1. PURPOSE
This document is intended to assist researchers who are considering applying in 2010 for a National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Scholarship to commence in 2011. It provides advice on access and eligibility criteria, categories of award, appeal mechanisms and administration of grants.
User Review
( votes)2. INTRODUCTION
The National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) is Australia’s leading expert body promoting the development and maintenance of public and individual health standards. It is established under the National Health and Medical Research Council Act 1992, which is available on the NHMRC website at:
The Act establishes four statutory obligations for NHMRC:
o To raise the standard of individual and public health throughout Australia;
o To foster the development of consistent health standards between the States and Territories;
o To foster medical research and training and public health research and training throughout Australia; and
o To foster consideration of ethical issues relating to health.
In aiming to achieve the best possible health for all Australians, NHMRC adheres to and promotes the following values:
o Excellence: Ensuring research excellence through peer review and expert advice, performance monitoring and reporting.
o Engagement: Encouraging national and international participation, partnerships, consultation, collaboration, and communication.
o Relevance and responsiveness: Ensuring that the organisation is prepared and able to respond appropriately to both immediate and longer term challenges and issues in health.
o Leadership: Promoting the benefits of health and medical research, the use of evidence in advice, the highest possible ethical standards, and espousing equity, inclusiveness and mutual respect.
o Accountability: Implementing high standards of professional behaviour and performance, and fair, open management in accordance with relevant legislation and Commonwealth policy and guidelines.
In addition NHMRC is committed to developing careers for Indigenous Australians in health research across all its “People Support” programs (Training Post-Doctoral Fellowships, Career Development Awards, Research and Practitioner Fellowships and Scholarships).
3. OBJECTIVES
Aim:
The aim of the Postgraduate Scholarships scheme is to support outstanding Australian health and medical graduates early in their career so that they can:
o Be trained to conduct research that is internationally competitive;
o Develop a capacity for original independent research.
NHMRC Postgraduate Scholarships – Funding Policy
Strategic Plan Targeted Areas for 2010:
NHMRC recognises the importance of bioinformatics as an emerging health and medical research field and encourages applications that will use mathematics, statistics and information technology to extract useful information from large and complex biological datasets.
4. ELIGIBILITY
Eligibility Can Affect:
o Your ability to apply;
o Your ability to accept an offer; or
o Your ability to activate your scholarship.
Eligibility to Apply:
o It is the responsibility of the applicant to submit an eligible application
o An application found to be ineligible will not be considered for funding
o Identification of ineligibility could occur at any stage in the peer review process
o It is the responsibility of the applicant to ensure they comply with eligibility requirements. The Research Administration or Scholarships office of the proposed Administering Institution can provide assistance with eligibility
o Where applicants have questions about their eligibility, they should seek guidance from the Research Administration Office (RAO) of the institution through which they are applying.
An application will be ineligible if one of the following conditions applies:
o it was not submitted through a registered NHMRC Administering Institution
o was not Certified by a registered NHMRC Administering Institution
o the applicant is in the final year of an honours degree
o the applicant currently holds an Australian Postgraduate Award or equivalent Australian
Government funded scholarship
o the applicant is in, or will be entering, their 3rd full-time (or full-time equivalent) year of their PhD studies on or after 1 March of the year in which the award is to commence
o the applicant is proposing to base their project outside of Australia (elements of the project can be undertaken outside of Australia, eg data gathering, but the Scholar, Supervisor and project must all be Australian based and located at an Australian Administering Institution)
o the applicant has submitted more than one application in the current application round (except for an applicant applying for an Indigenous Australian Health Research Scholarship)
o the applicant has submitted an Indigenous Australian Health Research Scholarship application,and more than one additional application in another category, in the current application round
o the degree proposed is not a PhD, other doctorate degree, or Masters degree.
o the proposed degree is not research degree.
Applications CLOSE: 6:00 pm (AEST) on 30 July 2010
