Much like the wholly remarkable book designed for hitchhikers to navigate the galaxy, we bring you your newest indispensable companion, the 2025 updated Co-Created Guide to Navigate the Mental Health Research Funding Landscape. The guide brings together information shared by panellists at the ALIVE National Centre’s Annual Next Generation Researcher Network Funding Galaxy events since 2022. It 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 . . . at least.

To date, four annual Funding Galaxy events have been held. 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. When we talk about mental health research, we mean the wide field that includes research on suicide, social and emotional wellbeing, and across disciplines from arts to medicine and beyond. The years have covered:

Some of the questions included – what type of funding is out there for mental health researchers? How can you build a track record with minimal resources? How can you write your lived-experience into your grant application? What makes a good partner? What’s it like for a person with lived-experience to partner with a large research group, especially if they do not have a university degree or research background? 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 events are now provided here in this co-created guide. Buckle up and enjoy the ride travellers!