MRFF 2024 National Critical Research Infrastructure Grant Opportunity

Key dates for MRFF 2024 National Critical Research Infrastructure Grant Opportunity

Release of Funding Rules: 28 August 2024
Opening Date: 9am AEST time, 4 October 2024
UQ R&I NOI Close: 10 March 2025
Applications due to UQ R&I: 10 March 2025
Applications close: 5pm AEDT time, 31 March 2025

Overview

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

Stream 1 – Innovation enablers: Address an area of unmet medical need by promoting the development and implementation of new research infrastructure by supporting development and/or expansion of research enablers such as biobanks, tissue repositories, novel research platforms, and secure health data environments to create valuable research resources.

Stream 2 – Digitisation of health care: Develop and translate into practice digital therapeutics, artificial intelligence enabled health interventions and technologies (e.g. wearables integrated into clinical practice), applications or other software for use in clinical practice.

Stream 3 – Co-investment partnerships: Utilise co-investment (cash only) with the research sector, state and/or territory governments, and industry, in significant critical research infrastructure (e.g. facilities, personnel and equipment).

Stream 4 – mRNA technology enablers: Leverage and enhance emerging mRNA technologies, platforms, and/or equipment to accelerate development of mRNA-based vaccines and therapeutics in an area of unmet medical need.

For Streams 1 & 2 there is no minimum grant amount and a maximum amount of $ 3 million. For Stream 3 there is no minimum grant amount and a maximum amount of $ 7 million. For Stream 4 there is no minimum grant amount and a maximum amount of $ 4 million.

Grants funded under Stream 3 will be funded under a co-funding model. Applications are sought from consortia of at least one academic organisation and at least one other organisation which may be industry or state/territory government. The consortia (which includes the applicant) must contribute at least 34% of the total eligible project cost in cash (not in-kind). The MRFF will contribute up to 66% (up to $7 million) of overall eligible project costs.

Note – MRFF grants administered by AusIndustry require valid Letters of Support from all project partners included on the application. We recommend organising these letters as soon as possible during grant preparation, as arranging signature may take some time. Please consult the Guidelines or the template provided below to ensure that you meet the requirements of a valid Letter of Support.

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. Scheme reading

Access the scheme documents from the AusIndustry website (filter by scheme name).
Familiarise yourself with the key Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) and UQ documentation.

Step 2. Completing the application

Go to the business.gov.au portal and follow the links to complete the application.
Note that the online application has substantive sections in addition to the required attachments – we recommend that applicants familiarise themselves with all parts of the application before commencing.
Letters of support are required for all partner organisations. UQ R&I strongly advises applicants to start collecting these early using the template below, as this process represents a major bottleneck for many applications.

Step 3. UQ R&I internal review and feedback

Ahead of internal review, ensure all components are complete/valid and send the completed application form to UQ R&I.
To initiate internal review, add grants-manager@research.uq.edu.au as the primary contact email in your application within the portal, and email your completed Funding Application Certification to UQ R&I at mrffgrants@research.uq.edu.au.

Do not submit the application in the portal at this stage.

Internal review by UQ R&I/feedback provided (compliance/eligibility/grantsmanship).

Step 4. Final submission

Final submission should be completed by the applicant, but contact us early if there is likely to be a problem.

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 Coversheet (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.

UQ Lead Applications

The draft CEO letter and Coversheet are provided in the resource section below.
Complete and submit both to mrffgrants@research.uq.edu.au, along with evidence for any additional co-contributions.

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

Key Documents

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

GrantConnect Forecast Opportunity MRFF 2024 National Critical Research Infrastructure Grant Opportunity