The Theo Murphy (Australia) Fund was established to further scientific discovery and supports activities that aim to provide tangible benefits to Australia's early- and mid-career researcher (EMCR) community.

Grants up to $15,000 are available for activities that bring additional benefits and opportunities to conferences or symposiums. The activity being funded by an Amplify grant must be an add-on event complementary to the main activity.

Eligibility

To be eligible to receive an Amplify activity grant, applicants must:

• be less than 15 years post PhD, excluding career disruption or barrier*.
• be a member of the Australian Academy of Science’s EMCR forum. The organising committee must have at least three members and it is encouraged to have more members on the committee. However, the committee should maintain a ratio of at least 3 EMCRs to 1 senior scientist, ensuring that the senior scientists do not outnumber EMCRs 
• be currently residing in Australia and be either an Australian citizen or hold a valid Australian visa 
• not have received a TMIA Flagship or Amplify grant in the past three years (2023-2025)
• be employed at an eligible Australian research organisation as outlined below.

Eligible research organisations:

• Australian tertiary education institutions (as per the Higher Education Support Act 2003)
• Australian cooperative research centres
• publicly funded research agencies
• Australian state and territory funded research organisations
• Australian public research companies
• Australian private research companies
• Australian not-for-profit research organisations
• other Australian incorporated entities.

Eligible applications must:

• be complete at submission, including all required responses and attachments
• explain how the add-on activity will be managed by the organising committee, including an outline of the experience of the activity organising committee members
• outline the capacity of the proposed activity to provide additional benefits and opportunities at the existing event for the EMCR community in Australia
• complete the activity income and expense budgets, in accordance with the eligible and ineligible expenses in the ‘Terms of award’ section.

*Career disruption or barrier: A career disruption or barrier is an interruption that has caused prolonged impact on a researcher’s capacity to conduct high-level research in the period since the conferral of their first PhD. It may be due to reduced opportunities for research which may be due to one or more of the following: prolonged absences due to unemployment, childbirth, carers’ responsibilities, limited or no access to facilities and resources, disaster management and recovery, medical conditions, disability or accessibility needs, community obligations, including Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander cultural practices and protocols.  

An additional 6 months (pro rata) can be applied for each year of eligible career disruption to account for the time it takes to reestablish research after a period of extended leave.  

• Phone: (02) 6201 9433
• Email: theomurphyau@science.org.au