Grants
Australian Vision Research Grants Round 2024-2025 funding individual grants for up to $60,000
Applications for the Grants Round 24-25
now open from 15 March – 30 April
KEY DATES
1 February 2024: Publication of grants guidelines
15 March 2024: Opening for grants submission via AVR’s portal
30 April 2024: Closing for grants submission
November 2024: Successful grants announced at AVR AGM
January 2025: Funding commences after acceptance of award terms and conditions
Guidelines
Download AVR Grant Guidelines PDF
WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR
Grants will be available to ophthalmologists, trainee ophthalmologists or for work being done in University Departments (or equivalent) of Ophthalmology or Ophthalmic Research Institutes.
At least one member of the investigator team must be a Fellow of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Ophthalmology and a member of AVR.
If the investigator is applying from overseas, the majority of the project work should be conducted in Australia with both the investigator and the project being administered through an Australian institution.
In 2023, the board of AVR approved $586,095 for allocation towards 10 projects for 2024. The amount of money available each year varies, currently AVR will consider funding individual grants for up to $60,000 for a period of one year.
Australian Vision Research encourages pilot projects that will produce data to enable subsequent submissions to other bodies for larger grants as well as projects which have clearly defined aims that can be achieved in the one year of funding. Again, grants are available for a period of one year.
ELIGIBILITY AND IMPORTANT REMINDERS
- Applicants must register an account via the AVR online portal and applications must be submitted via the AVR online portal. (Link to the portal will be sent via email to all AVR members)
- Successful grant applicants (that is anyone listed on the grant application as an investigator) in the previous year are prohibited from applying this year unless they were supervisors on a priming grant.
- An investigator may be included only on one AVR submission each year.
- At least one investigator in the team must be a current RANZCO and AVR member.
- Each submission page must be saved prior to final submission.
- Once the application is submitted, it cannot be edited.
- Successful applicants are expected to assist with reviewing grants in the next round.
- Funding will not be available for travel to conferences.
- AVR will consider funding individual grants for up to $60,000 for a period of one year.
- Any grants not meeting the formatting requirements set out in these instructions will be deemed ineligible and will not be considered.
PRIMING GRANT SCHEME
The Priming Grant has been established to encourage applications from RANZCO Fellows and AVR members who are in the early stages of their clinical-research career.
To be eligible for a ‘Priming Grant’, the principal investigator:
1. Must be within the first 5 years of obtaining their RANZCO Fellowship or higher degree (after taking into consideration career disruption), and a member of the AVR.
2. Should not have received prior funding from AVR.
All investigators named on a Priming Grant must also provide a CV.
PRIMING GRANT PRE-SUBMISSION
Researchers interested in applying through the Priming Grant scheme may also discuss their proposal with a member of the AVR Research Advisory Committee, prior to their submission.
This discussion provides the applicant the opportunity to seek direction about their research idea, and the formulation of their proposal. If you are interested in receiving this informal, and non-binding pre-submission feedback, you must contact us via email:
grants@australianvisionresearch.org at least 21 days prior to the submission deadline with the heading Grant Pre-submission.
IF SUCCESSFUL…
Successful investigators are required to provide a half page final report on the project, including a lay description by 30 June 2026.
The report should include:
- Details of any publications arising from this research with links to the actual publications.
- A final budget indicating how funds were expended (Failure to do this may have a negative bearing on future applications).
- Investigators will also be asked to provide updates on results and funding arising from the research at intervals aAer the one-year period. These updates will be used to promote AVR through various media and also to assess and demonstrate impact of grant funding.
It is the applicants’ responsibility to ensure provision of this documentation. In submiting an application for funding, it should be expected that the title or other relevant information may be submitted to other bodies associated with the AVR, and participation in publicity activities e.g., photos, interviews, updates for publication in newsletters may be requested.
OTHER INFORMATION AND EXPECTATIONS…
RESEARCH INTEGRITY: WE’RE COMMITTED TO RESPONSIBLE RESEARCH
The Ophthalmic Research Institute of Australia trading as Australian Vision Research is committed to complying with the highest standards of ethics and research integrity.
The National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) and Aboriginal Health & Medical Research Council (AH&MRC) statement and guidelines outline what is expected from everyone engaged in research. Further information can be found at:
https://www.nhmrc.gov.au/research-policy/ethics-and-integrity
By submitting your application, you agree to abide by these standards.
AVR MARKETING AND BRANDING
- Successful applicants are required to acknowledge AVR and, where applicable, the sponsors / donors of the awarded grant, on any publication and presentation including by using the AVR Logo or mentioning AVR project funding as appropriate.
- In order to support AVR’s presence online and improve the investigators’ Altmetric Score (www.altmetric.com); investigators and their institutions are required to acknowledge AVR when marketing their research and subsequent research.
ETHICS APPROVAL
- All Projects involving experimentation on humans or animals require approval of the Ethics Committee of the appropriate institution.
- A signed completed Institutional Ethics Committee approval form must be submitted before any funds will be distributed to successful recipients.
APPLICATION INFORMATION
Download Guidelines to read application questions
Applications will only be accepted through the AVR Grants Portal by the due time and date, with attachments in the correct format as indicated below.
No applications will be accepted after 11:59 pm, AEST time on Tuesday 30th April 2024.
Any applications that do not comply with the application guidelines will not be considered.
ATTACHMENT SUMMARY
The following attachments should be saved as a PDF, using font Times New Roman size 12:
1: CV’s of the principal investigator and team members. (2 pages max per team member)
2: Project background and detailed research plan, including specific aims or hypotheses and significance of the project (5 pages max)
3: Quotes for single-item equipment over $5,000