Early Career Research Fellowship

Priority will be given to:

• University graduates with a PhD (no more than 4 years postdoctural training) or equivalent combination of study and research experience, or relevant specialist biomedical or health sciences training.
• Applicants who can demonstrate original intellectual input into research and/or have had research published in international peer-reviewed journals.
• Australian citizens, permanent residents, or holders of appropriate visas that enable the undertaking of the activity described in the application that is valid for the duration of the fellowship (i.e. a minimum of three years).

Other criteria which may be used:

• Publication in highly rated international journals (particularly the number of publications against publishing opportunities), presentations to national and international bodies.
• Greater weighting given if applicant was an invited speaker, and/or has received prizes or awards for presentations.
• Evidence of independent research is provided.

There will be one ECR Fellowship awarded for a maximum term of three years each. The successful recipient will be employed by CALHN. 

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 Grants Team.

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
  • Citizenship, permanent residency, or appropriate visa
    • Australian Citizen
    • Permanent Residency (documentation required)
    • Appropriate visa that enables the undertaking of the activity described in the application that is valid for the duration of the fellowship (i.e. a minimum of three years).

• Curriculum vitae (CV), previous research experience, and referee reports
  • List previous research support achieved.
  • Provide details of two referees

• Proposed appointment and location
  • Proposed appointment
  • Research department/unit/CALHN site where the project will be conducted
  • Where else the project will be conducted (e.g. non-CALHN sites)
  • Who owns the intellectual property
• Supervisors contact details and qualification to assist you with this project
  • Supervisor details:
    • Name
    • Department
    • Position
    • Institution
    • Phone
    • Email
  • Proposed supervisor's successful competitive grant funding over the past 5 years

• Research support
  • Other applications for this project (funding agency, project title, and funds requested)
  • Current research funding for this applicant
  • Specify why existing funding cannot be used for this application
• Research proposal
  • Explanation of the benefit and link to CALHN sites (maximum 500 words)
    

• 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

• Scientific Reviewers
  • Nominate 3 three external scientific reviewers (including full name and contact details) who are competent to review your application without a conflict of interest. You will be asked to provide for each reviewer: Name, Institution, Position, Phone number, Email address.
  • It is the responsibility of the applicant to obtain the consent of the nominated external reviewers prior to submission of their application.
  • Reviewers must not be from the applicant’s department or be associated with the project, nor should they have collaborated with the applicant(s) scientifically in the past five years.

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_ECRF application attachments.pdf'

Attachments required (in a searchable PDF format):

1. (If relevant) Permanent residency or appropriate visa
   1. Permanent Residency Letter of Confirmation (required for permanent residents), or
   2. Appropriate documentation as evidence of rights to work in Australia for the duration of the fellowship (i.e. minimum of three years).
2. Full Curriculum Vitae (4 pages maximum) - CV to include academic qualifications, teaching experience, professional experience, prizes and awards, publication history (maximum of 8 most relevant recent publications - no abstracts), presentations etc.
   
3. Referee reports (x2) Click here to download a report template
4. Background and research plan required. No more than 2,500 words or 5 A4 pages - This section should include a literature review, aims and objectives, hypotheses, experimental design, outcomes, a clear definition of study end points, statistical methods to be used, power calculations and an explanation of the relationship of the study to the applicants’ longer-term research agenda.
5. List of references (1 page maximum) - Please highlight with an asterisk (*) up to 6 key references
   
6. Ethics and Governance 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, along with the relevant approval letters.
7. Head of Department/Division approval - 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. This Letter of Certification must be from the CALHN Department in which they are proposing to be employed in (letters from a University will not be accepted).