Programmes provide support for the long-term development of a health research field by a group of established investigators with an outstanding track record of achievement. They should have a strategic, long-term vision that will contribute to significantly improving health outcomes for New Zealanders. Up to $5 million is available over 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 Programmes. 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 Programme applications (General category) 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 of 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.

The following changes and improvements have also been introduced. Please refer to the application guidelines for full details.

• The annual salary increase cap of 3% has been removed.
• Unnamed Masters and PhD students can be included. The HRC must be informed of the student’s name, qualifications and/or expertise relevant to their role in the research activity, when the student has been appointed. Please note that when an unnamed student is included, the applicant may not add supplementary information about their intent to recruit or appoint a student with particular expertise or other characteristic, such as ethnicity or gender. These will not be considered justified for unnamed students and will be disregarded in the assessment process.
• Student fees can now be requested (in addition to stipends) and should be justified as a reasonable estimate based on the expected programme of study and fees set by the organisation at which the student would be enrolled.

• Regulatory approvals and other requirements including ethics approvals (human and animal) and clinical trial registration should be added as Year 1 milestones to support contract monitoring (even if the applicant expects to attain these prior to contract commencement).
  

Eligibility criteria

If you're applying as the director (or co-director) of a HRC programme, you'll need to have New Zealand as your principal domicile (see definition in the HRC Rules document) and your principal place of employment, and set aside at least 20 per cent full-time equivalent (FTE) of your time on the programme. There are also a number of other specific requirements that you'll need to meet (see the 2023 Programme application guidelines for all the details).

Note: Host organisations are responsible for ensuring that New Zealand is the principal domicile and principal place of employment for the applicant. By submitting an application, the host is satisfied that this condition has been met.

The HRC welcomes proposals with co-directors and acknowledges the range of leadership skills and experience required to optimise the potential impact of a programme grant. In this context the eligibility requirements apply to the director and co-director, individually or combined (see the 2023 Programme application guidelines for further details).

Application process

If you're applying for Programme funding, there is a one-stage application process. Submitted applications are assessed in several stages; applications are assessed by external reviewers and a science assessing committee, and short-listed applications are then assessed by a programme assessing committee. The outcome of these assessments informs Council’s funding decision for Programmes.

Choosing a programme category

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

• Rangahau Hauora Māori Programme
  

Supporting Māori health research that upholds rangatiratanga and uses and advances Māori health knowledge, resources, and people.

• General Programme
  

All other types of research, including research that might be submitted through Pacific or Health Delivery investment categories that are separate in other HRC award types, and 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.

Māori Health Advancement

Guidance on the Māori Health Advancement (MHA) assessment criterion and examples of how to incorporate this in your research can be found here: Māori Health Advancement.

'Pathway to impact' assessment

Guidance on the Research Impact assessment criterion and feedback for applicants can be found here: Research impact assessment slideshow notes.

Have 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 Programme funding, send an email to info@hrc.govt.nz and one of our team will be in touch.

Documents

Guidelines

2023 Programme Application Guidelines
11 Aug, 2022 11:39am - 578KB

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