The National Health and Medical Research Council has announced $430m in Investigator Grants (salaries and support funding). The five-year awards are for researchers to “pursue important new research directions as they arise, rather than being restricted to narrowly defined project scopes.”
The top five research universities hoovered up their usual share of grants and cash (percentages rounded). Uni Melbourne is first with 43 awards and $64m (respectively 18% and 15% of the totals).
It leads:
- Uni Sydney (37 awards, $70m, 16%, 16%)
- Uni NSW (33 awards, $62m, 14%, 1 %)
- Monash U (28 awards, $50m, 12%, 12%)
- Uni Queensland (15 awards, $30m, 6%, 7%)
All up, the Five pick up $276m, just under two-thirds of the money and 40 % of the awards.
This is the last year when the constituents of the new Adelaide U were counted separately, but combining their awards delivers only a marginal boost; 16 awards, just one ahead of Uni Queensland.
The top MRIs are, Murdoch CRI (nine grants) Walter and Eliza Hall IMR (six).
The NHMRC states this is the third Investigator award which has included gender equity targets “to address systemic disadvantage” with 125 grants awarded to women (13 % success) and 105 to men (12 %). Four people (12 %) in the “other” category won awards. As did eight out of 17 applicants of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent.