The Ian Potter Foundation:

• Seeks to support innovative, ambitious research undertaken by universities and research institutes
• Does not provide funding for projects or items of equipment that might be funded internally or by a government agency such as the NH&MRC or the ARC
• Has specific funding objectives within each program area. 

• The Foundation engages directly with a specific contact person in each university/institution's Research/Advancement Office.
• Researchers must first contact their institution’s research/advancement office to complete an EOI or application. 
• Grant requests can only be submitted for program areas when they are open for Expressions of Interest (or Application only in the case of Medical Research).
• Generally, applying for a grant is a two-stage process. The exception is Medical Research, in which applicants complete a full application in the first instance.
• Only 3 EOIs per program area per round should be submitted by universities/research institutes. 
• Only 2 (ranked) applications for Medical Research per round should be submitted by universities/research institutes.
• Advice specific to each program area is given in the Information Session and on the program area pages. 

1. Attend an Information Session
   
   Researchers and staff from the Research office/Advancement team should attend the Program Area Information Session held prior to a funding round opening. This session will provide details on how the Foundation manages grant applications as well as specific guidance on the program area's funding objectives. 
    
   Recordings of these information sessions will be made available on Program Area pages shortly after the event. Research Office/Advancement EOI shortlisting 
2. Research Office/Advancement EOI shortlisting

    

   Researchers must contact their Research Office/Advancement team to discuss potential EOIs or applications before submitting them to the Foundation.  

   In each round, the Research Office or Advancement team needs to shortlist 3 (max) EOIs per program area. Please note: For Medical Research, there are a maximum of 2 Applications, which must also be ranked.

   Only these EOIs/Applications should be submitted to the Foundation accompanied by a letter from the university/institute confirming the project is shortlisted and (if required) ranked against other submissions from the institution.  

3. Submit EOIs/Applications

   
   Shortlisted EOIs (or Applications, if for Medical Research) can be submitted via a link that will appear at the bottom of the relevant program area page during the EOI/Application submission stage of the funding round.  

   This link takes you to a login page for our grant management system. It will only be active when EOI/Applications are open.  
   
   The research office/advancement team must also provide the following documents.

The research office/advancement team must also provide the following documents. 

At EOI stage: 

• A letter shortlisting all EOI submissions within the program area. 

At full application stage:

• Medical Research only - a letter ranking a maximum of 2 Applications.
• Research grant applications must be signed by the Head or Director of a Research Institute, the Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Research or equivalent office holder of a University.
• Non-research grant applications must be signed by the University's vice-chancellor or the Head or Director of the research institute.
• A Declaration signed and dated by the director of the research institute or other signatory as specified. It should be scanned and uploaded as an attachment as part of the full application submission. Click here to download the Declaration.
• All applications must be received by 5:00 pm (AEST) on the closing date.

If an EOI is invited to progress to a full application, we will email the Research/Advancement Office.

Meetings and site visits may be required to assist the Foundation to better understand the proposed project. The program manager will contact  the researcher and the Research Office/Advancement team to arrange this.

An invitation to submit an application does not mean that your application will be funded.

The Foundation’s Board of Governors considers all grant applications. The Funding Rounds page shows indicative timings for grant announcements. 

The research office contact and the researcher will both receive an email notification of the application's outcome.