Victorian Medical Research Acceleration Fund (VMRAF) Round 7

Critical Dates

As soon
as possible

Express interest to apply to your Faculty Research Office

Faculty dates
below

Expression of Interest/Draft application to Faculty for assessment and approval of applications within capping requirements

By Monday
13 Nov 2023 

Confirmation of Faculty selections to RIC office

10am Monday
20 Nov 2023

Draft DVCR Letter of Support (LoS) and, if requesting co-funding, co-contribution form (does not need to be fully signed at this stage) due to RIC

10am Monday
27 Nov 2023

Final submission due to RIC

4pm Friday
1 December 2023

Final submission due to Sponsors via online portal

Overview

The Victorian Medical Research Acceleration Fund (VMRAF) was first launched by the Victorian Government in 2017 and has now undergone five rounds totalling $15.3 million in funding. The VMRAF Program is designed to capitalise on Victoria’s comparative advantages in research, increase the efficiency of the Victorian health system and further enhance the Victorian economy. It aligns with the vision of the Health and Medical Research Strategy 2022-2032 to support Victoria’s thriving medical research community in solving global health challenges and advancing the Victorian economy.

VMRAF (Round 7) offers a total of $3 million through the provision of one-off grants to successful applicants across two tiers of funding: early-stage research (Tier 1) and ‘fast track’ of research translation (Tier 2).

Grant funding limits per project within each tier are as follows:

TierDescriptionFunding and Durations
Tier 1 - Early-stageEarly-stage innovative research proposals that demonstrate potential for translation at a later stageUp to $100,000 (GST exclusive) over 2 years
Tier 2 - Fast-track‘Fast track’ translation of research to products or practices into clinical or health practiceUp to $500,000 (GST exclusive) over 2 years

Please note, projects are only eligible to apply for one funding scheme (either the VMRAF or the mRNA VRAF).

Promoting Gender Equity

Application meeting the following criterion may have up to 5% assessment weighting:

  1. If the Chief Investigator identifies as woman, the application will be awarded a 2.5% assessment weighting, and
  2. If at least 50% of the project team identify as women, the application will be awarded a 2.5% assessment weighting

Requirements

  • Partnership with another organisation is mandatory and may include health services, universities, medical research institutes, or industry.
  • Universities are invited to apply for up to 4 research projects per Faculty. Please contact your Faculty Research Office to express your intention to apply (with ric-medapps@unimelb.edu.au cc'd) and comply with internal deadlines as  soon as possible.

VMRAF Foundation Stream -  1:1 matched funding co-contribution (Co-Contribution Funding) is a requirement for all proposals. Applications must include evidence of having secured dollar-for-dollar matching funds and/or received a commitment for matching financial support from an additional source.

  • In-kind support does not count towards matched funding.
  • Grant funding from other State or Commonwealth Government programs awarded to the Applicant specifically for the purposes of supporting a project to be submitted under this VMRAF Program cannot form part of the Applicant’s required Co-Contribution Funding.
  • General Applicant organisational funding from State or Commonwealth Government sources may form part of the required Co-Contribution Funding

University Cash co-contribution - please note that preference will be given to projects that have secured cash co-contribution from Collaborating Partners.

The requirement for matching cash contribution is expected to be met by the Collaborating Partner. Where that is not possible, the University may provide the required cash (i.e. up to $100,000 for Tier 1 or $500,000 for Tier 2) – divided 1:1 between Chancellery (Research) and the applicant’s Faculty/Department/School. A minimum salaried 0.2 FTE appointment with the University is necessary for University co-contribution. Please note that applications with greater cash contributions from external partners will be looked upon more favourably. Contribution for applicants from affiliated Medical Research Institutes (MRIs) will need to seek co-funding from their MRI.

Please note that all sponsor documentation relating to this scheme can be found via the Victorian Department of Health VMRAF page. Application is submitted via an online grant application form through DJSIR online portal.

Funding

How to apply

Steps to be completed by Chief Investigator A (CIA):

  1. Review the funding documents & Submit an Expression of Interest to RGCF and Faculty Research Office

    The CIA should read Sponsor Guidelines and Funding Rules for VMRAF. Contact RGCF (ric-medapps@unimelb.edu.au) to express your interest.

    Faculty of Medicine Dentistry and Health Sciences (mdhs-grants@unimelb.edu.au) - provide draft application and cash co-contribution request form to MDHS grants team by 9am Tuesday 7th November for review.
    Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology (feit-research@unimelb.edu.au) -  provide EOI to Melanie Villinger at the above email address by 10am Monday 6th November for review. Faculty internal deadline for selected EOIs to arrange signing of co-investment form is 10am Friday 17th November 2023.
    Faculty of Science (science-research@unimelb.edu.au) - submit draft application (key criteria sections only), brief CV, and completed cash co-contribution request form to above email by 10am Monday 6th November.
    Faculty of Fine Arts and Music (fineartsmusic-research@unimelb.edu.au) - notify  faculty office as soon as possible of intention to apply. Faculty internal deadline for signing of co-investment form is 10am Thursday 9th November 2023.
    Faculty of Arts (arts-staffresearch@unimelb.edu.au)
    Architecture, Building and Planning (abp-research@unimelb.edu.au)
    Faculty of Business and Economics (fbe-research@unimelb.edu.au)
    Melbourne Law School (law-research@unimelb.edu.au)
    Melbourne Graduate School of Education (mgse-grants@unimelb.edu.au)

  2. Submit DVCR Letter of Support (LoS) to RGCF

    Complete DVCR LoS, along with completed co-investment form (if requesting cash co-contribution from UoM), and forward it to RGCF - Health and Medical Grants Team for Chancellery review by 10am Monday 20 November 2023 .

  3. Complete draft application & email to RGCF with completed Cash Co-Investment request form and UoM Research Costing and Pricing Tool for compliance check and signing of DVCR LoS

    Register for an account and complete the draft application in sponsor application portal. Select "View as PDF" within your application and email a complete draft application that is review ready (including supporting documents), along with fully signed co-investment form (if requesting cash co-contribution from UoM) and completed UoM Research Costing and Pricing Tool to RGCF - Health and Medical Grants Team by 10am Monday 27 November 2023.

  4. Submit the application in Sponsor application portal

    Once RIC have confirmed your application is compliant, RIC will arrange for DVCR signature on the Letter of Support and return it to you prior to the submission deadline. You will then upload all supporting documentations and submit application in DJSIR portal by 4pm Friday 1 December 2023. Once submitted, forward your submission confirmation email with the final application attached to RGCF - Health and Medical Grants Team.

Supporting documents

RGCF Documents - the following are available to UoM staff only (UoM login required).

Answers to sections 1 and 2

  • Section 1 - Yes to all questions
    • Entity type - education body established by statue
  • Section 2 - details can be located via ABN Lookup -  84 002 705 224

Contacts

E: ric-medapps@unimelb.edu.au

Stefan Tomlins

P: +61 3 8344 4652