Early Career Researcher Grants

Critical Dates

Wednesday 20 April 2022

Round opens

12 May 2022

11:30am (AEST)

ECR Grants Information Session - REGISTER HERE

Wednesday 1 June 2022

3:00pm (AEST)

Eligibility Exemption Requests due via SmartyGrants

Thursday 21 July 2022

3:00pm (AEST)

Applications due via SmartyGrants

31 October 2022

Notification of outcomes

*PLEASE NOTE: Faculty Expression of Interest deadlines may also apply. Please see the table below (How to Apply) for further information.

Overview

The objectives of the Scheme are to:

Support early career researchers who demonstrate clear evidence of high research potential to progress their research careers;
Encourage establishment of an early career researcher’s research program;
Provide competitive funding for high quality research projects and pilot research projects;
Provide early career researchers with experience in preparing a grant application for peer review;
Build early career researchers’ track record in order to enhance competitiveness in bidding for external research funds;
Provide research funding for projects that are strategically aligned with the University’s priorities, Research at Melbourne and Advancing Melbourne.

Funding

Funding for successful applicants commences January 2023 for a period of 12 months. Grants will be awarded with a maximum of:

$25,000 for Architecture Building and Planning, Arts, Business and Economics, Education, Fine Arts and Music, Law, and the Melbourne Business School.
$40,000 for Engineering, Science, Medicine Dentistry and Health Sciences, Veterinary and Agricultural Sciences, and eligible affiliated Medical Research Institutes.

Half of awarded funding to successful projects is to be provided via co-contribution from your Academic Division or Institute.

How to apply

Review the funding documents
Review the Funding Guidelines, FAQs and Instructions to Applicants documents for this scheme.

Review faculty/school processes

Ensure that you are aware of any additional submission requirements specific to your Faculty/School.

Faculty	Contact	Process
Architecture, Building and Planning	P: E: abp-research@unimelb.edu.au	Complete drafts due to abp-research@unimelb.edu.au for internal approval by 30 June.
Arts	Jacqui Randall P: 8344 9284 E: arts-staffresearch@unimelb.edu.au	No additional instructions – submit straight to RIC.
Business and Economics	FBE Research Professional Services Unit P: E: fbe-research@unimelb.edu.au	Submit your draft project description and application form (PDF copy generated in SmartyGrants) for review to fbe-research@unimelb.edu.au by Friday 17 June 2022
Education	Jan Seesod P: N/A E: mgse-grants@unimelb.edu.au or jan.seesod@unimelb.edu.au	Submit your draft project description and application form (PDF copy generated in SmartyGrants) for review to mgse-grants@unimelb.edu.au by Friday 17 June 2022.
Engineering and Information Technology	Annette Herrera P: 8344 6017 E: FEIT-research@unimelb.edu.au	Sign up for the support program here
Fine Arts and Music	Adelene Auyong P: 9035 7362 E: fineartsmusic-research@unimelb.edu.au	Submit an EOI by 11.59pm on Monday 2 May 2022.
Law	Mas Generis P: 8344 9983 E: law-research@unimelb.edu.au	No additional instructions.
Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences	Tessa Grimmond P: E: mdhs-grants@unimelb.edu.au	No Faculty specific requirements, submit straight to RIC
Science	Patrick O’Duffy E: science-internalfunding@unimelb.edu.au	Submit straight to RIC.
Veterinary and Agricultural Sciences	Jessica Finlay P: 834 45962 E: fvas-researchdevelopment@unimelb.edu.au	FVAS EOIs close Tues 10 May FVAS internal review deadline Mon 4 July

Complete an eligibility exemption request
If applicable, complete the eligibility exemption request form via SmartyGrants.
Complete the application form via SmartyGrants
Remember to leave plenty of time to have the certification statement signed by your head of department. This will need to be uploaded into your SmartyGrants application form before you can submit.
Complete a Themis Grants Workbench Submission
Once your application is submitted in SmartyGrants, attach this final PDF to a Themis Workbench Submission. Your faculty research office can assist you in the first instance if you are not familiar with this process. The type of submission is "4 - internal grant sponsored by UoM" and the scheme name is "Early Career Researcher Grants Scheme - 2023 - JUL". The status needs to be '"Forwarded to HoD" by the due date. We understand if there is a slight delay in receiving electronic approval from the HoD.