Research News & Funding Opportunities

  1. Research Development Funding Scheme 2026 – closes 5pm 28 November
  2. Disability and Inclusive Seed Funding Project 2026 – closes 5pm 28 November
  3. Congratulations to Dr Julian Kusabs – McKenzie Fellowship
  4. Faculty of Education Digital Wellbeing Communities Research Hub Seminar – 20 November
  5. Spencer Research Grants on Education: Small – closes 15 December

1. Research Development Funding Scheme 2026 – closes 5pm 28 November

https://ricunimelb.smartygrants.com.au/FoERDS2_DEC_2025

The Scheme’s primary objectives are to:

  • Support FoE researchers to progress their research capabilities and outputs
  • Seed new areas of discovery
  • Expand established programs of research
  • Build new or existing collaborations into a competitive larger-scale proposition for major external research sources
  • Enhance research impact through new partnerships and applied outcomes
  • Foster a diverse and inclusive academic community with a strong research culture
  • Align with Advancing Melbourne 2030 and the Faculty Strategic

2. Disability and Inclusive Seed Funding Project 2026 – closes 5pm 28 November

https://ricunimelb.smartygrants.com.au/FoE-DI-2026

The Disability and Inclusive Seed Funding Projects must:

  • Be driven by the priorities of people with disability
  • Have a practical outcome
  • Be interdisciplinary
  • Involve strong partnerships with people with disability and/or disability advocacy organisations
  • Have a pathway to further research and funding

3. Congratulations to Dr Julian Kusabs – McKenzie Fellowship

Congratulations to Dr Julian Kusabs for being awarded the UoM McKenzie Fellowship for his project “Treaty education: Historical cases, Indigenous responses, and contemporary directions”.

4. Faculty of Education Digital Wellbeing Communities Research Hub Seminar – 20 November

Venue: Conference Room 915, 100 Leicester St

Time: 11.00am – 12.00pm

Or join Zoom on your computer or mobile app: Click here to join the meeting

Presentation Title: Press B to Belong: Inclusive Gaming to Support Neurodivergent Students

Gaming is a powerful tool for social learning, but educators want to know how they can create the optimal conditions for learning. This presentation introduces a program that combines video modelling and video review with the supported play of cooperative video games to help our students develop essential collaborative skills. Sharing insights from their research and professional practice, Jess Rowlings details practical structures and strategies to run engaging and effective inclusive gaming programs for all students. 

Jess Rowlings is a qualified speech and language pathologist and co-founder/CEO of Next Level Collaboration, a social enterprise that runs strength-based programs to support neurodivergent children in developing collaborative skills and social connection through cooperative video games. She is proudly the first openly neurodivergent (AuDHD) CEO from a University of Melbourne spinout, and led the application for the first successful Genesis Pre-Seed Fund investment in a social enterprise (University of Melbourne/Breakthrough Victoria). As the leader of Next Level Collaboration, she leads a team of 15 neurodivergent staff across a growing portfolio of programs. Jess also serves as an Honorary Enterprise Fellow and researcher at the University of Melbourne Faculty of Education. Informed by her lived experience of receiving autism and ADHD diagnoses as an adult as well as her lifelong love of games, Jess is also completing her PhD investigating the experiences of neurodivergent women in gaming communities.

5. Spencer Research Grants on Education: Small – closes 15 December

Contact foe-research@unimelb.edu.au if you are interested in applying

The program supports budgets up to $50,000 for projects ranging from one to five years. Applications are accepted three times per year.

This program is “field-initiated” in that proposal submissions are not in response to a specific request for a particular research topic, discipline, design, method, or location. The Foundation’s goal for this program is to support rigorous, intellectually ambitious and technically sound research that is relevant to the most pressing questions and compelling opportunities in education. They seek to support scholarship that develops new foundational knowledge that may have a lasting impact on educational discourse.

Click here to view full funding guidelines on the provider’s website.