Applications open February 2024: Medical Research Future Fund NCRII – 2023 Innovative Trials

Consistent with the MRFF Act, the objective of this grant opportunity is to provide grants of financial assistance to support Australian medical research and medical innovation projects that:

Stream 1 (Incubator and Targeted Call for Research): address an area of unmet medical need by promoting the development and implementation of adaptive platform trials. Research proposals in this stream must focus on one of the following Topics:

• Topic A (Incubator): conducting inception projects that build evidence and capability to demonstrate the feasibility of establishing a national adaptive platform trial that would allow for rapid assessment of pharmacological and/or non-pharmacological interventions in an area of unmet need
• Topic B (Targeted Call for Research): establishing a new national adaptive platform trial that addresses an area of unmet need, including set up of central infrastructure and conduct of initial launch domains
• Topic C (Targeted Call for Research): expanding an existing adaptive platform trial by adding new domains that address an area of unmet need.

Stream 2 (Targeted Call for Research): conduct a registry-based randomised controlled trial in an area of unmet medical need by embedding a registry-based randomised controlled trial into a pre- existing clinical registry.

Stream 3 (Targeted Call for Research): generate evidence of the efficiency and cost effectiveness of innovative trial designs over conventional trial designs for:

• Topic A (Targeted Call for Research): adaptive platform trials
• Topic B (Targeted Call for Research): registry-based randomised controlled trials.

Projects which leverage existing research infrastructure projects such as those funded by the Australian Government through the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS) will be highly regarded (see Appendix A).

Applicants to all streams should consider the breadth and diversity of the study population including considering priority populations to ensure the needs of the consumers and end-users are met in the long-term.

To be competitive for funding, applicants must propose to conduct research that delivers against the above objective/s and those of the Initiative. Applicants are encouraged to propose novel and/or innovative research and describe how the outcomes of the research will be translated into health benefits for Australians.