Funding for Australian clinicians to undertake a research project that aims to improve patient outcomes

The 2020 Clinician Researchers: Applied Research in Health Grant Opportunity was announced as part of the Medical Research Future Fund and the Clinician Researchers Initiative. This initiative aims to provide direct research resources to clinicians, researchers and healthcare professionals to focus on developing and refining their research skills and build research capacity.

The objective of this grant opportunity is to support medical research and innovation projects that validate and implement new approaches for improving the quality and consistency of patient care.

Applicants must propose a research project that:

• addresses a clearly defined health care priority from local health care and/or practice
• has potential to improve clinical practice or health system effectiveness and therefore patient outcomes
• is embedded within health services (e.g. community-based care, hospitals, general practices); however, it can also be coordinated across networks (e.g. Primary Health Networks, Local Health Networks).

The intended outcome of the research funded by this grant opportunity is to improve the health and wellbeing of Australians. Specifically, it aims to support clinicians to improve the quality of health care, practice and systems by undertaking applied research in health care that:

• improves outcomes for their patients
• addresses an area of high need
• improves the safety, quality and effectiveness of health services, including connectivity
• improves efficiency in health services or health system/s.

Projects will be funded from the following streams:

• Stream 1: General practitioner-led teams
• Stream 2: Medical specialist-led teams
• Stream 3: Allied health-led teams.

Reporting templates are available from the MRFF grants management webpage. The page also provides other resources for MRFF grant administration, including current policies and relevant forms and templates.