MRFF 2025 Early to Mid-Career Researchers Grant Opportunity

Key dates for MRFF 2025 Early to Mid-Career Researchers

Proposals open in Sapphire: 17 February 2025
UQ R&I NOI Close: 25 June 2025
Minimum data requirements in Sapphire: 5pm ACT time 25 June 2025
Applications due to UQ R&I: 2 July 2025
Applications close: 5pm ACT time 23 July 2025

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 (Incubator): conduct early stage, small scale research, led by early-career researchers, that seeks to assess the potential and feasibility of novel strategies to address a critical or intractable health issue in one or more Priority Populations.
Stream 2 (Accelerator): establish a large-scale interdisciplinary research program, led by mid-career researchers, that drives implementation of substantial improvements to health care and/or health system effectiveness for one or more Priority Populations.
Stream 3 (Targeted Call for Research): utilise co-funding to accelerate translation of research led by early to mid-career researchers.

The amounts available for a single grant in each Stream are as follows:
- Stream 1 (Incubator): The minimum amount available for a single grant is $200,000 and the maximum amount available for a single grant is $1.0 million
- Stream 2 (Accelerator): The minimum amount available for a single grant is $2.0 million and the maximum amount available for a single grant is $4.0 million
- Stream 3(Targeted Call for Research): there is no minimum grant amount and the maximum amount available for a single grant is $1.0 million.

Stream 3 - Compulsory co-funding arrangements

Grants funded under Stream 3 will be funded under a co-funding model in which funding is contributed by:

- the MRFF, and

- the MRFF Eligible Organisation and at least one other organisation.

The combined value of the co-contributions from the MRFF Eligible Organisation and the other organisation(s) must equal or exceed the value of the MRFF funding requested (up to $1.0 million). Contributions must be in cash only. Details of the co-funding arrangement must be confirmed in a 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. 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 GO7553
MRFF Webpage
MRFF Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Strategy 2020-21 to 2023-24