We offer funding of up to $1,200,000 for research projects that have the potential to vastly improve the health of New Zealanders. Projects can cover a diverse range of areas, from biomedical and public health to clinical studies, Māori-focused research, and Pacific health research. Most projects have a term of three years, but we can negotiate terms of up to five years.

In keeping with the evolving alignment of our investment opportunities and processes with the New Zealand Health Research Prioritisation Framework, we have made some key changes for 2023 Projects. These include:

• Introducing a ‘General’ category to replace the ‘Health and Wellbeing in New Zealand’ and ‘Improving Outcomes for Acute and Chronic Conditions in New Zealand’ research investment streams.
• The inclusion of a question for General Project applications about how your proposed research aligns to the Domains of the New Zealand Health Research Prioritisation Framework. Applicants are asked to consider which Domain the proposed research is most aligned with and identify this as the primary Domain. An additional secondary Domain can also be identified if relevant. While this information will not influence the assessment or selection of EOI proposals invited to submit full-stage proposals (and applicants will be able to change their domain selections in full-stage proposals), it is a good opportunity to think critically about where your research fits into the prioritisation framework in preparation for changes coming up over the next 12 months.

As part of our focus on investing in people and creating more stable and sustainable career development opportunities, we are also encouraging early and mid-career researchers who have not previously been a first named investigator on a Project contract to apply as co-first named investigator in combination with a mentor/experienced researcher.

Eligibility criteria

If you are the first named investigator (i.e., lead researcher) on a project application, you must be based in New Zealand and employed with a New Zealand host organisation. For Pacific Projects, the first named investigator must be of Pacific indigenous descent.

There is a limit of two project applications per first named investigator/co-first named investigator.

Collaborating researchers from outside New Zealand can, at the HRC’s discretion, be included as named investigators on a HRC Project contract. However, the HRC will not contribute to the overhead of the overseas investigator, and the total proportion of contract budget allocated to overseas investigators must not exceed 20 percent.

For more information about our contract requirements, please read the HRC Rules document under 'Helpful links'.

Application process

Project funding has a two-stage application process. The first stage is registration, followed by the Expression of Interest (EOI) stage. Applicants submit an EOI which is then assessed and top-ranked applicants will be invited to submit a full application for the second stage of the process. The proposed research in the EOI must be substantially the same as that in the full application.

Choosing a project category

If you are applying for a Project you need to select one of the following project categories:

• Rangahau Hauora Māori Research Investment Stream: Supporting Māori health research that upholds rangatiratanga and utilises and advances Māori knowledge, resources, and people
• Pacific Project: Making significant improvements in, or developing knowledge contributing to, Pacific health outcomes
• General Project: Research that would previously have been submitted to the ‘Health and Wellbeing in New Zealand’ and ‘Improving Outcomes for Acute and Chronic Conditions in New Zealand’ research investment streams.
  

“Please note: The HRC’s annual funding round also previously included an investment stream focusing on New Zealand Health Delivery. However, this funding is now run out of cycle via the Health Delivery Research Investment Round and includes a range of different grant types in addition to project grants.”

For General Project applications, please use the 2023 Project EOI and full application forms. If you are applying for Project funding under the Rangahau Hauora Māori research investment stream, you'll need to apply using the 2023 Rangahau Hauora Māori Project EOI and full application forms. For Pacific Project applications, please use the 2023 Pacific Project EOI and full application forms.

'Pathway to impact' assessment

The below link provides information on the HRC's Research Impact assessment criterion for the Project and Programme funding rounds. We have also produced some feedback for applicants, which might be helpful.

Additional reading: Research impact assessment slideshow notes

Māori Health Advancement

The below link provides more information and examples of how to incorporate this Māori Health Advancement (MHA) criterion in your research together with MHA guidelines.

Additional reading: Māori Health Advancement.

Got a question?

If you've read through the documents below and the 'How to apply for HRC funding' section under 'Helpful links' and still have a question about Project funding, send an email to info@hrc.govt.nz and one of our team will be in touch.

Documents

Guidelines

2023 Peer Review Manual
18 Oct, 2022 3:00pm - 394KB

2023 Projects Full Application Guidelines
4 Oct, 2022 12:12pm - 606KB

2023 Projects Pacific Full Application Guidelines
4 Oct, 2022 12:13pm - 564KB

2023 Projects Rangahau Hauora Māori (RHM) Full Application Guidelines
4 Oct, 2022 12:10pm - 627KB