Early Career Researcher Grants

Critical Dates

Monday 27 February 2023: Round opens
TBC 2023: TBA (AEST)
ECR Grants Information Session
Monday 8 May 2023: 3:00pm (AEST)
Eligibility Exemption Requests due via SmartyGrants
Monday 3 July 2023: 3:00pm (AEST)
Full pplications due via SmartyGrants
October 2023: Notification of outcomes

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

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 for successful applicants commences January 2024 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, 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.

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

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

Faculty	Contact	Instructions
Architecture, Building and Planning	Matthew Scamporlino (abp-research), 61383446729, mtsc@unimelb.edu.au abp-research@unimelb.edu.au	EOIs due: TBC URL Notification of EOI outcome: TBC
Arts	Arts Research Office, arts-staffresearch@unimelb.edu.au
Business & Economics	Ryan Perera, 61390353863, fbe-research@unimelb.edu.au	NOI Due: Friday 5 May Draft project description and application form (PDF copy generated in SmartyGrants) to be submitted to FBE for review: Monday 29 May
Engineering and Information Technology	FEIT Research Services, FEIT-research@unimelb.edu.au	Register for support program (link TBC)
Education	mgse-grants@unimelb.edu.au
Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences	Tessa Grimmond, 9035 0995, mdhs-grants@unimelb.edu.au
Law	Mas Generis, 8344 9983, law-research@unimelb.edu.au
Science	Veronica Loew, 03 8344 8236, science-internalfunding@unimelb.edu.au	Submit straight to RIC
Fine Arts & Music	Adelene Auyong, fineartsmusic-research@unimelb.edu.au	EOI due: Friday 31 March

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 - YYYY - MON". 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.