Apply for a research grant

Applications for the main 2025 ground round are now open, with details below. Applications for MNDRA PhD top up grants commencing in 2025 will open later in the year.

Grant Review Criteria

Our grant review criteria are now aligned with those used by the NHMRC, with appropriate adaptation for MND-specific research. 

Please click on the links below (documents updated July 2024):

MNDRA Grant Review criteria and relative to opportunity guidelines 2024

The relative to opportunity guidelines included in the above document provides detail and clarity around eligibility and reviewing considerations for career disruptions, different career paths and availability of resources.

Changes to grant guidelines/requirements for the 2025 funding round

• The submission deadline, Monday 2^nd Sept, is a little later this year taking into account the Australian and New Zealand Research Symposium and the FightMND Roundtable during the last week of August.
• The Scott Sullivan Fellowship will be offered this year for mid-career researchers between 6- and 12-years post-PhD. It will offer support of $150,000 a year for salary and a one-off $50,000 payment for research expenses. It is only available to researchers based in Qld.
• Postdoctoral fellowships will be increased to $125,000 a year for salary support. A one-off $50,000 payment for research expenses will still be included.
• Funding allowed to be allocated for travel to the International Research Symposium will be increased from $4,000 to $5,000.
• We will not be offering a 2-year Research prize this year.
• The “Detailed Scoring Criteria” and “MNDRA Grant Review Criteria and Relative to Opportunity” documents have been combined into a single document – “MNDRA Grant Review criteria and relative to opportunity guidelines 2024”.
• The highest scoring Innovator Grant application for 2025 in the care research area will receive the MND South Australia Care Research Grant. This is the first time we have offered a dedicated Care Research grant and are very grateful to MND South Australia for supporting this initiative.
  1. Applications will use the standard Innovator Grant application form
  2. The guidelines have been refined to better incorporate criteria relevant to care research and potential benefits to people living with MND
• For all Innovator Grant applications, smaller value grants or shorter-term projects can be considered.  The duration or financial value of project will not affect application scoring provided the projected research and outcomes remain feasible with the resources requested. It should also be noted that requesting less funding will not increase the chances of success.
• For grant applications to be awarded in 2025 for funding commencing in 2026, there will be an expectation of meaningful lived experience engagement in the development and delivery of any research project funded by MNDRA. In preparation for this, for any projects funded in the 2025 grant round, there will be an expectation to engage people with lived experience during the project. Detail of this engagement is not required in the application and will not form part of the assessment criteria for the 2025 grant round. This advice is to help with planning the project.

Although implemented for the 2024 funding round the changes below remain for application for grants commencing in 2025.

• Although applicants at all levels are permitted to apply, the programs are intended to provide particular opportunities for early and mid-career researchers. It is strongly preferred that senior researchers (Level E) encourage more junior researchers from their research teams to apply.
• The potential benefit and relevance of the research to the MND community should be very clearly delineated in the application
• Grants are not intended to fund the incremental progression of a research project that has already been performed or to validate or undertake minor variations of findings already established in other models or disease areas.
• As we commenced in the previous 2024 round, limits are being imposed on the numbers of grants a chief investigator can hold. A key aim of the MNDRA funding program is to build and diversify the Australian MND Research Community. This can be inhibited if a significant proportion of funding is committed to the same groups/researchers year-on year without significant diversification or progression in their research outputs. Successful projects should seek further funding from other funding bodies.

The following limits on grant applications will be imposed for individual applicants;

• Innovator Grants – A maximum of 2 grants can be held during any 5-year period
• PDF – In order to continue to encourage developing researchers, PDF holders can hold 2 Innovators in any 5-year period in addition to their PDF.
• McLoone/Laidlaw/Larger 2-year project grants – Only one such award can be held during a researcher’s career. A maximum of one Innovator and one 2-yr project grant can be held in any 5-year period.

These limits are intended to encourage more senior researchers to facilitate junior researchers in their groups to take leadership roles in MNDRA-funded projects and start to build independence.

This limitation is being implemented in a stepwise process across the 2024, 2025 and 2026 funding rounds. For funding commencing in 2025 it will include 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024 and for grants commencing in 2026, it will apply across 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025.

• To emphasise our focus on researchers in earlier career-stages and help with considerations around divergent career paths we have included the following section in the Innovator Grant application form:

At what stage of your research career do you consider you are at?

☐ Early-career researcher

☐ Mid-career researcher

☐ Senior Researcher

Please provide a brief (50 word max) justification for your selection

MNDRA reporting requirements

MNDRA requires all funded researchers to submit six monthly progress reports and a final report and financial acquittal at the completion of a research project. Progress and final reports are now required to be submitted through the Researchfish platform. Please contact us at research@mndaustralia.org.au if you require login details to submit a report. 

If you need to request an extension or variation to your project then please complete this form and send via email to the address above.