Funding Opportunities
If you are interested in any of these opportunities please email foe-research@unimelb.edu.au as soon as possible
1. Osaka – Melbourne Joint Research Workshop – 3 June 2025
2. Joint PhD projects with The University of Toronto – 6 June 2025
3. IELTS Joint-Funded Research Programme – 30 June 2025
4. June Canavan Foundation Giving Program – no closing date always open
5. John Templeton Foundation Grants – 1 August 2025
6. Stavros Niarchos Foundation Grants – no closing date always open
1. Osaka – Melbourne Joint Research Workshop
Applications Close: 3 June 2025 at 5 PM (Melbourne time) / 4 PM (Japan time)
Outcomes Released: July 2025
Applications are now open for the Osaka – Melbourne Joint Research Workshops co-funding scheme. Up to two joint workshops will be funded in 2025-26, with one to be held in Osaka and one in Melbourne. It is expected that these initial projects will lead to long-term research collaborations, and generate publications, exhibitions, and/or applications for external funding for ongoing collaboration, as applicable.
Up to AU$20,000 is available per workshop. Proposals from all research areas and disciplines are welcome. Further information and Guideline documents are available on the scheme’s website: https://go.unimelb.edu.au/u5ep.
Note : This scheme has attracted a relatively small pool of submissions in previous rounds.
2. Joint PhD projects with The University of Toronto
Applications Close: 6 June 2025 at 1 PM (Melbourne time) / 11 PM (Toronto time)
Outcomes Released: September 2025
Applications are now open for joint PhD projects with The University of Toronto. The University of Toronto and University of Melbourne are calling for project proposals from all research areas to establish up to eight pairs of supervisors, with each supervisory team supporting one joint PhD candidate.
Each recruited PhD candidate will receive a funding package that includes tuition fee waivers/remission scholarships, a stipend, health insurance, and relocation support. Candidates will be enrolled at, and meet, both institutions’ academic standards and requirements. Upon completion, the candidates will be eligible to graduate with two testamurs/parchments – one from each University. Further information and Guideline documents are available on the scheme’s website: https://go.unimelb.edu.au/8ymi.
3. IELTS Joint-Funded Research Programme
Round 3 closes 30 June 2025
Provides funding to undertake applied research projects in relation to the International English Language Testing System (IELTS).
Proposals are welcomed from researchers and institutions with expertise in language learning and assessment research. This includes suitably qualified researchers and organisations with a direct and ongoing connection with IELTS, e.g. consultants, examiners, and IELTS Administration Centres.
Both individuals and teams are invited to apply. Early-career researchers are encouraged to join a team led by more experienced researchers.
IELTS Research Areas of interest:
– Test development and validation issues
– Test preparation practices
– Issues relating to contexts of test use
– Issues of test impact
– Issues of technology.
Click here to view full funding guidelines on the provider’s website.
4. June Canavan Foundation Giving Program
There is no set application period. You may submit an application for funding at any time, however applications will only be considered twice yearly at bi-annual Board meetings, usually held in March and September. The cut-off date for having your application considered at the March meeting is 1 February, and for consideration at the September meeting is 1 August. Application cut-off dates may occasionally vary due to fluctuations in meeting dates, and these will be highlighted on the current application form.
Aims to back ideas and initiatives that are catalytic, game-changing or paradigm shifting, which will have a ripple effect and legacy beyond the life of the JCF.
The June Canavan Foundation was established in 2010 to honour the memory of Dr June Canavan. The Foundation is creating a legacy which builds on June’s humanitarian work.
It provides financial and other support to existing projects in five areas close to June’s heart:
– Sport
– Health
– Education
– Conservation
– Growing Giving.
JCF supports bold, risky, new ideas:
– Projects run by bold, courageous and pioneering women or that directly benefit women
– Projects and organisations tackling hard to budge social issues
– Risky work which could lead to paradigm shifts
– Small and gutsy organisations with revenue <$1m per annum.
JCF prefers to fund:
– Collaborations between two or more partners
– When one or more of JCF’s causes overlap
– Where other forms of finance are hard to find
– Where the lived experience of recipients is front and centre.
Click here to view full funding guidelines on the provider’s website.
5. John Templeton Foundation Grants
Round 2 closes 1 August 2025
Invests in bold ideas from contrarian thinkers – ideas that cross disciplinary boundaries and challenge conventional assumptions by offering grants in support of research and public engagement.
The John Templeton Foundation invites applications to support research in the foundation’s core areas. These are:
– Character Virtue Development: seeks to advance the science and practice of character, with a focus on moral, performance, civic, and intellectual virtues such as humility, gratitude, curiosity, diligence, and honesty
– Individual Freedom & Free Markets: supports education, research, and outreach projects to promote individual freedom, free markets, free competition, and entrepreneurship
– Life Sciences: supports experimental and theoretical work on a broad range of areas and topics, including origins of life, complexity, emergence, evolution, human development, and ecological health and interventions.
– Mathematical & Physical Sciences: interested in fundamental questions in the mathematical and physical sciences and how they might converge to form a coherent picture of physical reality
– Public Engagement: funds a wide variety of grantees to create content, cultivate thought leadership, and develop campus programming
– Religion, Science, and Society: supports the discovery of meaningful and practical insights into the religious, spiritual, and cultural dimensions of humanity.
Charitable entities based worldwide may apply.
On rare occasions the Foundation may support individuals and for-profit companies doing charitable work.
Each funding cycle begins with the submission and review of an Online Funding Inquiry (OFI) and if invited, a Full Proposal. OFIs can be submitted at any point during the year, however the Foundation reviews all funding requests (both stage 1 OFIs and stage 2 Full Proposals) according to specific dates and deadlines.
Click here to view full funding guidelines on the provider’s website.
6. Stavros Niarchos Foundation Grants
No closing date – always open
Provides grants to nonprofit organizations globally in the areas of arts and culture, education, health and sports, and social welfare.
For over twenty-five years, the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) has made grants to nonprofit organizations and projects around the world, working with an incredible community of partners to create transformative change whose benefits multiply and are shared widely.
At its core are a fundamentally collaborative approach based on the expertise of partners on the ground, a commitment to public-private partnership, and a belief that everyone should have access to art, education, health care, and life’s other essentials.
SNF grants, small and large, have supported thousands of nonprofit organizations, diverse in their missions but joined by a common commitment: working together to lastingly improve lives.
Click here to view full funding guidelines on the provider’s website.