Postdoctoral Fellowships support early career researchers who have not received significant research funding to undertake research into the causes, prevention, detection, and supportive care or treatment of cancer. These fellowships provide greater career growth and certainty for individuals, as well assist in building research capacity and continuity for the Victorian institutions.
Professor Erica Sloan, Chair of 2023 Postdoctoral Research Fellowships Assessment Committee, explains what makes a great application.
2023 Key Dates
| Applications: |
Closed |
| Applicants notified: |
November - December 2023 |
Please note: individual institutions may have earlier closing dates to allow for internal processing before su
2023 Available funding
Up to four fellowships are available with a maximum of $150,000 available per year, per fellowship, for up to three years (maximum $450,000 per grant).
In addition to two (2) general Fellowships, there are two targeted Fellowships available:
- One that supports the diagnosis and/or treatment of mesothelioma.
- One that focuses on at least one of the following tumour streams: brain cancer, bone cancer, gynaecological cancer, head and neck cancer, or skin cancer (inc. melanoma).
T he majority of the funding must support the early career researcher's salary (max. $120,000 per year).
Eligibility
The applicant:
- Awarded a PhD three or fewer years ago at the EOI close date.
- Undertakes the Fellowship with a primary appointment (0.8-1.0 FTE) in a research role at a Victorian administering organisation (e.g., university, health service, medical or scientific research institute). For the purposes of clarity, the 0.8-1.0 FTE needs to be dedicated to the proposed research.
- Applicant must be under the direct supervision of a mentor(s) for the duration of the Fellowship. At least one mentor at the applicant’s institution is required.
- Is an Australian citizen or graduate from overseas with permanent Australian resident status.
- Has received less than $750,000 (AUD$) in total research grants as the Chief Investigator A or Principal investigator.
- Not holding a current Postdoctoral Fellowship that provides salary support at the time of EOI submission.
- Confirmation from administering organisation of support for the application and guarantee the organisation will cover any funding gaps (e.g., corporate services charges, salary and leave payments).
See Guidelines for full details.
Selection criteria
- Significance and scientific quality - The significance and potential impact of the project on the causes, prevention, detection, treatment or management of cancer, including quality of research design, methodology and rationale.
- Career development - The applicant’s achievements and contributions related to cancer research and the potential for the fellowship to contribute to the applicant’s career development.
- Milestones, deliverables and budget - The appropriateness and clarity of the research milestones and deliverables (including how the research team supports milestone achievement); A detailed budget that aligns with the project plan.
- Community engagement - (a) Demonstrated involvement and specific contribution of community members in the design of the research project and (b) Describe a clear and meaningful plan to support ongoing involvement and contribution of community members throughout the project
Grant selection process
We consider eligible Postdoctoral Research fellowship applications through a two-phase competitive process (Expression of Interest and Full Application). The grant Assessment Committee, comprising researchers and community members, will assess each application against the selection criteria.
Important documents
By applying for this grant:
- you and your Administering Organisation acknowledge that you have readCancer Council Victoria’s standard funding agreement (which can be found below); and
- you and your Administering Organisation agree to these terms for the purpose of applying for, and if successful receiving, your grant from Cancer Council Victoria.
Further information
If you have any questions about this funding, please contact:
Research Governance Unit
grants@cancervic.org.au
2024 Fellowship recipients
Dr Philip Arandjelovic
Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research
Identifying the molecular and cellular mechanisms for the initiation of β-catenin mutated HCC (Jan 2024- Dec 2026)
Locating the cellular source of a major subset of liver cancer
Dr Yuchen Bai
Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre
Promoting cell proliferation to block the invasion of head and neck cancer (Jan 2024- Dec 2026)
Promoting cell growth to prevent the spread of head and neck cancer
Dr Milad Ghomlaghi
Monash University
An Integrated Approach to Identify New Network Vulnerabilities for Mesothelioma (Jan 2024- Dec 2026)
Novel Combination Treatment Strategy to Fight Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma
Dr Laura Porter
Monash University
Unlocking the potential of CAR T cell therapy for prostate cancer treatment (Jan 2024- Dec 2026)
Manipulating the immune system for the treatment of prostate cancer
Previous Fellowship recipients
Mr. Peter Georgeson
University of Melbourne
Linking gut bacteria to the development of colorectal cancer using multi-omic profiling (Jan 2023 - Jan 2024)
Identifying individuals at risk of developing bacteria-associated bowel cancer with DNA analysis
Dr Sibel Saya
University of Melbourne
Multi-cancer genomic risk assessment to target screening in general practice (Apr 2022 - Jan 2024)
DNA testing to predict risk of cancer in general practice
Dr Shengbo Zhang
Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research
Engineering type 1 conventional dendritic cells using lipid nanoparticles to deliver mRNA that coding the novel chimeric antigen receptor to
initiate innate immune responses for tumour immunotherapy (Jan 2023 - Jan 2024)
A new approach to treat solid cancers
Dr Joanne Lundy
Monash University
The Endoscopic Ultrasound Molecular Evaluation of Pancreatic Cancer (EU-ME- PC) Study (Jul 2022 - Jun 2023)
Validating endoscopic biopsies to guide better treatment selection in pancreatic cancer
Dr Feng Yan
Monash University
Deciphering abnormal epigenetic characteristics in chemo-resistant stem cells using a transgenic mouse model of human T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (Jul 2022 - Jun 2023)
Examine chemo-resistant T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia cells and understand how they escaped from chemotherapy
Dr. Marc Rigau Cortal
University of Melbourne
Optimisation of the phosphoantigen-reactive gamma-delta T-cell receptor for use in adoptive T-cell therapy against the most common blood and solid tumours in the Australian population (Jan 2022 - Dec 2022)
Empowering human immune cells against blood and solid cancers
Dr. Stefan Bjelosevic
University of Melbourne
Delineating mechanisms of metabolic regulation of epigenetic state in FMS-liketyrosine kinase 3 (FLT3)-driven acute myeloid leukaemia (AML)
(Jul 2021 - Jun 2022)
Dr. Heidi Fettke
University of Melbourne
Dissecting therapeutic vulnerabilities of advanced prostate cancer harbouringcompound androgen receptor alterations
(Jul 2021 - Jun 2022)
Dr Edmond Kwan
Monash University
Comprehensive circulating nucleic acid analysis to identify biomarkers for immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) in metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer
(mCRPC) (Jan 2021 - Dec 2021)
Dr Peter Savas
Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre
Extending genomic profiling to understanding outcomes in clinical trials (Jan 2021 - Dec 2021)
Mr Charles Bell
The University of Melbourne
Identifying new drug targets to specifically reduce the activity of genes that are essential for cancer cells (Jul 2020-Jun 2021)
Dr Tanjina Kader
Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre
Development of a new test after a mammogram to help doctors and patients decide whether they should operate or save their breasts (Jul 2020-Jun 2021).
Dr Margs Brennan
The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research
Testing MCL - 1 inhibitor treatment in humanised MCL - 1pre-clinical mouse models of Philadelphia-like paediatric acute lymphoid leukaemia (Jul 2019-Dec 2020)
Dr Na Li
Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre
Discovering new genetic causes of familial breast cancer (Jan 2020-Dec 2020)
Dr Mohamed Saad
Hudson Institute of Medical Research
Identification of ADAM17-driven Molecular Events in Lung Cancer (Jan 2020-Dec 2020)
Dr James Whittle
The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research
Targeting cell survival pathways in breast cancer (Jan 2020-Dec 2020)
Dr Simon Preston
The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research
Targeting caspase-8 in T-regulatory cells as cancer immunotherapy in Hepatocellular carcinoma (Jan 2020-Jun 2020)
Dr Lara Edbrooke
The University of Melbourne
Rehabilitation in inoperable lung cancer - a cost-effectiveness evaluation (Jan 2020-Jun 2020)
Dr Pasquale Fedele
The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research
Targeting IRF4 in Multiple Myeloma (Jan 2019-Dec 2019)
Dr Mark Miles
La Trobe University
A healthy life after cancer: curing cancers without creating new ones
Dr Rebecca Delconte
The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research
Increasing Natural Killer cell ability to detect and kill cancer cells (Jul 2018-Jun 2019)
Dr Shuai Li
The University of Melbourne
Understanding why and how environmental factors change breast cancer risk by studying genes (Jul 2018-Jun 2019)
Dr Hendrika Duivenvoorden
La Trobe Institute for Molecular Science
Validating markers that predict early breast cancer invasion (Jan 2018 - Dec 2018)
Dr Simon Hogg
Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre
Developing drugs that promote the immune system to eliminate cancer (Aug 2017-Jul 2018)
Dr Tan Nguyen
The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research
Can we inhibit RNA degradation to help treat cancer? (Jan 2018 - Dec 2018)
Dr Tuong Linh Nguyen
The University of Melbourne
Predicting a woman’s future risk of breast cancer from her mammograms (Jan 2018 - Dec 2018)
Dr Ashleigh Poh
The Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute
Improving responsiveness to anti-cancer immunotherapy (Jul 2017-Jun 2018)
Dr Antonia Policheni
The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research
How does cell competition and cell death prevent childhood blood cancer? (Jan 2018 - Dec 2018)