National Health and Medical Research Council announce a five-month delay in opening 2023 Investigator Grants, from this August to next January – there’s a big reason

Funding will still start in January 2024. The delay is due to the council, “exploring options to address the gender disparity” in Investigator outcomes with “sector-wide webinars”  and “in consultation with its Women in Health Science and Research committees.

“NHMRC appreciates that any intervention will require careful analysis, detailed modelling, broad consultation and potentially significant changes to the grant guidelines,” the council announced yesterday.

Investigator Grants are essential to the new funding model the NHMRC introduced in 2018 and are intended to fund “highest performing researchers” at all career stages (CMM May 26 2017).

But for their first three years, more men than women applied for and were awarded IG grants and, “ higher overall funding was awarded to men than to women.”

When the NHMRC refers to men, it means, “the predominance of male applicants at the most senior levels of the scheme, where budgets tend to be largest.”

This  “is a major factor underlying the award of more grants and more overall funding to men than women.” (CMM February 4).

The NHMRC has long acknowledged something needs to be done about gender disparity in grant funding (CMM March 20 2017).

It has put itself on notice to do it.