NHMRC Investigator Grants

Purpose and Program Overview

The NHMRC Investigator Grants scheme is administered by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) and provides consolidated funding to Australia’s highest-performing health and medical researchers. The scheme combines salary support (where required) with a Research Support Package (RSP) into a single five-year grant, replacing the separate fellowship and project-based funding streams used previously.

The program’s objective is to give researchers flexibility to pursue new research directions and form collaborations as they arise, rather than restricting them to a fixed project scope. It supports researchers across all career stages and across the four pillars of health and medical research: biomedical, clinical, public health, and health services research. Funding is drawn from the NHMRC Medical Research Endowment Account (MREA) under the NHMRC Act.

For the 2025 funding round, NHMRC’s provisional allocation for the Investigator Grants scheme was estimated at between $380 million and $400 million. Exact allocations are reviewed annually by NHMRC’s Research Committee and vary by round.

Key Grant Details

• Grant amount: Varies by category and level; includes a salary contribution (if required) plus a Research Support Package (RSP)
• 2027 round key dates: Applications opened around 1 July 2026; closed 29 July 2026, 5:00pm AEST
• Eligible applicants: Individual Chief Investigators (CIAs), submitting through an NHMRC-approved Administering Institution
• Co-contribution: Not applicable — this is not a matched-funding commercial grant
• Location/coverage: National (all Australian states and territories), subject to the applicant’s Administering Institution being NHMRC-approved

Priority Sectors

The scheme does not name industry “priority sectors” in the commercial sense. It supports research across the four pillars of health and medical research (biomedical, clinical, public health, and health services research) and applies structural priority measures under the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 to support gender equity, particularly for women and non-binary applicants at Emerging Leadership levels.

Funding Scope

The scheme is structured into two categories:

• Emerging Leadership (EL): For researchers within 10 years of their PhD award (as at the census date), split into EL1 and EL2 levels
• Leadership (L): For more senior researchers, split into L1, L2 and L3 levels

Funding components:

• Salary component: A contribution toward the CIA’s salary, negotiated with the Administering Institution (not required for all applicants)
• Research Support Package (RSP): Six tiers across the scheme; for example, the L category RSP is $400,000 per annum, and the EL1 RSP was increased to $75,000 per annum (up from $50,000) for the 2027 round
• Term: Five years as standard, awarded full-time or part-time; some CIAs can extend the term pro-rata by up to two additional years (up to seven years total) under career disruption or variation provisions

Eligibility Criteria

• Applications must be submitted through an NHMRC-approved Administering Institution — individuals cannot apply directly, and businesses are not eligible applicants
• Emerging Leadership (EL1/EL2): Applicant must be within 10 years of their PhD (or equivalent) as at the scheme’s census date, subject to allowances for career disruption
• Leadership (L1–L3): No PhD-recency restriction, but applicants select the level appropriate to their career stage
• A Chief Investigator may submit a maximum of two applications across the Investigator and Ideas Grant schemes combined in any funding round
• Existing grant holders’ eligibility to reapply depends on the “actual” or “original” end date of any currently held grant
• No ABN, GST registration, business turnover, or commercial insurance requirements apply, as this is not a business grant

Eligible Activities and Expenses

The Research Support Package is intended to cover research-related costs associated with the CIA’s program, which may include:

• Research staff salaries and support
• Equipment and consumables directly related to the research program
• Travel and collaboration costs, including international travel (a separate FIIRN supplement of $11,000 is available to eligible Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander recipients for international collaboration)
• Other costs necessary to support the proposed research direction

This is not a capital works, export development, or general business investment grant.

Assessment Process

The Investigator Grants scheme is competitive and assessed through NHMRC’s peer review process. Applications are assessed within category and level (EL1, EL2, and Leadership are assessed as separate competitions to ensure researchers compete against peers at a similar career stage). Key assessment considerations include:

• Track record and research quality relative to opportunity
• Strength and feasibility of the proposed research direction
• Alignment with the applicant’s selected category and level
• Career disruption and “relative to opportunity” adjustments, assessed under NHMRC’s revised policy

Recent Program Updates

For the 2027 Investigator Grants round:

• The EL1 Research Support Package increased from $50,000 to $75,000 per annum
• A new mandatory question on the integration of sex, gender, variations of sex characteristics and/or sexual orientation has been added to the application form
• Full-time grant holders can now request FTE variations across three categories: professional, career disruption, and personal reasons
• A new section on fraud and corruption reporting has been added to the guidelines
• Guidance on the use of identifiable images in applications has been introduced
• Applications are assessed in separate competitions by category and level to reduce mismatched competition between early-career and senior researchers

Application Tips

• Confirm your Administering Institution is NHMRC-approved before beginning an application, as applications cannot be submitted independently
• Engage your institution’s research office early, as internal review and endorsement deadlines typically fall well before the NHMRC closing date
• Select the Investigator Grant category and level that genuinely matches career stage, since mismatched level selection is a common cause of unsuccessful applications
• Prepare track record evidence, publication metrics, and any career disruption documentation well in advance
• Review the current year’s Investigator Grants Guidelines in full, as eligibility and assessment criteria are updated annually

Where to Get Help

Consider consulting a grant specialist like Pattens Group for a personalised eligibility assessment and expert assistance in preparing a strong, compliant and competitive application. Contact us today and get connected with Australia’s best grant specialist, boasting over 35 years of experience in the industry and a 100% success rate. For official guidelines, application details, templates, and further information, visit the official website of the NHMRC Investigator Grants program and other associated Australian government websites.