Have you got an idea that you’d like to grow? Would a small pilot study advance your research that little bit more and make your grant or fellowship application stronger? The ALIVE National Seed Funding Scheme is now open for the ALIVE National Next Generation Research Network (NGRN) members (including lived-experience research collective members).

The seed funding scheme aims to support the NGRN researchers to develop their research ideas and conduct a pilot study or complete co-design or other research activities that will support a larger, future grant proposal and/or fellowship. This first round is for Early Career Research members (defined as people within five years of having had a PhD conferred).

Successful projects will be completed within 12 months – but can be for a shorter length of time- they will be aligned with the goals and research priorities of the ALIVE National Centre as listed below and show how the work will impact on the areas identified in the ALIVE Model of Change.

The ALIVE National Seed Funding Scheme will be available on a yearly basis. Four grants of $20,000 each will be allocated in 2022. Where eligible applications are submitted, it is expected that two of these four grants will be awarded to projects led by researchers with lived-experience (including carer, family kinship group researchers).

Investigator Eligibility

To apply applicants must be:

• A member of the ALIVE NGRN (and Lived-experience Collective where applicable) https://nextgen.alivenetwork.com.au https://livedexperience.alivenetwork.com.au
• An early career researcher within five years of having PhD conferred
• Supervised by or working as a team member with an ALIVE National Chief or Associate Investigator

Research Priority Areas:

Applicants are encouraged to submit grants that can inform the research focus areas within the National Centre, as follows:

• Prevention across the life course
• Addressing unmet physical health needs for longer, healthier lives
• Priority populations (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, or other priority populations where mental health needs are high and compounded by structural discrimination and injustice)
• Lived-Experience research models and service delivery approaches
• Implementation and Translation research for mental health systems transformation

Funding Rules:

• Maximum of four projects funded per year from 2022-2025
• Two of the grants will be awarded to two projects led by lived-experience researchers
• Funds awarded cannot be used for the applicant’s salary but they can be used to employ someone to support the research activities for the pilot study (this may be research assistance, co-design support, design outputs from the research)
• Applications should be associated with a future planned grant or fellowship application and the grant and/or fellowship scheme should be clearly outlined in the application (ECR applicants)
• Completion of project within 12 months (or sooner) of receipt of funds
• Successful applicants will be expected to present the results of their project at an appropriate ALIVE forum (e.g., NGRN event, Centre update meeting, annual symposium)
• Evidence of cross-institutional collaboration would be looked upon favourably

Application process

You can apply for seed funding using the ALIVE National Seed Funding Application Form 2022 Applications should be no longer more than 2000 words. Please send the completed application to [email protected] by August 31^st 2022.

Timeline:

Evaluation Criteria:

Applications will be evaluated against the following criteria to determine project viability and suitability for funding. Reviews will be conducted by a panel of investigators, lived-experience researchers and mid-career researchers, with two PhD representatives as part of the overall ALIVE National Centre’s capacity building.