2020 NHMRC Grant Outcomes for the medical research institute sector

A new AAMRI analysis on the 2020 NHMRC Grant outcomes has shown that the medical research institute (MRI) sector had a success rate higher than the average funded rate in both major grant schemes in 2020 – Investigator Grants and Ideas Grants [1].

 

MRI researchers were awarded 143 Ideas Grants and and 100 Investigator Grants representing almost half the grants awarded in the two major schemes in 2020.

 

MRI researchers were awarded $293.7 million in funding across both major grant schemes in 2020, representing nearly half (47%) the total funding available in 2020.

This funding included more than half (51%) the total funding for the Ideas Grant scheme and just under half (44%)  the total funding for the Investigator Grant scheme in 2020.

 

In 2020, the MRI sector reached equal funded rates for men and women CIA² researchers in the Ideas Grant round (12%). This is in contrast to the outcomes in 2019 where the funded rate for male CIAs at MRIs was almost 4% higher than for women CIAs.

See AAMRI’s detailed analysis of the 2020 Investigator Grant outcomes for the MRI sector here.

 

[1] In 2020, the NHMRC implemented a number of changes to the current grant program to assist the sector in mitigating the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Of the four major NHMRC grant schemes – Ideas Grants, Investigator Grants, Synergy Grants and Clinical Trials and Cohort Studies Grants – grants were awarded for only two major schemes in 2020, the Investigator Grants and Ideas Grants. The 2020 Synergy Grant round was cancelled and the 2020 Clinical Trials and Cohorts Studies Grant round was delayed until November. Application rounds for many Strategic and Leveraging Grant schemes as well as two Special Initiatives were also held in 2020, with a number of outcomes also announced in December 2020. For more information on changes to grant rounds due to COVID-19, see the summary on the NHMRC website. For all grant outcomes announced in 2020, a full list can be downloaded from the NHMRC website here.

[2] CIA – Chief Investigator A.