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 $50,000 each are available for delivering activities designed to provide tangible benefits to EMCRs in Australia. Activities must benefit EMCRs across more than one Australian organisation and include sponsorship support from additional event partners. The Academy provides some support to the event where required, such as event website hosting, event registration and publicity.

Eligibility

To be eligible to receive a Flagship activity grant, applicants must:

• be less than 15 years post PhD, excluding career disruption or barrier*
• be in an activity organising committee where at least one committee member is a registered member of the Academy’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
• 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 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 Flagship activity to provide tangible benefits to 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