Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF)
As a “translation fund”, the MRFF will supercharge the growth of Australian health and medical research to better translate research into health outcomes, improve lives, build the economy and contribute to health system sustainability.
The MRFF is a major new source of Federal Government funding for medical research; a sovereign fund that was set up in 2015 and on target for full capitalisation of $20B by 2020-21.
The Medical Research Future Fund Act 2015 requires the Minister for Health must take into account the Australian Medical Research and Innovation Priorities that are in force when approving MRFF grants.
These are the second set of priorities for the MRFF selected by the Australian Medical Research Advisory Board, and influence the format and direction of both competitive funding rounds and non-competitive investments.
The Department of Health have assembled a map that summarises how the first and second sets of Priorities have informed the funding programs established so far.
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MRFF International Clinical Trial Collaborations Program
(Round 19.3: GrantConnect)
Funding to include Australian recruitment sites in internationally-conducted clinical trials.16 Aug 2019
20 Nov 2019
20 Nov 2019
4 Dec 2019
BioMedTech Horizons
(Round 3.0: MTPConnect)
EoIs are invited across 3 focus areas:- Digitally enabled medical devices in mobile health, health information technology, wearable devices, telehealth and telemedicine, and digitally enabled personalised medicine
- Digitally enabled implantable medical devices addressing unmet needs in any therapeutic area
- General medical devices in the areas of regenerative medicine, women’s health, cardiovascular, orthopaedics, neuroscience, general surgery and oncology
15 Oct 2019
N/A
2 Dec 2019
16 Dec 2019
MRFF Clinical Trials Activity - RCRDUN Initiative 2019
Applications must propose a clinical trial that addresses a gap in current research and/or knowledge in one of the following areas:- Reproductive Cancers
- Childhood Brain Cancer
- Neurological Disorders - including (but not limited to) Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) spinal cord injuries (SCI) and Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD).
- Rare Cancers Rare Diseases and Unmet Need
Applications must also address the desired outcomes described in section 1.3 of the relevant guidelines.
15 Nov 2019 22 Jan 2020 29 Jan 2020 5 Feb 2020 MRFF - EPCDR Initiative 2019
The following grant opportunities are open for applications under the MRFF-EPCDR initiative:27-28 Nov 2019 N/A 29 Jan 2020 5 Feb 2020 MRFF - Million Minds Mission 28 Nov 2019 N/A 29 Jan 2020 5 Feb 2020 -
Forecast
Ministerial announcements will frequently precede eventual funding rounds by weeks or months. Wherever possible, such advance alerts will be outlined below:
- Round 2 Frontier Health and Medical Research Program: provides up to $1M to develop detailed research plans for significant research projects in the health and medical research sector that are innovative at a global level and have great potential to have a transformative impact on health care. Think Silicon Valley, not NHMRC.
- $3 million for research into medicinal cannabis benefits: to examine the benefits of medicinal cannabis for pain, symptom and side effect management for cancer patients. “An open and contestable grant opportunity” will be available at an unspecified time.
- Biomedical Translation Bridge program: administered by MTPConnect, providing up to $1M in matching funding to nurture the translation of new therapies, technologies and medical devices through to the proof of concept stage. Round 2 to open soon.
While MRFF processes are distinct to NHMRC or ARC, and peer review does not obligatorily guide Ministerial funding decisions, some MRFF rounds do utilise peer review processes, managed online by either the NHMRC (RGMS) or the Department of Industry, Innovation & Science (Business Portal).
Get involved
For schemes that do undertake peer review of grant applications, University of Adelaide involvement is critical.
Researchers may self-nominate for consideration to undertake peer review for those MRFF schemes which are administered by NHMRC. Self-nomination is only open at certain times and for certain schemes as advertised in the NHMRC Research Tracker.
Once the self-nomination process opens in RGMS there is a 3-4 week window in which researchers can take advantage of this process.
To be considered for appointment to peer review panels for schemes which have already closed to self-nomination, email the NHMRC Research Help Centre an expression of interest which they can then forward to the relevant business area.
Anyone who has volunteered and participated in MRFF Peer Review is urged to contact Dr Cadence Haynes, for University acknowledgement and support.
It is the intention of the Taskforce to:
- Capture critical knowledge and information
- Share the information with groups/individuals who need to know
- Understand the needs of researchers, to help our University better support MRFF applications and activity
Talk to your representative, or contact the MRFF Opportunities Manager for more information.
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Member |
Role/Representing |
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Theme Leader – Medical, Health and Bioprocessing Technologies, ECMS |
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School of Biological Sciences Research Committee chair, and |
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Theme Leader, Aboriginal Health Equity, SAHMRI and Adelaide Medical School |
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Professor of Computer Science |
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Adelaide Medical School Research Committee chair |
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DDR Faculty of Sciences – also represent human health-related Animal and |
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Adelaide Nursing School Research Committee |
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Precision Medicine Theme Leader at SAHMRI; Cancer Council Chair in |
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Director of the Centre for Nanoscale BioPhotonics |
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Professor of Neuroimaging at the University of Adelaide, SAHMRI, |
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Interim DDR Faculty of Health & Medical Sciences |
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School of Psychology Research Committee chair |
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Cardiologist with Central Adelaide Local Health Network (CALHN); |
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Director, Robinson Research Institute |
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Paediatric Neurologist at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital |
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Deputy Director - South Australian Centre for Economic Studies, |
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Adelaide Dental School Research Committee chair |
Need help?
Complete our simple Google Form to flag your interest in MRFF support, or to nominate your colleagues with expertise across the MRFF Priority areas.
For further information please contact our MRFF grant manager.