Singapore: Australia's Balnaves Foundation has donated $450,000 to the University of Sydney's medical school to help promising young scientists establish themselves in medical research.

The donation, from the Balnaves Foundation, will be contribute to a $1 million fund which will support early career medical researchers during the next three years.

Initially it will benefit 28 young researchers by funding their pilot projects with up to $25,000. With pilot research projects under their belt these researchers are in a better position to successfully apply for mainstream competitive research grants.

"Early career researchers are the lifeblood of all successful medical research projects and face an increasing battle for grant funding due to their limited body of work, lack of experience and intense competition," said Mr Bruce Robinson, dean, Sydney Medical School.

"But they face a classic dilemma: they need research expertise to receive grant funding, but they need grant funding to develop research expertise." The difficulty for young researchers is magnified because only 15 per cent of grant applications to the National Health and Medical Research Council are successful, and it is particularly difficult for new researchers who don't have a track record".