Ideas Ignite Awards

Seed-funding and mentoring for EMCRs to develop a competitive NHMRC Ideas Grant application in physical activity and sleep
An exciting opportunity presented by the Physical Activity, Exercise and Energy Expenditure and Sleep themes for early- to mid-career researchers to gain up to $10,000 to take their innovative research ideas to the next level.

The Physical Activity, Exercise and Energy Expenditure and Sleep themes at the Charles Perkins Centre are offering an opportunity to support early-mid career researchers to develop a competitive NHMRC Ideas Grant application on any aspects of physical activity (including sedentary behaviour) and sleep.

The Ideas Grants are part of the new NHMRC schemes. A unique aspect of the Ideas Grants is that they do not involve an assessment of the applicants’ track record (previous grants, publications, etc), making them an exciting possibility for early and mid-career researchers (EMCRs) who may not have had the opportunity to develop a competitive track record for other NHMRC schemes.  

Download the guidelines for Ideas Ignite Awards initative (PDF 133KB).

Applications close 7 December 2019.

The Ignite Ideas Award will provide up to two Awardees (and their team) with:

  • A comprehensive mentoring programme, including:
  1. Support with putting together a competitive team of Chief Investigators and Associate Investigators
  2. Support with developing the application
  3. Review of the application and feedback by senior Charles Perkins Centre researchers  
  • An unrestricted $5,000-10,000 grant (depending on the quality of the applications and the number of awards funded)
  • The Awards will be announced in a Charles Perkins Centre event in 2020. 
  • These Awards are available to individual researchers who are willing to build a team and pursue to submission a high quality NHMRC Ideas Grant application.
  • To be eligible for this program, the applicant must be a University of Sydney employee (full-time or part time at least 0.6FTE) with a PhD degree obtained within the last 10 years.
  • The applicant must be eligible to apply for an NHMRC Ideas Grant in 2020 (including Australian Permanent Resident or citizen) - see note below.

Important Eligibility Criteria: The Ideas Grant scheme is not intended to support research where a clinical trial or cohort study is the primary objective. Applicants seeking funding to conduct a randomised controlled trial (RCT) or start a new cohort study, or carry out analyses involving an existing cohort study are eligible for NHMRC’s Clinical Trials and Cohort Studies Grant scheme, but not eligible for the NHMRC Ideas Grants scheme.

Please read carefully the 2019 Ideas Grants Guidelines (PDF 847KB) to determine if your proposed research project would be eligible for an Ideas Grant, and/or consult a colleague who applied for an Ideas Grant in 2019, and/or contact the University of Sydney Research Support Office.   

  • How the proposed research addresses the 3 areas of formal assessment of the Ideas Grants; Innovation and Creativity, Significance and Feasibility (see NHMRC Ideas Grants 2019 Guidelines Page 3)
  • Relevance of the research proposal to the Physical Activity, Exercise and Energy Expenditure Theme and Sleep theme
  • The qualifications and research experience of researcher/proposed team
  • Evidence that the applicant has led or substantially contributed to funding applications (of any size) to submission  

The application must be submitted online using the form below which includes:

  • Applicant details
  • Proposal Description (upload 1 page Word document)
  • Your response to the selection criteria (upload 1 page Word document)
  • Resume of CIA applicant (upload 2 page Word document) which covers;
  1. Summary of career to date
  2. Summary of overall research experience, including evidence of previous funding application submission of any size – does not have to be NHMRC or ARC
  3. Summary of research experience specific to any aspect of the proposed Ideas Ignite Project
  4. Top 5 peer-reviewed publications to date (not conference abstracts)
  • Proposed Team (It is not necessary to have a full team in place but the applicants are encouraged to specify minimum of another two Chief Investigators or Associate Investigators from any career stage.)

Begin your application

Barbaros Eroglu

ProPASS Coordinator, School of Public Health, Prevention Research Collaboration