Our Explorer Grants provide seed support for researchers with transformative, innovative, exploratory or unconventional research ideas that have a good chance of making a revolutionary change to how we manage health in Aotearoa New Zealand. These grants are available in any health-related field (e.g., clinical, kaupapa Māori, Pacific health, basic, behavioural, social, public health, and translational sciences) and are worth $150,000 for a term of up to 24 months.

Eligibility requirements

Your principal domicile and place of employment must be Aotearoa New Zealand to be eligible for a 2023 Explorer Grant. This requirement applies to all first named investigators. Your application must also have the support of your host institution.

You can find more information about our eligibility criteria in the application guidelines document below.

How do I apply?

First, you’ll need to ensure that you have an up-to-date profile on HRC Gateway. You will then need to complete an online registration form via HRC Gateway to signal your intention to apply for a 2023 Explorer Grant. Following registration, you’ll need to submit a full application online via HRC Gateway using the 2023 Explorer Grant Application Form. Both the application form and application guidelines are available below.

There are four Explorer Grant categories to choose from (you must select one):

• Rangahau Hauora Māori – supporting Māori health research that upholds rangatiratanga and uses and advances Māori knowledge, resources and people
  

• Pacific – making significant improvements in, or developing knowledge contributing to, Pacific health outcomes
  

• Health Delivery – having the potential to directly inform changes to health delivery policy, practice or systems, and demonstrating a clear connection to a healthcare need
  

• General – all other types of research, including 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.
  

See the application guidelines document below for more information about choosing a category and changing a category before the closing date for registration.

Your application will be assessed by subpanels within the HRC’s Explorer Grant Assessing Committee to see if it meets the criteria of being both transformative, viable, and advancing Māori health. Unlike with any of our other grants, the assessment process for Explorer Grant applications is anonymous and all applications that meet the criteria are equally eligible to receive funding. A random number generator prioritises these applications.

Key changes from the previous year

This year we have introduced Māori Health Advancement criterion into our Explorer Grant assessment process. Further details can be found in the 2023 Explorer Grant Application Guidelines. If you need more information regarding Māori Health Advancement, please see our website and the Māori Health Advancement Guidelines under ‘Helpful links’ on the right.

Got a question?

If you’ve read through the documents below and under the ‘Helpful links’ section on the right and still have a question about our Explorer Grants, please send an email to info@hrc.govt.nz and one of our team will be in touch. Alternatively, you can phone us on (09) 303 5200.

Documents

Guidelines

2023 Explorer Grant Application Guidelines
6 Oct, 2022 4:31pm - 375KB

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