The Dawes Scholarship provides support for medical or dental graduates eligible for registration in South Australia or appropriately qualified scientists or health professionals to undertake a Higher Degree by Research (HDR) – either a Research Doctorate or Research Master’s Course.
The 2025 applications have now closed
We expect the 2026 process to commence in May/June 2025.
About the grants
The objectives of the grant are to provide flexible funding arrangements to support training of students undertaking Higher Degrees by Research (HDRs) at Australian Higher Education Providers (HEPs), deliver graduates with the skills required to build careers in academia and other sectors of the labour market, and to support collaboration between HEPs, industry and other research end-users.
The Dawes Scholarship offers either a full scholarship fixed up to the value of $37,500 per annum, or a top-up component to supplement a successful Research Training Program (RTP) (formerly Australian Postgraduate Award); fixed to the value of $7,500 per annum.
- Applicants must be Australian citizens or have permanent resident status and be currently residing in Australia. Evidence of this must be submitted at the time of application.
- The scholarship will be awarded to medical or dental graduates eligible for registration in South Australia or to appropriately qualified science graduates or health professionals for the purpose of receiving training in research methods leading to a higher degree in the University of Adelaide or University of South Australia.
- Applicants’ proposal must directly link and benefit CALHN through recruitment (patients), sample collection and analysis, or use of clinical trial facilities. The applicant must outline how one or more of the criteria is met in the application form.
Conditions and application information
- Term of the scholarship is up to 3 years (PhD candidates) – No extensions. Scholars are encouraged to apply for other external funding during their first year of scholarship.
- Successful applicants must be enrolled full-time in an appropriate course of study at a university or college (priority will be given to applicants enrolled in a PhD degree). Documentary evidence must be produced to verify that this is the case before the scholarship commences.
- One supervisor must be a CALHN staff member, the other must be with a university. If there is a change of supervisor, the scholarship holder must notify CALHN Research Services via the CALHN Research Services Grants Team.
- NOTE: regulations of the University of Adelaide and University of South Australia govern studies for higher degrees. If the principal supervisor does not hold an appointment allowing the supervision of graduate students, then it will be necessary to co-opt a second supervisor (“internal supervisor”) within the appropriate University department.
- The CALHN Research Scholarships and Fellowships Review Panel reserves the right to recommend that no award be made if in its opinion applicants are not suitably qualified.
- The project must be based within the CALHN network.
- This scholarship is awarded based on available funding through CALHN Research Services and may be withdrawn at any time if insufficient annual funding is available.
- The Scholarship is required to commence by 1st January 2025.
- On award of the Scholarship, the recipient must contact their University Graduate Centre who will be administering this grant. All future correspondence should be directed through the University Graduate Centre and in accordance with the University's regulations, including employment restrictions.
- Successful applicants may be eligible to undertake other paid duties for a maximum of up to 8 hours per week, provided the University and the scholar’s supervisor(s) are satisfied that this will not interfere with the progress of the research project and with the approval of the University.
- This scholarship is not transferrable, and no other fellowship or scholarship may be held concurrently (when awarded a “Full” scholarship). Applicants who are subsequently awarded another scholarship are expected to take up that scholarship and relinquish the balance of the full Dawes. If another scholarship is accepted at any other stage during the Dawes award, application for part of any balance of the Dawes award may be applied as top-up funding to supplement the other scholarship to a maximum scholarship award, subject to the approval of the CALHN Research Scholarships and Fellowships Review Panel.
- If a recipient has already commenced a higher degree, any time that the recipient has already spent enrolled in the degree prior to this award will be deducted from the maximum three-year term of the scholarship, and the award will be adjusted accordingly with the University Graduate Centre.
- Continuation of the scholarship beyond the first year is subject to satisfactory annual progress report from the recipient’s supervisor.
- Regular progress reports are required. Successful applicants must submit an annual progress report, due 1 March following the first and second year of the scholarship and a final report must be provided within 3 months of completion of the scholarship period to the CALHN Research Scholarships and Fellowships Review Panel. The successful applicant may be required to present findings if requested by the CALHN Research Scholarships and Fellowships Review Panel or CALHN Research Services.
- The award may be considered by the Australian Taxation Office to be taxable income and the recipient is advised to seek professional taxation advice.
- Successful recipients must notify CALHN Research Services of any changes of circumstance or interruptions that may impact the progress of their candidature. If the work of the recipient of the award is interrupted for a period, CALHN Research Services may grant an intermission to the tenure of the award. Stipend payments will be withheld during the period of intermission. The award has no provisions to grant paid maternity or parental leave.
- Leave periods which extend the end date of the project must be reported to CALHN Research Services via the CALHN Research Services Grants Team. Leave without Pay (LWOP) periods will not be funded (thus will not extend the funding period) but will push out the end date of the candidature and the project.
- Leave entitlements included in the stipend include the following:
- 20 working days paid annual leave per year, calculated on a pro-rata basis (accruable). Leave must be taken during the tenure of the award; intermission of candidature is not necessary. Any annual leave that is not taken during tenure will be forfeited.
- 10 working days paid sick leave per year (accruable), and this does not extend the period of the award.
- In addition to University policies, the recipient agrees to accept responsibility for the performance of the study in compliance with all SA Health policies and procedures, WHS and regulatory requirements governing the use of the facilities utilised and agree to carry out the study in accordance with the Australian Code for the Responsible Conduct of Research including any updates or replacements - https://www.nhmrc.gov.au/guidelines-publications/r39.
- Compliance approvals are required. Ethics and Governance approvals are required before commencement of the project. Scholarship payments may commence prior to finalising ethics and governance approvals, however, evidence of approvals must be provided within 6 months for the commencement of the Scholarship period to avoid funding being withheld, until these have been submitted. Please contact the CALHN Research Services Grants Team for further advice.
- Before and during the tenure of this award, the recipient agrees to inform CALHN Research Services in writing of any situation whereby they may not, or may no longer, be able to abide by these terms and conditions, and agree that this information may be used by the CALHN Research Scholarships and Fellowships Review Panel to reassess continued eligibility for this scholarship.
- This scholarship is awarded on the basis of available funding by the CALHN Research Scholarships and Fellowships Review Panel and the Health Services Charitable Gifts Board, and may be withdrawn at any time should insufficient annual funding be made available for this scholarship.
Completing the online application form
As the form cannot be saved and edited in another session, we recommend that you complete a draft of your response in Word and then cut and paste the final version into the application form prior to submitting.
Check your application for accuracy and ensure all application documents are uploaded before you submit your application.
Please adhere to the specified word or page limits. Content in excess of these limits will not be included for assessment. Where applicable, these limits are indicated under each question on the online form.
Prior to submitting the form, you may select an option to have your responses sent to you.
Upon completion of the form, you will receive an automatic reply that your application has been received. If you do not receive this, or have other questions about this grant, please contact the CALHN Research Services Grants Team.
You must also submit a list of attachments via email to the CALHN Research Services Grants Team - see the list at the bottom of this section.
Contents of the online application form
Information you will be asked to provide:
- Applicant details
- First name
- Last name
- Position; Current Employer, University; Department and Site
- Contact phone number
- Email address
- Are you an Australian Citizen or do you have Permanent Residency?
- Honours
- Honours status (ongoing, or completed)
- Supervisor and coordinator details:
- Name
- Department
- Institution
- Current position
- Proposed Course & Institution
- Completed or underway
- Honours supervisor details
- Intended higher degree
- Institution
- Intended length of scholarship
- Study commencement and end dates
- Proposed Supervisor(s)
- Supervisor details (two supervisors)
- Name
- Department
- Position
- Institution
- Phone
- Supervisor details (two supervisors)
- Proposed locations & owner of IP
- Where in CALHN will the research be conducted?
- What is the proposed benefit to CALHN?
- Where else will this study be conducted? (e.g. SAHMRI, University)
- Please advise the owner of the Project / Protocol (e.g. intellectual property)
- What research support you have received either now or in the past.
- Proposed research project details
- Project title
- Lay Summary of your Project (300 words maximum)
- Ethics and governance approvals
- Is genetic manipulation required for your project?
- Is ethics approval required
- Yes - type required (human, animal, other)
- No - justification
- Ethics approval status
- Not submitted - provide intended date of submission
- Submitted - provide date and reference number
- Using existing ethics - justify why this is appropriate
- Please provide ethics and governance reference numbers where applicable, below:
- Q or R Number
- HREC Reference
- SSA Reference
- MYIP Number
Attachments required to be emailed separately
After submitting application form, please ensure you email the following attachments to the CALHN Research Services Grants Team.
It is preferable that all attachments are within a single PDF file, but multiple PDFs will be accepted: please ensure the applicant's last name is included at the start of each file name, such as 'NAME_Dawes application attachments.pdf'
Attachments required (in a searchable PDF format):
- (If relevant) Permanent Residency Letter of Confirmation (required for permanent residents).
- Full Curriculum Vitae - a full CV in PDF format that addresses the following criteria:
- Qualifications (including year of passing final year examination, if medical graduate)
- Publications / Presentations
- Awards / Prizes
- Postgraduate experience (brief summary – 300 words maximum)
- Qualifications (including year of passing final year examination, if medical graduate)
- Academic records - Please attach photocopies of undergraduate and postgraduate record
- Honours supervisor report (Word doc)
- Proposed supervisor report (Word doc) indicating their willingness to carry out such supervision.
- Background and Research Plan (3 page maximum) - Including a review of the current literature, a statement of hypothesis and a research plan including references.
- (If relevant) Ethics approval documents - If using existing/current ethics approvals, please provide confirmation from the relevant ethics committee that this new project proposal is covered under the current HREC or AEC approval with the relevant approval letters.
- General facilities certification - A signed Letter of Certification from the Head of Department/Division certifying that appropriate general facilities will be available to the investigator if successful, and that the project will be carried out strictly in accordance with NHMRC Ethical and Scientific Practice Guidelines.