Australia injects $472 M for health and medical research future

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To further support Australia’s world-leading medical researchers, the Morrison Government will invest almost half a billion dollars in funding for health and medical research.

Funded through the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), $471.9 million in funding will support hundreds of research leaders and teams around the country to undertake research that will ultimately save lives and make Australians healthier.

This investment includes:

• $399.7 million for 254 Investigator Grants, NHMRC’s largest scheme, which provides funding over five years for the highest performing researchers at all career stages.
• $44 million for 17 Centres of Research Excellence over five years, building collaborative teams and developing capacity to improve research translation into better health outcomes.
• $4.6 million in targeted funding to support four projects developing coordinated and best practice interventions for better care at the end of life.
• $1.5 million for collaborative research on osteoarthritis to be funded in partnership with the United Kingdom’s National Institute for Health Research.
• $1.8 million to fund a clinical trial at Melbourne Health involving combination immune therapy for type 1 diabetes.

More than $12 million in funding is dedicated to research on SARS-CoV-2 – the virus that causes COVID-19 – and over $84 million for research in infectious diseases.