Posted: 6 May 2024
The National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) continues to invest in our nation’s health and medical research sector, with over $411 million awarded to 229 outstanding researchers to investigate Australia’s greatest health challenges.
The Investigator Grant scheme is the NHMRC’s largest funding scheme and is a major investment in Australia’s health and medical research workforce.
It provides Australia’s highest-performing researchers, across the spectrum of health research and at all career stages, with consolidated funding for their salary, if required, and a significant research support package for 5 years.
Total funding for the 2024 Investigator Grant round includes an additional $35 million to improve support for early and mid-career researchers.
Among those awarded is Associate Professor Chung Kai Chan, who will receive $1,603,775 to lead a research team from the University of Queensland to address the rapid increase in youth vaping.
Associate Professor Chan’s study will harness generative artificial intelligence for vaping prevention, revolutionising the development and implementation of large-scale tailored public health campaigns effectively aimed at the multicultural Australian youth population.
Associate Professor Misty Jenkins of WEHI (Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research) will receive $2,792,745 to take a precision medicine approach to the development of innovative immunotherapies for treating brain cancers in both adults and children. By the end of the 5-year fellowship, Associate Professor Jenkins and her research team are aspiring to have these novel therapies screened, tested in preclinical trials, and ready for phase 1 clinical trials.
The 2024 funding round is the second year to apply the gender equity targets set under the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 to address systemic disadvantage faced by female and non-binary applicants. For the second time in the history of the scheme, women researchers will receive more funding overall, including at the most senior levels of the scheme.
Successful recipients of Investigator Grant funding have flexibility to pursue important new research directions as they arise, adjust their resources accordingly, and to form collaborations as needed, rather than being restricted to the scope of a specific research project.
Full funding details of the 2024 Investigator Grant round can be viewed on NHMRC’s website.
Quotes attributable to NHMRC CEO Professor Steve Wesselingh:
- “Being NHMRC’s largest flagship funding scheme, the annual announcement of the Investigator Grant outcomes is always keenly anticipated by the research sector and this year is no exception.”
- “Australian science is thriving, and our researchers, working in leading-edge health and medical research with a record of achieving impact, are setting the standard for others to follow.”
- “Congratulations to all researchers receiving funding as part of today’s announcement – your dedication to enhancing the collective health of Australia’s population will help improve and save the lives of millions.”
