Tropical Accelerator Seed Grant Funding

The funding aims to enable preliminary data collection, pilot studies, feasibility assessments, or collaborative initiatives that will strengthen future grant applications.

 The general aims of the scheme are:

1. To support, on a competitive basis, high quality research projects on tropical health and emerging diseases of moderate financial cost.
2. To provide seed funding as a means of generating external research support.

A maximum of 3 projects with a budget of up to AUD $50,000 will be funded in 2026.

Opportunity closes on the 2nd of September 2026 at 5:00 pm AEST.

The Centre spans the full spectrum of research on tropical health, from fundamental science through to translation and implementation (bench to community), with the goal of supporting the development of solutions for the control and elimination of tropical diseases against a background of poverty and a changing climate.

The Centre aims to support multi-sectorial partnerships and collaborations across all research themes in tropical health.

The following Broad Funding topics associated with tropical health and emerging diseases are possible:

• Diagnostic development
• Diseases surveillance and mapping
• Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) studies
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health
• Community field studies and trials
• Identifying and characterizing new targets for interventions
• Development and evaluation of vaccines and therapeutics
• Vector and arbovirus control
• Childhood nutrition
• Infectious diseases

Eligible expenses:

• Personnel costs (e.g., research assistants, research officers)
• Research expenses specific to the project (consumables, tools, laboratory-related costs, field work costs, etc.)
• Research-related travel for field trips
• Minor equipment and facilities that cannot be provided by the Centre partners

Ineligible expenses:

• Projects already receiving funding from another source
• Equipment and facilities that can reasonably be provided by the Centre partners
• Conference/workshop/seminar support of any kind – including registration, meals, and travel expenses
• Indirect costs, permanent staff salaries, major infrastructure purchases, or travel (unless a research-related field trip)

Chief Investigators

• All Investigators must be listed as Chief Investigators (CIA-CIZ) in the application.
• Chief investigators (CI) must hold a PhD (or equivalent qualification).

Chief Investigator A

• At the time of acceptance and for the duration of the grant, the Chief Investigator A (CIA) must hold a QIMR Berghofer staff appointment (with majority FTE).

• Currently, only staff from QIMR Berghofer that are CTHED members are eligible to be Chief Investigator A, reflecting QIMRB’s role as the sole funder of the Centre and the Seed Funding Program. This eligibility may be expanded to include staff from other partner institutions as they contribute funding to the program, ensuring fair representation and collaboration across partners.

•  If the CIA holds a fixed-term appointment, the CIA's supervisor (Team Head) must endorse the application and confirm that the CIA will remain employed by QIMRB (with majority FTE) and have salary support for the full duration of the grant, including any delay to grant commencement arising from, e.g., required ethics and biosafety approvals.

• An applicant may only be CIA on one application per funding round but may be named as an investigator on multiple applications.

• Successful CIAs cannot apply again as CIA on the following year (i.e., there must be a 1-year gap between applications as CIA).

Project

• Projects must be a genuine collaboration between QIMR
  Berghofer and at least one other CTHED Partner Institution.
• Investigators with multiple institutional appointments may only be counted through their primary appointment for the purpose of meeting this requirement.
• Projects must align with the Strategic Objectives of the Centre and at least one Broad Funding Area.
• Activities already funded/scheduled to be funded from another source are ineligible.

Formatting and Budget

• Applications must comply with length and formatting requirements and budget limits.

Investigators are encouraged to reach out to the Centre at cthed@qimrb.edu.au to discuss any queries before submission deadline. Grants cannot be modified to address eligibility requirements once submission deadline has passed.