Australia's health research funding hits $4.52b across 4,012 grants

The National Health and Medical Research Council alone awarded 2,938 grants.

Australia's two federal health research funders, the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) and the Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF), awarded a combined $4.52b (AUD6.46b) through 4,012 grants between 2021 and 2025.

NHMRC awarded 2,938 grants totalling $2.66b (AUD3.8b), whilst MRFF awarded 1,074 grants totalling $1.86b (AUD2.66b). Collectively, the two funders awarded close to $1.12b (AUD1.6b) annually, rising to over $1.19b (AUD1.7b).

The funding split between the two remained relatively stable, with NHMRC awarding 57.9% to 61.3% of total funding each year and MRFF awarding 38.7% to 43.9%.

Moreover, NHMRC grants averaged $909,000 (AUD1.3m), with a median value of $699,000 (AUD1m); more than half were valued under $699,000 (AUD1m). MRFF grants averaged $1.75m (AUD2.5m), with a median value of $1.05m (AUD1.5m), with the majority (57.5%) valued between $699,000 (AUD1m) and $3.5m (AUD5m).

MRFF also issued a small number of very large grants, including 2% of MRFF grants exceeding $6.99m (AUD10m), compared with just one NHMRC grant of that size across the entire four-year period.

MRFF's largest single grant was $52.62m (AUD75.24m), awarded to Queensland's Department of Health, whilst NHMRC's largest grant was capped at $6.99m (AUD10m).

($1=AUD1.43)