Much like the wholly remarkable book designed for hitchhikers to navigate the galaxy, we bring you your newest indispensable companion a Co-Created Guide for Researchers Navigating the Mental Health Research Funding Galaxy. The guide brings together information shared by panellists each year at the ALIVE National Centre’s Next Generation Researcher Network Funding Galaxy event. The Guide is designed to help you to make sense of funding in an infinitely complex and confusing Research Universe. You’ are no longer alone–we have answers! Well….some.

To date, two annual Funding Galaxy events have been held with a third planned for August 2024. The events offer a Question and Answer panel approach where tips and tricks on navigating the funding landscape and on how to acquire funding as a mental health researcher are shared. For 2022 the event focused on “A Guide to the Mental Health Funding Galaxy.” This panel provided a general overview on what mental health research funding is out there and general tips and advice from the experts. For 2023 the panel explored “Delving into the Early Career Cosmos” to explore navigating the vast expanse of early career research opportunities and challenges.

Some of the questions asked include – what type of funding is out there for mental health researchers? How can you build a track record with minimal resources? How do you stay hopeful and persistent? You’ll be surprised to know, or maybe you will not be so surprised to know, that the answer was not always 42. The golden lessons and learnings from the Funding Galaxy event are now provided to the mental health research landscape in this co-created guide. Buckle up and enjoy the ride travellers – save the date for the 2024 event! This year’s theme is Aligning Story, Values, and Funding Support (Finding the Self in Research Funding Systems) and will be held on 8th August at 1pm – 2:30pm! More information coming soon.