McKenzie Postdoctoral Fellowships Scheme

Overview

Established in 2010, the McKenzie Postdoctoral Fellowships scheme is the University of Melbourne’s flagship postdoctoral development program that contributes to research excellence and builds the capability of high calibre scholars at the pivotal early career stage. The fellowship is a period of concentrated research time that enables outstanding early career researchers to strengthen their research, generate new projects and collaborations, develop research leadership capabilities, and contribute to the broader research objectives of the University.

Applicants must identify an Academic Contact to support their application, and the Academic Contact must complete and submit the Endorsement Declaration (Using the template available under the  'supporting documents' section below).

Applicants with a PhD from the University of Melbourne are now eligible to apply to this scheme.

Funding

The University of Melbourne will award up to 16 postdoctoral fellowships for commencement in 2025 to outstanding postdoctoral researchers working in any research field of interest to the University and its faculties.

In alignment with the University’s Indigenous Strategy Murmuk Djerring and our commitment to building the long-term capability and breadth of the Indigenous academy, and where the criteria of this scheme are otherwise met, at least two of the fellowships will be awarded to Indigenous researchers or researchers whose appointment supports the equity, diversity, and inclusivity of our research community.

Funded by DVCR strategic funding, each recipient will be awarded at Academic Level A6 in the University Salary Band, along with on-costs and superannuation, as per the applicable University of Melbourne enterprise agreement terms and conditions of employment with an additional single allocation of up to $25,000 for research project costs over the full term of the Fellowship.

The default term of a McKenzie Postdoctoral Fellowship is three years of research-focused activity (at 1.0 FTE).

Eligibility

• Applicants for 2025 must have been awarded a PhD in any discipline from a university in any country, including Australia and the University of Melbourne.
• Applicants should have completed the requirements for the award of their degree no earlier than 1 February 2021.
• Applicants must be able to commence their fellowship by 30 June 2025.
• Applicants must not have previously held and completed a McKenzie or Melbourne Postdoctoral Fellowship.
• Applicants must not have outstanding Progress Reports or Final Reports from any other University of Melbourne researcher development scheme.

Applicants who fall outside of the eligibility criteria above may make an Eligibility Exemption Request (EER) in the relevant section of the Expression of Interest form (please see the Scheme Guidelines below for parameters of Eligibility Exemption Requests).

How to apply

1. Review the Scheme guidelines

Read the McKenzie Fellowship guidelines and supporting information linked below.

2. Establish an Academic Contact

   • All applicants are required to establish an Academic Contact at the University of Melbourne. The Academic Contact's details must be listed in Part A2 of the EOI Form. The Academic Contact nominated in the application should be a regular point of contact at the University of Melbourne. They are expected to endorse your application, provide informal mentoring to the successful fellows throughout their Fellowships, or nominate an appropriate mentor. To find academics in your field, please use the University’s Find an Expert search tool.
   • Provide the Endorsement Declaration form (Using the template available under the  'supporting documents' section below) to your Academic Contact and request them to submit the fully signed Endorsement Declaration via email to mckenzie-application@unimelb.edu.au by the EOI due date.

Ensure that you are aware of any additional submission requirements specific to the Faculty/School you are applying to work in.

Faculty	Contact	Instructions
Architecture, Building and Planning	abp-research@unimelb.edu.au	Please submit a draft PDF of your SmartyGrant Application Form to the abp-research@unimelb.edu.au office by Monday, the 26th of February 2024
Arts	School contacts:	Applicants submit directly to RIC. Academic endorsers must secure Head of School signoff by the deadline – please submit as early as possible Asia Institute: Claire Maree cmaree@unimelb.edu.au Culture and Communication: Natalya Lusty natalya.lusty@unimelb.edu.au Historical and Philosophical Studies: Matthew Champion mscha@unimelb.edu.au Languages and Linguistics: Brett Baker bjbaker@unimelb.edu.au Social and Political Sciences: Terry MacDonald terry.macdonald@unimelb.edu.au
Engineering and Information Technology		McKenzie  applicants in FEIT must register their intent to apply by completing this form ASAP (hyperlink: https://melbourneuni.au1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_6YA9GYCRYBnX4jQ ). Academic endorsement form sign off will be facilitated internally by FEIT’s Research Services team. Registered applicants and their nominated academic contacts will receive further instructions about this process once applicants register.
Education	foe-research@unimelb.edu.au	For Faculty of Education applicants. Please submit your draft application form to (PDF copy generated in SmartyGrants) foe-research@unimelb.edu.au by COB 4 March 2024.
Law	Mas Generis, Marcus Feaver, and Averyl Gaylor at law-research@unimelb.edu.au	Please visit  the faculty scheme page.  Endorsement declaration form signed by MLS academic contact due to law-research@unimelb.edu.au by Monday 4 March 2024(Faculty will arrange HoD sign-off).
Science	Science Research Office (SRO) science-internalfunding@unimelb.edu.au	Science applicants must submit  their draft application form (download PDF from Smarty Grants) to SRO by CoB Friday 1st March 2024. Academic  contacts must submit their Signed Endorsement Declaration Form to SRO by CoB Friday 1st March 2024. SRO will arrange for sign off by Head of School and SRO will submit Endorsement Forms to RIC directly by 8th March 2024.
Fine Arts & Music	fineartsmusic-research@unimelb.edu.au	Please email fineartsmusic-research@unimelb.edu.au if you are planning on submitting an EOI application
Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences		MDHS applicants and their Academic Contacts should ensure they submit their Endorsement Declaration with sufficient time for sign off, following local HoS/HoD processes.

3. Prepare and submit your  EOI (including Eligibility Exemption Requests if relevant)

   • Log in to SmartyGrants to begin your EOI application. If you do not meet all of the eligibility criteria due to exceptional circumstances, please provide additional details in part B-1 of the application.
   • As per the scheme’s guidelines, you may request an eligibility exemption if:
   1. your PhD was awarded before 31 January 2021, and you can demonstrate interruption/s to your career that have limited your post-PhD scholarly research opportunities to be effectively three years or less; or
   2. you do not meet another eligibility criteria and can demonstrate exceptional circumstances to justify your eligibility.
   • Ensure your Academic Contact submits the fully signed Endorsement Declaration via email to mckenzie-application@unimelb.edu.au by the EOI due date.

4. Complete the application form

   • Only shortlisted applicants will be invited to complete the full application.
   • If successful in your EOI application, log in to SmartyGrants to complete stage two of the application form.
   • Ensure that your referees submit their written testimonials via email to mckenzie-application@unimelb.edu.au by the due date.

5. Submit the application

   • Ensure you submit your complete application via SmartyGrants portal by the due date.

Supporting documents

Documents for 2025:

• 2025 Webinar Slides **NEW**
• 2025 Webinar Recording 19 February 2024 **NEW** Passcode: !X7*n!v4
• 2025 McKenzie Postdoctoral Fellowships Scheme Guidelines
• EOI Project Summary template
• Full application Project Description template
• 2025 McKenzie SmartyGrants EOI Form
• 2025 FAQs
• 2025 McKenzie Career interruption calculator
• Endorsement Declaration Template

Please contact mckenzie-application@unimelb.edu.au for documents in alternate accessible formats.

Contacts

Manage Your Grant