WA Near Miss Awards Emerging Leaders 2025-26

The Western Australian Near-miss Awards: Emerging Leaders (WANMA EL) program targeted researchers who narrowly missed out on securing a National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Investigator Grant Opportunity, which is considered a critical career milestone for researchers.

The purpose of the WANMA EL 2025-26 program (Program) was to increase the success rate of applications made by WA early-career and mid-career researchers who had applied to the NHMRC Investigator Grant opportunity 2025 and scored 4.5 or above.

The Program provided 3-year fellowship funding to the two highest ranked early-career and mid-career researchers, and grant funding to all other eligible researchers in order of the highest NHMRC score until the funding pool is fully committed.

The funding was to be used by recipients to enhance areas of the application identified by the NHMRC peer review process as being improvable, increasing their chances of success with an application to a future NHMRC funding round.

Program Status: Closed

The Guidelines and Conditions and Application Form can be accessed below:

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 – WANMAEL2025-26’.

Queries regarding the application process can be directed via email to DOH.GMS@health.wa.gov.au with the subject line beginning with ‘GMS Application Assistance – WANMAEL2025-26’.

Information on other FHRI Fund programs can be accessed by subscribing to updates or checking the FHRI Fund current opportunities.