New Explorer Grants worth up to $150,000 each are now on offer to help Kiwi health researchers explore their unconventional ideas.
The Health Research Council of New Zealand (HRC) Explorer Grants will provide researchers with seed support for transformative ideas that are untested or at an early stage of development. Researchers from any health-related field are invited to apply for the grants.
To be eligible for one of the grants, the HRC’s Chief Executive, Dr Robin Olds, says researchers’ ideas must have the potential to either open a new avenue of knowledge in their chosen health field or markedly improve the health of New Zealanders.
“The proposals must advance ideas that are transformative, innovative, exploratory or unconventional,” says Dr Olds. “The ideas will have the potential to revolutionise entire health disciplines, create new fields, or challenge accepted theories and perspectives.”
“In other words, they’ll have the potential to change the way we address barriers in health.”
Dr Olds says the Explorer Grants are a great opportunity for health researchers who have a radically different approach, a bit of a “bolt out of the blue”, to get the chance for a breakthrough.
“Unlike our other grants, these are focused solely on the research idea, and the identity of the applicants won’t be disclosed during assessment. We want to identify transformative ideas that may be getting lost in the traditional peer-review process. This could help researchers from institutions not necessarily known for their research,” says Dr Olds.
Proposals open on 7 November 2012 and close on 28 November 2012. They must be supported by the researchers’ host organisations and identify which one of four HRC research investment streams the research falls under. These research streams are: Health and Wellbeing in New Zealand; Improving Outcomes for Acute and Chronic Conditions in New Zealand; New Zealand Health Delivery; and Rangahau Hauora Māori.