$1m program for early-career medical researchers

A new $1 million program will give next-generation medical leaders a kick start by boosting their chances of receiving competitive grant funding.

A joint initiative of Sydney Medical School at the University of Sydney and The Balnaves Foundation, the ‘Early Career Researcher Kick Start Grants’ aim to solve a major challenge facing all early-career researchers.

“Early-career researchers are the lifeblood of all successful medical research projects and face an increasing battle for grant funding due to their limited body of work, lack of experience and intense competition,” said Professor Bruce Robinson, the dean of Sydney Medical School.

“But they face a classic dilemma: they need research expertise to receive grant funding, but they need grant funding to develop research expertise.”

In 2008, Sydney Medical School supported 37 early-career researchers with seed funding to progress their research careers. The program achieved a 100% success rate - all 37 researchers secured competitive grants from Category 1 and/or Category 2 funders within two years.

The Kick Start Grants will build on this investment program, providing 28 Sydney Medical School early-career researchers with funding for pilot projects to help them compete for future competitive grant funding. The three-year initiative has been made possible through a significant commitment by The Balnaves Foundation.

“The partnership between Sydney Medical School and the Balnaves Foundation will provide a crucial building block, upon which early-career researchers can take a significant leap forward in their career and contribute towards meaningful health outcomes,” said Balnaves Foundation Founder Neil Balnaves AO.

Supported researchers include:

• Dr Josep Font Sadurni, who will now be able to establish a new, powerful technique to solve the molecular structures of cellular pumps using X-ray beams.
• Dr Ilana Feain, who aims to develop a real-time direct tumour visualisation method for lung cancer patients.
• Dr Justin Richards, who is investigating the effect of sport on positive psychological wellbeing.

“Young people often have ‘outside of the box’ ideas, and this type of research is often where breakthroughs occur,” said Balnaves. “We want the novel ideas of these 28 young researchers to have the opportunity of coming to fruition and are excited to follow their progress over the next few years.”