legal and social issues associated with the governance of clinical and genomic datasets with particular focus on the application of advanced analytics (e.g. AI) to enhance the diagnostic utility of genomics. Applicants must propose research that addresses these objectives and those of the Genomics Health Futures Mission as outlined in the Roadmap and Implementation Plan. This grant opportunity is being administered by NHMRC on behalf of the Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing. Further information on the MRFF is available here.

The objective of this grant opportunity is to provide grants of financial assistance to support medical research and medical innovation projects that:  Stream 1 (Incubator): identify health priorities, develop new approaches and/or methodologies and conduct pilot studies addressing health issues and/or barriers that:   are co-led, co-produced and/or co-designed with consumers  are in partnership with health services   increase consumers’ understanding of, and involvement in, research.   Stream 2 (Targeted Call for Research): develop and/or test scalable and sustainable approaches, in partnership with consumers, that enable self-care interventions or improve quality of life and/or survivorship care. Approaches are for individuals from one or more priority populations, who have experienced or are experiencing long-term diseases and conditions. Approaches may, where appropriate, also deliver for the individual’s families, carers and communities.  Topic A: Research projects that focus on cancer  Topic B: Research projects that focus on long term physical diseases and conditions other than cancer  Topic C: Research projects that focus on mental health challenges, diseases or conditions.  Applicants to this grant opportunity must propose research that delivers against the above objectives and those of the Preventive and Public Health Research Initiative.  This grant opportunity is being administered by NHMRC on behalf of the Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing.  Further information on the Medical Research Future Fund is available from the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing's website.  A list of Eligible Organisations can be found on the NHMRC List of MRFF Eligible Organisations webpage.

The 2026 BioMedTech Grant Opportunity is part of the Medical Research Future Fund under the Medical Research Commercialisation Initiative. This opportunity looks to fund suitable organisations to identify, select and support Australian SMEs undertaking early-stage medical research and medical innovation projects that have commercial potential. The intended outcome of the research funded by this grant opportunity is to improve the health and wellbeing of Australians by increasing the number of SMEs developing novel biomarkers, diagnostics, therapeutics, assistive devices and/or digital technologies that have progressed through the early stages of research and development to the point where they are 'de-risked' and attractive to private investment for commercialisation. Applicants may propose to support development of innovations in their area/s of strength (i.e. applicants are not required to propose a program that covers the breadth of the biomedtech sector).

The NHMRC e-ASIA Joint Research Program supports Australian participation and collaboration in leading international research through the e-ASIA Joint Research Program (e-ASIA JRP). The e-ASIA JRP supports international joint research projects in the East Asia region. The e-ASIA JRP selects research projects through an open call for proposals. Fields of cooperation are decided among the e-ASIA participating member organisations and funding is for up to three years. The 2026 NHMRC e-ASIA Joint Research Program grant opportunity will support Australian participation and partnership in international collaborative research through the e-ASIA JRP 15th call for proposals in Health Research stream under the following topics: • Infectious disease and immunology • Advanced medical research and enabling technologies Further information on the e-ASIA JRP 15th Health Research call is available from the e-ASIA website