The Carlo and Rita Giugni ECR Grant for Aged Care Research
Critical Dates
- 9:00 am, Monday 2 February 2026
Round opens.
Applicants must apply through the Early Career Researcher Grant (ECRG) grant scheme process to be considered for this specific grant. The application form and guidelines can be found on the ECR Grant webpage or under 'Supporting Documents' below.
- 3:00 pm - 4:30 pm, Monday 9 February 2026
ECR Grant Information Webinar (Registration Link)
Applicants are recommended to attend the ECRG Information webinar as an ECRG application is required to be eligible for the Carlo and Rita Giugni ECR grant.
- 3:00 pm, Thursday, 19 March 2026
Full applications due via SmartyGrants and Themis submissions should be 'Forwarded to HoD
- September 2026
Notification of Outcomes
- 2 January 2027 - 31 December 2027
Grant funds will be awarded for expenditure over one year.
Overview
In 2024, the University was generously gifted funds by the Giugni family to support research that has potential to improve aged care and/or lead to positive impact for how society supports aged people in their final years.
This seed grant is intended for an early career researcher (ECR) from any discipline or Faculty/School/Department at the University of Melbourne who has a high-quality project proposal relating to the improvement of aged care (broadly construed).
Applications from ECRs who do not ordinarily focus on aged care research but are proposing to explore a new interdisciplinary social impact-oriented research project are also encouraged. This grant is an opportunity to put forward research proposals from any discipline that engage broadly and creatively with the important challenge of improving aged care across all its dimensions. Novel intersections with new technologies, research-based applications or disciplinary frontiers are encouraged. As reflected in the selection criteria in the scheme guidelines, advancing impact, innovation, and expertise on the improvement of care and lived experience for aging Australians is a driving theme for this grant.
Grant conditions: The selection criteria, grant conditions, funding conditions, reporting expectations and compliance requirements of the ECR grants scheme guidelines will apply to the awardee of this grant.
Eligibility
The eligibility criteria of the Early Career Researcher grants broadly apply to the Giugni grant (see ECRG scheme guidelines) but with one distinction. The Carlo and Rita Giugni ECR grant is only available to applicants who are employed by the University or its departments (i.e. honorary University of Melbourne staff are not eligible for this grant).
Supporting documents
Documents for 2026:
Beyond the information contained on this webpage and in the application form, there are no standalone scheme guidelines for the Carlo and Rita Giugni ECR award (this grant will be awarded via the ECR Grants allocations process in 2025 and onwards).
Contacts
- Please refer to the Scheme Guidelines for grants commencing in 2027, FAQs and Instructions to Applicants (listed on the ECRG webpage) before submitting inquiries
Kindly contact the Researcher Development Schemes team via the Research Helpline General Enquiries form and we will do our best to assist.
To help you with ensuring your query gets to the RDS team, please select the following options on the form:
- When asked "My request relates to" select "Research Grants and Contracts"
- In the "related to a GRANT/CONTRACT" question select "Grants"
- In the "relation to a Research Grant Proposal or a Grant Award or Agreement" question select "Research Grant Proposal"
- Then under the description section make sure to list you are seeking assistance for an 'Internal UoM' grant called the ‘The Carlo and Rita Giugni ECR grant’ and request to speak with the RDS team. Please also provide any relevant information regarding your query.