More than nine in ten Australian medical researchers who applied for government-funded innovation grants last year faced rejection, despite the nation’s Medical Research Future Fund sitting on nearly $25 billion in unspent money—$5 billion more than its intended capacity. This stark reality highlights a growing crisis in Australia’s research funding landscape.
Approximately half of the applicants who were deemed to have submitted outstanding proposals for the National Health and Medical Research Council’s (NHMRC) annual “ideas grants”—scoring six out of seven points—were denied funding. This situation underscores the challenges faced by meritorious projects as a larger pool of researchers competes for a relatively unchanged amount of financial support.
Declining Success Rates and Rising Concerns
The NHMRC allocates about $250 million annually to foster innovative and creative health and medical research. However, data from 2025 reveals a disheartening trend: 91.9% of applications for the ideas grants were unsuccessful, with only 190 projects funded out of 2,347 applicants. This 8.1% success rate marks a decrease from 10.1% in 2024 and 11.1% in 2023.
The diminishing success rate has prompted crossbenchers, scientific bodies, and medical associations to urge the Albanese government to release additional funds from the Medical Research Future Fund to support more domestic projects. This call to action is particularly pressing as the Trump administration’s cuts to scientific and medical organizations disrupt research funding worldwide.
Unrealized Potential of the Medical Research Future Fund
The Medical Research Future Fund, established by the former Coalition government, was initially designed to disburse about $1 billion annually once it reached maturity at $20 billion. However, the government currently releases only $650 million per year.
“Australia’s leading researchers are missing out on government support for world-class proposals, leaving exceptional talent uncertain about their future. The government cannot claim medical research is a priority while failing to treat it as one,” said independent MP Monique Ryan.
Parliamentary Budget Office costings commissioned by Ryan in September last year suggest the fund could increase its annual disbursements to Australian researchers to as much as $1.4 billion without reducing its base level of $24.5 billion over the next decade. The fund has since grown to $24.8 billion.
Calls for Strategic Reallocation
Professor Steve Wesselingh, the chief executive of the NHMRC, attributes the drop in grant success to higher demand and larger funding requests. “That amount that we give out [$250 million per year] has essentially stayed static over time apart from some minor indexation,” he explained during a Senate estimates session.
Wesselingh noted that the rejection rate for “outstanding” applications does not necessarily mean researchers never receive funding, as they might succeed through other channels. However, he acknowledged the sector’s desire for increased funding. “We are in the process right now with the department, chaired by Rosemary Huxtable, of developing a medical health and research strategy,” he said.
“As that strategy is developed… we should be looking at the strategic goals of health and medical research and the resources required to achieve those goals. It’s likely that you would see, within that strategy, that more resource given to health and medical research would increase innovation and increase health productivity in the country.”
Implications for Australia’s Research Future
Independent senator David Pocock emphasized the importance of retaining world-class researchers who focus on life-changing studies rather than spending excessive time on unsuccessful grant applications. He, along with Ryan and other independent MPs, is advocating for increased annual disbursements from the medical fund.
This push for change coincides with the Trump administration’s reduction of support for US research and medical institutions, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration, and the National Institutes of Health—the largest public funder of biomedical research globally.
The situation presents a critical juncture for Australia’s medical research community. As the government considers its next steps, the stakes are high for researchers whose innovative work holds the potential to improve health outcomes across the nation.
