National Health and Medical Research Council

Funds Australian health and medical research, translation, and researcher development across priority health areas.

The National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) is Australia's peak public funder for health and medical research. It has operated since 1937 under the NHMRC Act 1992 as a non-corporate Commonwealth entity, and its own grant system is built around the Medical Research Endowment Account.

Core schemes include Investigator Grants, Ideas Grants, Synergy Grants, Partnership Projects, Development Grants, and Clinical Trials and Cohort Studies Grants. Together they support biomedical, clinical, public health, and health services research, with Investigator Grants pairing salary support with research support, Ideas Grants backing innovative projects, Synergy Grants funding multidisciplinary teams, Partnership Projects connecting research with policy and practice, Development Grants supporting commercialisation, and Clinical Trials and Cohort Studies Grants funding clinical research and follow-on studies.

Applications run through Sapphire, and NHMRC also administers the Medical Research Future Fund on behalf of the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing, though that endowment sits with the department. The best fit is a strong peer-reviewed health research team with a clear line from discovery to patient care, public health practice, or system impact.