Avant Foundation Member Grants

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.

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.

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.

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:

• assessment criteria - full-time and part-time grants 
• assessment criteria - microgrants
• terms and conditions.

Avant Foundation has three other grant programs to help fulfil our impact objectives.