The Emerging Researcher First Grant is intended to support emerging researchers who are seeking to establish independent health research careers in Aotearoa New Zealand and have not previously held a competitive grant for research expenses worth more than $105,000. Up to a maximum of $250,000 for three years is available. 

Key changes

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 to our 2023 Emerging Researcher First Grant. 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 Pacific Emerging Researcher First Grant is now applied for through the ‘Pacific’ category as part of the 2023 Emerging Researcher First Grant.
  

• The inclusion of a question for the General Emerging Researcher First Grant and Health Delivery Emerging Researcher First Grant applications about how your proposed research aligns to the Domains of the New Zealand Health Research Prioritisation Framework. 
  

• Salary for the first named investigator is now able to be claimed through the Emerging Researcher First Grant.

Please refer to the application guidelines for full details about these changes.

Eligibility criteria

An emerging researcher is defined as "someone who is at the beginning of their research career in health with a clear development path and is working in a strongly supportive research environment". Applicants are eligible for an Emerging Researcher First Grant if they:

• have New Zealand as their principal domicile (see definition in the HRC Rules document) and principal place of employment. For the Rangahau Hauora Māori Emerging Researcher First Grant, the first named investigator must be of Māori descent. For the Pacific Emerging Researcher First Grant, the first named investigator must be of indigenous Pacific descent

• have not previously held a competitive research grant as a first named investigator for research expenses of ≥$105,000 from any source at the time of assessment (including institutional or internal funding), not at the time of application. Scholarship and fellowship stipends are not included, provided the expenses component of such awards does not exceed the $105,000 expenses threshold
  

• are no more than 6 years from attaining a postgraduate degree at the time of their application, although this period could be greater considering parental leave, caring responsibilities, career breaks, ill health, or other justified reasons. Time spent working in a career other than research is not considered a justified reason. Eligibility will be counted from the date of degree conferment, which should be confirmed in the application
  

• are developing an independent research stream
  

• are not studying for a PhD degree
  

• justify how they fit the definition of emerging researcher as defined above. 
  

Application process

Firstly, you'll need to register your intention to submit an application for the Emerging Researcher First Grant. A registration must be completed online via HRC Gateway. Following registration, you'll then need to submit a full application online via HRC Gateway using the relevant 2023 Emerging Researcher First Grant application form for the category you are applying to (provided on this page). All full applications will be scored by assessing committees who will then make funding recommendations to HRC Council.

Choosing an Emerging Researcher First Grant category

Applicants must select one of the following categories (please see the 2023 Emerging Researcher First Grant Application Guidelines for further details):

• Rangahau Hauora Māori Emerging Researcher First Grant: Supporting Māori health research that upholds rangatiratanga and uses and advances Māori knowledge, resources, and people.
  

• Pacific Emerging Researcher First Grant: Making significant improvements in, or developing knowledge contributing to, Pacific health outcomes.
  

• Health Delivery Emerging Researcher First Grant: Having the potential to directly inform changes to health delivery policy, practice or systems; and demonstrating a clear connection to a healthcare need.
  

• General Emerging Researcher First Grant
  

The same proposal cannot be submitted to different categories, as this creates avoidable duplication of both application and assessment effort.

The HRC does not provide advice on choice of category, as that decision is best made by the investigator. Applicants may change their final choice of category by creating duplicate applications and deciding on the most appropriate category before the closing date for registration.

Māori Health Advancement

The below link provides more information and examples of how to incorporate this Māori Health Advancement (MHA) criterion into 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 Emerging Researcher First Grant funding, send an email to info@hrc.govt.nz and one of our team will be in touch.

Note: The Results for Rangahau Hauora Māori Emerging Researcher First Grant and Pacific Emerging Researcher First Grant will now be available on the 6 June 2023.

Documents

Guidelines

2023 Emerging Researcher First Grant Application Guidelines
9 Aug, 2022 12:16pm - 534KB

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