Avant Foundation Member Grants
Supporting members to improve quality, safety and professionalism in medicine.
Avant Foundation Member Grants are open to all Avant members, with a special focus on supporting early career doctors. Member Grants are also open to practices with an Avant indemnity policy.
Our grants aim to advance the careers of some of Australia’s promising medical researchers while improving medical practice. We want to inspire confidence, empower researchers and be a leading research partner in Australia for doctors.
We started our grants program in 2012 in response to the difficulties doctors face securing research funding. Our grants have supported research across a wide range of topics including organ transplantation, epidemiology, hepatology, oncology, obstetrics, cardiology and general surgery. View short videos about recipients or see a list of our recipients.
Types of grants
In 2024 we offered funding for:
- full–time grants – valued at $50,000, these grants fund research on a full–time basis over a 12–month period.
- part–time grants – valued at $25,000, these grants fund research part–time, usually over 12 months.
- microgrants – valued at $5,000, these grants have a broad purpose and may be for research, education, equipment, career development or an initial research phase.
Full-time and part-time grants are only for research projects. Microgrants have a broader purpose and may be for education, equipment, career development or an initial research phase.
The Miss Lewis Award
In addition to the grant types above, one applicant each year is awarded the Miss Lewis Award, which provides $5,000 in addition to their grant funding. Miss Elizabeth Lewis was a pioneer in paediatric and spinal neurosurgery, committing her life to medicine and was a long-term Medical Adviser at Avant.
She mentored countless doctors and provided advice, support, and advocacy over her lifetime. This award recognises outstanding innovation across the grant cohort. All successful applicants will be considered for the award, which will be decided in the judges’ discretion.
Avant encourages all practitioners, especially early career doctors, to apply for an Avant Member Grant.
Key dates
| Activity | Month |
| Applications open | March |
| Applications close | June |
| Review and assessment of applications | June to October |
| Grant recipients notified | November |
Eligibility to apply
Practitioners
Anyone who holds a practitioner indemnity insurance policy with Avant Insurance Limited can apply for an Avant Member Grant. This includes:
- students
- accredited trainees
- pre-vocational doctors
- new fellows
- all other practitioners.
We encourage early career doctors to apply. For fairness, we only assess an application against other applications from the same career stage.
The project lead must be the applicant. For full eligibility criteria, read the terms and conditions.
Practices
Grants are also available for medical practices that hold a practice medical indemnity policy with Avant. For practices applying for part-time and full-time research grants, both the practice and the lead researcher must hold a medical indemnity policy with Avant.
For full eligibility criteria, read the terms and conditions.
Application process
Applications must be made through our online form.
Please ensure the information provided is detailed and complete. Incomplete applications will not be reviewed.
An independent panel of leading medical practitioners review all applications. An interview may also be requested.
Selection is based on the assessment criteria for each grant type, which includes:
- the applicant’s previous work experience and past research
- quality of the project
- research team and supervisor (if relevant).
For full-time and part-time grants, make sure you provide a detailed curriculum vitae and description of the proposed research, including the experimental design, its significance, expected outcomes and translatability. There is a word limit for each section so check the form before formulating your application.
Read our:
Other grants
Avant Foundation has three other grant programs to help fulfil our impact objectives.
Transformation Grant
$1 million awarded annually to an institution, university or charity to create transformational change in healthcare.
Research Grants
Grants up to $100,000 to advance medicine by funding excellence in quality, safety and sustainability through research.
Bursaries
Investing in the future of healthcare by supporting people undertaking education in medicine, with a focus on equity.
