MRFF 2024 Infertility, Pregnancy Loss and Menopause Grant Opportunity

Key dates for MRFF 2024 Infertility, Pregnancy Loss and Menopause

Proposals open in Sapphire: 17 July 2024
UQ R&I NOI Close: 9 October 2024
Minimum data requirements in Sapphire: 5pm ACT time 9 October 2024
Applications due to UQ R&I: 16 October 2024
Applications close: 5pm ACT time 6 November 2024

Overview

The objective of this grant opportunity is to provide grants of financial assistance to support medical research and medical innovation projects that:

Stream 1: identify and/or evaluate the physical, emotional and/or psychological impacts of fertility treatment and its outcomes on prospective parents.
Stream 2: conduct a large-scale multidisciplinary project, co-designed with consumers, to identify the barriers and enablers to, and impact of, evidence-based help-seeking behaviour among parents when concerned during pregnancy.
Stream 3: identify and/or validate new predictive markers of pregnancy loss risk and/or adverse outcomes across the pregnancy continuum.
Stream 4: conduct a large-scale multidisciplinary project, co-designed with consumers, to identify and evaluate the impacts of perimenopause and menopause on health and wellbeing. Applications are required to:
- investigate menopause symptoms that impact on physical health, mental health and wellbeing, including psychosocial factors
- investigate impacts on workforce engagement and retention, including on paid and unpaid employment
- include research participants from metropolitan areas (MM1) and regional, rural and/or remote locations (MM2-7), according to the Modified Monash Model
- consider diverse populations (e.g. individuals from culturally and linguistically diverse communities).
Stream 5: investigate the biological mechanisms or risk factors that underpin:
- Topic A: unexplained female infertility
- Topic B: pregnancy loss and/or neonatal death
- Topic C: early or medically induced menopause.

Additional information for Streams 1, 2 and 3

Applications to Topic A in Streams 1-3 are required to demonstrate leadership by First Nations individuals and communities in the design and implementation of the proposed research.

The amounts available for a single grant in each Stream are as follows:
- Stream 1: There is no minimum amount available and the maximum amount available for a single grant is $2.0 million
- Stream 2: There is no minimum amount available and the maximum amount available for a single grant is $3.0 million
- Stream 3: There is no minimum amount available and the maximum amount available for a single grant is $2.0 million

- Stream 4: There is no minimum amount available and the maximum amount available for a single grant is $5.0 million

- Stream 5: There is no minimum amount available and the maximum amount available for a single grant is $1.0 million

How to Apply

Internal notice of intent process

All researchers intending to submit an MRFF 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 1. Sapphire updates and scheme reading

Register for Sapphire and update your full profile 'My Profile and CV'. The Grant Opportunity will be run through the new National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) grants management system, Sapphire, which replaces RGMS. If any team members are new to Sapphire and need a login/password, start early. The NHMRC require at least three working days to create new Sapphire accounts.
Familiarise yourself with the key MRFF, NHMRC and The University of Queensland (UQ) documentation.

Step 2. Completing the application

Log into Sapphire and complete the application

Step 3. UQ R&I internal review and feedback

Ahead of internal review, ensure all online components are complete and valid in Sapphire and CIA has initiated the Certification process. Application errors will be signalled and can be corrected during the Certification stage.
To initiate internal review, email your completed Funding Application Certification to UQ R&I at mrffgrants@research.uq.edu.au.
Internal review by UQ R&I/feedback provided (compliance/eligibility/grantsmanship).

Step 4. Final submission

Final submission by UQ R&I to NHMRC.

Letters of Support

Signing for all letters of support from UQ is co-ordinated through the Research Office. All Letters of support for MRFF applications, including those led by other institutions, must be accompanied by a completed Funding Application Certification (see below) and authorisations of any enumerated contributions or additional UQ staff beyond the lead CI listed in the letter. We strongly recommend working with your local school/institute research professionals to complete this process.

To provide time for review and signature, we ask that UQ researchers submit draft letters to mrffgrants@research.uq.edu.au no later than two weeks before the external closing date.

Partner Letters

We would encourage applicants to provide drafts of partner letters of support for review by the Research office before organising their final signature to ensure eligibility and compliance. A template Letter of Support is provided below.

Non-UQ Lead Applications

The administering organisation should provide you with a draft letter of support. UQ information from the CEO letter below may assist you in completing the letter.
Complete a generic Funding Application Certification, and get it countersigned by your Head of School/Institute.
Submit both to mrffgrants@research.uq.edu.au, along with evidence for any additional co-contributions.

Readership and researcher support

Before applying, we recommend you:

Contact your faculty or institute research manager for advice on peer readership programs.
Join the UQ R&I Mailer to stay up to date with round developments.
Access the UQ R&I Grants Library, a helpful resource of past successful proposals.
If offered, attend UQ R&I information sessions and access PowerPoint presentations from presentations and slides.

Key documents

Before applying, please review the full suite of documents available from GrantConnect, the Australian Government grants information system and:

Grant Connect GO7056
MRFF Webpage
MRFF Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Strategy 2020-21 to 2023-24