Our 2021 Project funding round is now open for Registrations and Expressions of Interest, offering funding of up to $1,200,000 for research projects that have the potential to vastly improve our health system and the health of New Zealanders.

Projects can cover a diverse range of areas, from biomedical and public health to clinical studies and kaupapa Māori research.

Our 2021 Pacific Health Projects are also open for Registrations and Expressions of Interest, supporting high-quality Pacific health research in priority areas that will contribute to achieving better health outcomes for Pacific peoples, families, and communities.

The Health Research Council of New Zealand and the Accident Compensation Corporation have formed a partnership to invest in research that will address inequity in the healthcare system and contribute to improved health outcomes for ageing Māori. A funding pool of $1.5 million is available to fund research projects of up to 24 months duration.

Head to our Request for Proposals section for all the details.

For those who are planning to apply for funding in the 2021 Career Development Awards, Project, Feasibility Studies and Emerging Researcher funding rounds, please note the dates below: 

Applications are now open for the 2021 Health Research Council Career Development Awards.

Researchers are able to apply for opportunities in three categories: General round, Māori Health Research, and Pacific Health Research.

Visit the Career Development Awards section for more details, including the application guidelines and forms.

In light of the COVID-19 pandemic and challenges faced by all health research stakeholders, changes have been made to the 2020 HRC Global Alliance for Chronic Diseases Cancer Call timeline. The registration closing date has been extended till 1pm, 23 July 2020, and full applications will now close at 1pm, 30 July 2020. 

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the impact of Alert Level 4 on the work of the research community, the HRC has cancelled its planned full-stage science assessing committee (SAC) meetings for its current annually-run funding rounds, and instead will collect scores from individual SAC members through HRC Gateway. 

Though the cancellation of meetings means round table committee discussions will not take place, SAC members will still have access to applications, committee reviewer and external reviewer reports, in addition to applicant rebuttals to inform their assessment and scoring of a proposal. 

This change was deemed necessary to ensure continuity in the HRC’s funding processes during this phase of the COVID-19 crisis, and to enable research to proceed once the restrictions of the Alert 4 lockdown are eased and a return to work is feasible. Read more in this Special Update.

Further to the deadline extension for the Health Delivery Research Project Grant outlined last week, the HRC has made additional changes to the 2020 Health Delivery Research Investment Round, in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and challenges faced by all health delivery research stakeholders:

• Health Delivery Research Career Development Awards – deadlines have been delayed by three months.
• Health Delivery Research Activation Grants – this will now be offered in two streams, with applications for the second stream due later in the year.
• Health Sector Research Collaboration Grants – flexible timeframes have been introduced.
• Health Delivery Research Project Grants – as previously communicated, the full application deadline has been extended. 

All details are in this Special Update and further questions can be directed to Luke Garland, Research Investment Manager: lgarland@hrc.govt.nz