Major Research and Innovation Application Support Program

The Major Research and Innovation Application Support (MRIAS) program aims to enhance WA’s standing as a leader in health and medical research and innovation.

In-principle cash commitments are provided on a competitive basis to Western Australian researchers and innovators applying to nationally or internationally competitive external grant funding programs (External Program).

Applicants must be applying to the full application stage of the relevant External Program (i.e. not the Expression of Interest stage) and intending to apply to the External Program within twelve months from the closing date of the MRIAS round being applied to.

In-principle cash commitments of up to $1 million will be awarded through a competitive and merit-based process and successful MRIAS applicants will be provided with a letter of support to submit with their External Program application.

Requests to consider other External Programs not listed above must be made by completing and submitting an MRIAS External Program Eligibility Form to DOH.OMRI@health.wa.gov.au at least two weeks prior to the closing date. OMRI will advise within four working days whether the External Program is eligible.

To enable applicants to plan their submissions to External Programs the anticipated MRIAS Rounds for 2025-26 are listed below:

The current list of Eligible External Programs for MRIAS are:

• Australian Cancer Research Foundation - Major Grant

• ARC Centres of Excellence

• ARC Linkage Projects

• Brandon BioCatalyst CUREator+

• DISR Cooperative Research Centre Projects

• MTP Connect Targeted Translation Research Accelerator

• MRFF Australian Brain Cancer Mission - Brain Cancer Research Grant Opportunity

• MRFF Cardiovascular Health Mission

• MRFF Clinical Trials Activity Initiative

• MRFF Dementia, Ageing and Aged Care

• MRFF Frontier Health and Medical Research Initiative

• MRFF Incorporating Patient Data in Health Technology Assessment Decision Making

• MRFF International Clinical Trial Collaborations

• MRFF Mental Health and Climate Change

• MRFF National Critical Research Infrastructure Initiative 

• MRFF Targeted Translation Research Accelerator – Cardiovascular Disease and Diabetes Models of Care Grant Opportunity

• MRFF Rapid Applied Research Translation Grant Opportunity

• MRFF Research Data Infrastructure

• MRFF Stem Cell Therapies

• NHMRC Centres of Research Excellence

• NHMRC Collaborations in Health Services Research

• NHMRC Partnerships Projects

• NHMRC Clinical Trial and Cohort Studies Grant

The Eligible External Programs in the table below should align with this current round of MRIAS:

Program Status: Open for Applications

Applications Close: 1.00pm (AWST), Wednesday 17 December 2025 (Round 7)

The Major Research and Innovation Application Support Guidelines and Conditions and External Program Eligibility Form can be accessed below.

The Application Form can be accessed and submitted via the Department of Health Grant Management System.

To view the application questions, after starting an application in the Grant Management System select ‘preview’ in the top right corner, which will download the application form questions (and your responses) as a Word or PDF document. For further instructions, please refer to page 9 of the User Guide ‘Downloading the application form’.

Queries related to the Guidelines and Conditions can be directed via email to DOH.OMRI@health.wa.gov.au with the subject line beginning with ‘Query – MRIAS’.