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NHMRC Ideas Grants

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The 2024 Ideas Grants for funding in 2025 were announced in December 2024. A list of awarded grants is published on the NHMRC’s website.

Key dates for NHMRC Ideas Grants 2025

  • Release of Guidelines: 12 March 2025
  • Applications open in Sapphire: 12 March 2025
  • UQ Research and Innovation (UQ R&I) Notice of Intent (NOI) close: 9 April 2025
  • UQ R&I information session: 2:00-3:30PM, 21 March 2025
  • Minimum data requirements in Sapphire: 5pm (AEST) 9 April 2025
  • Applications due to UQ R&I: 9 April 2025
  • Applications close with NHMRC: 5pm (AEST) 7 May 2025

Overview

The objective of the Ideas Grant scheme is to support focused, innovative research projects.

The scheme fosters creative research for teams of 1-10 Chief Investigators at all career stages to address specific question/s in any area of health and medical research, from discovery to implementation (except where an NHMRC Clinical Trials and Cohort Studies is the primary objective).

UQ Information Session

UQ R&I will hold an information session, in person and via Zoom, to assist applicants in preparing their 2025 Ideas Grant proposals. This session will cover essential information relating to eligibility, compliance and grantscraft. An expert panel will also share their experiences and be available to answer questions.

Available on Presentations and Slides Webpage

How to apply

Step 1.  Internal notice of intent process

All researchers intending to submit an NHMRC Ideas Grant application are required to submit an internal Notice of Intent. NOIs will be collated centrally and distributed to Faculties and Institutes in order to provide maximum support to the UQ research community.

Step 2. Sapphire updates and scheme reading

  • Register for Sapphire and review/update your Profile. Please note that all researchers listed on an Ideas Grants application must have a Sapphire account. Submission of a registration form and activation of a Sapphire account must occur at least 72 hours before application close. Requests for Sapphire accounts/activations after this time cannot be guaranteed.
  • Familiarise yourself with the key NHMRC and UQ documentation.

Step 3. Completing the application

  • Log into Sapphire and complete the application.

Step 4. UQR&I internal review and feedback

  1. Sapphire application completion: Ahead of internal review, ensure all online components are complete and valid in Sapphire and supporting documents have been uploaded.
  2. Sapphire Certification/Submit to RAO: Select 'Certification' from the left-hand menu within your Ideas Grant application and follow the instructions to submit the application to the RAO.
  3. UQR&I Review Request: Email your completed UQ Application Certification Form (with signatures) along with the completed Pending and Newly Funded Grants Form to UQ R&I at nhmrc@research.uq.edu.au. 
  4. Internal review is undertaken by UQ R&I and feedback provided (compliance/eligibility/grantsmanship).

Step 5. Final submission

  • Final submission by UQ R&I to NHMRC.

Readership and researcher support

Before applying, we recommend you:

Key documents

NHMRC

The NHMRC documentation are available from GrantConnect, the Australian Government grants information system. You need to be a GrantConnect registered user to download the NHMRC Synergy Grants documentation prior to starting your application in Sapphire.

To register, you will need to complete the New User Registration on the GrantConnect website. Additional information on the NHMRC Synergy Grants scheme can be found on the NHMRC’s website.

Funding Partners

Funding Partner information will be updated once available.

UQ

Contact UQ R&I

Round coordinator
Health Pre-Award Team

If you are applying through UQ but you are not a current UQ staff member, please contact the round coordinator so that you can be added to a mailing list for updates.