NHMRC Funding Schemes: Part-time Awards
The NHMRC Funding Rules states that: ‘All NHMRC awards provide for investigators to undertake research on a part-time basis for all or part of the
duration of the grant’. Below is a list of NHMRC schemes and their part-time options:
NHMRC Scheme
Early Career
Fellowships
Scheme Objectives

(4 years)


Provide opportunities for Australian researchers
to undertake research that is both of major
importance in its field and of benefit to
Australian health;
Provide a vehicle for training in basic research
either in Australia or overseas, to enable
Fellows to work on research projects with
nominated advisers.
Awards are offered to a limited number of
persons of outstanding ability who wish to
make research a significant component of their
career.
Summary of part-time options
Part-time Fellowships are offered for research training that is based
entirely in Australia. They include:
 Health Professional Research Fellowship
Health Professional Research Fellowships aim to provide part-time
(30-70%) training for awardees who wish to combine their
professional career development with an Early Career Fellowship in
Australia. Health Professional Research Fellowships support persons
who wish to follow a clinical, public, allied health, or hospital research
career in Australia, but who do not wish to fully relinquish their
professional career in favour of a full-time research Early Career
Fellowship.
Applicants, for the majority of their non-research employment time
(whether full-time or part-time), must work as clinicians or in a public
health practice or policy role. Note: The combination of time
committed to the Fellowship and other employment does not have to
equate to a full-time equivalent. Applicants can still be part-time (in
total) to be eligible for this Fellowship.
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 Australian Research Fellowship
Australian Research Fellowships (Part-time) aim to enable persons of
outstanding ability to undertake research training, in the biomedical,
clinical, public health, health services and Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander research fields, on a part-time basis. Given the nature of this
fellowship, the non-fellowship time cannot be spent on other paid
employment including additional research, teaching, administrative,
clinical or practitioner responsibilities.
Part-time Fellowships are normally awarded for a maximum of four
years, at a part-time rate of 50%. Where clinical loadings are
appropriate, payment will be pro-rated to the appropriate percentage
of time worked on research.
Career
Development
Fellowships


(4 Years)

Further develop Australian health and medical
researchers early in their careers;
Enable investigators to establish themselves as
independent, self-directed researchers early in
their research career;
Expand capacity for biomedical, clinical and
public health and health service delivery
research.
Career Development Fellowships (CDFs) have two opportunities for
researchers to undertake part-time research as described below:
 Clinical and Population Health Fellowships
These fellowships are available for full-time or part-time research.
Part-time researchers may spend between 30% and 70% of their time
on clinical or other related professional work with the balance on
research.
Applicants, for the majority of their non-research employment time
(whether full-time or part-time), must work as clinicians or in a public
health practice or policy role. Note: The combination of time
committed to the Fellowship and other employment does not have to
equate to a full-time equivalent. Applicants can still be part-time (in
total) to be eligible for this Fellowship.
 Part-time Employment Fellowship
The part-time Employment Fellowship aims to support researchers in
any health or medical research field who cannot, or choose not to
work full-time due to parental or carer responsibilities or other
personal circumstances such as illness. Applicants will need to
identify the time commitment (% of full-time equivalent) that they will
dedicate to the Fellowship and understand that this proportion should
be maintained for the duration of the award (4 years).
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Given the nature of this fellowship, the non-fellowship time cannot be
spent on other paid employment including additional research,
teaching, administrative, clinical or practitioner responsibilities.
TRIP Fellowships

(2 years)

Practitioner
Fellowships

(5 years)


Research
Fellowships
(5 years)

Build capacity in knowledge translation by
supporting early-career health professionals to
undertake an implementation project to
support uptake of research evidence.
Support health and medical professionals who
are at an early stage of their research career,
rather than those already established in
research.
TRIP Fellowships are for part-time research and it is expected that
successful applicants will devote 0.5 FTE of their time to achieving the
outcomes of the Fellowship. However, in order to support researchers
in any health or medical research field who cannot, or choose not to
work the equivalent of a full-time week due to parental or carer
responsibilities or other personal circumstances such as illness,
applicants, for their non-fellowship time, may be employed in a parttime capacity ranging from 0.1 to 0.5 FTE.
Strengthen the health and public health
practice and services by providing an
opportunity for clinical, public and health
services research practitioners;
Combine a component of research with their
professional career, facilitate translation of
research outcomes into practice;
Develop leaders within the research community
who contribute to the Australian research.
Recruit and support Australia's very best
medical and health research talent in full-time
research during the most productive years of
their research life to further develop as leaders
in their field
Applicants, for the majority of their non-research employment time
(whether full-time or part-time), must work as clinicians or in a public
health practice or policy role. Note: The combination of time
committed to the Fellowship and other employment does not have to
equate to a full-time equivalent. Applicants can still be part-time (in
total) to be eligible for this Fellowship.
These fellowships are available for full-time or part-time research. For
researchers in any health or medical research field who are unable to,
or choose not to conduct research full-time, it is expected that
researchers will devote at least 80% of their part-time commitment to
achieving the outcomes of the Fellowship e.g. if a part-time Fellows
employment time is 50%, at least 80% of that should be devoted to
research. It is important to note that the non-Fellowship time should
not be spent on other research, teaching, clinical or practitioner
responsibilities, or administrative roles.
Examples where Part-Time Fellowships are required may include:


parental or carer responsibilities where work time is reduced;
and/or
personal circumstances such as illness.
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Postgraduate
Scholarships

(Up to 3 years)
Support outstanding Australian health and
medical graduates early in their career so that
they can be trained to conduct research that is
internationally competitive and develop a
capacity for original independent research.
Successful applicants will attain a research
based postgraduate degree, which may be a
PhD, a PhD equivalent degree, or Masters
Degree.
Part-time Scholarships are available to Medical and Dental
Postgraduate Research Scholarship holders who are undertaking dual
training – postgraduate medical/dental and a PhD. The maximum
period for which a part-time Scholarship can be held is six years (parttime Scholarships are not offered for a Master’s degree). The
duration of a part-time Scholarship will be reduced by any periods of
study undertaken towards the nominated degree prior to the
commencement of the Scholarship.
Additional part-time options for Postgraduate Scholarships will be
considered by NHMRC’s Research Committee early 2013.
Project Grants

(Up to 5 years)
Program Grants
(5 years)
Support individuals and small teams of
researchers undertaking biomedical, public
health and health services research in
Australian universities, medical schools,
hospitals and other research institutions.
Support teams of researchers, to pursue broadly based
collaborative research activity. The team will be
expected to:




contribute new knowledge at a leading
international level in important areas of health
and medical research;
develop novel ideas and approaches;
tackle problems for which longer term stable
funding is essential;
develop training and career development
opportunities within the team; and
Part-time Personal Support Packages can be requested. All applicant
CIs must indicate the proportion (%) of their total NHMRC research
time that they will commit to NHMRC-funded research for the
currently submitted grant application.
NHMRC expects that CIs on Programs will be full-time. However,
there are circumstances which will be considered such as:
 personal circumstances; or
 where a researcher has essential skills that they bring to the
research effort.
In the case where a CI on a Program grant is part-time the time
commitment must not be less than 50% of their NHMRC research
time on their grant.
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NHMRC Fellowship
Schemes
 Full-time Fellowships converting to Part-time Status
Full-time Fellows may apply to undertake a period of their award on a part-time basis for such personal reasons as providing
parental or family support, but not for vocational reasons such as wishing to work part-time as a lecturer, or as a medical or
health professional practitioner. Requests to vary the terms of a Fellowship should be made to NHMRC via the RGMS Grantee
Variation portal and through the RAO of your Administering
 Part-time Fellowships converting to Full-time Status
NHMRC recognises that the personal circumstances of Fellows can change over time and that the need for a Fellow to continue
in a part-time arrangement may no longer apply to their situation. Fellows who hold a part-time Fellowship may apply to convert
to full-time status. This applies to those who have previously converted all or part of their Fellowship into a part-time
arrangement.
 Early Career Fellowships
Holders of the Australian Research Training Fellowship (Part-time) may apply to convert to full-time status, but must complete
the first two calendar years of their Fellowship at the original part-time rate, and are only entitled to convert the final two
calendar years of their award to a full-time arrangement. These provisions do not apply to holders of the Health Professional
Fellowship, as this is a part-time award designed to fulfil a vocational requirement.
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