EMCR Forum Submission—Removing the Emerging Leadership (EL) eligibility barrier from the Investigator Grant Scheme

On 4 December 2024, the EMCR Forum submitted comments on the NHMRC public consultation on proposed updates to the Investigator and Synergy Grant assessment framework, specifically regarding removing the Emerging Leadership (EL) eligibility barrier from the Investigator Grant scheme.
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The EMCR Forum: 

  • Strongly supports the NHMRC’s underlying objective to decrease the burden on applicants who experience career disruptions.
  • Is unconvinced how the proposed change outlined in Appendix C will, in practice, decrease the burden of reporting career disruptions for EMCR applicants. Insufficient detail has been provided to understand how the proposed changes would reduce burden on applicants who have experienced career disruptions.
  • Raises concerns that removal of the EL eligibility barrier will lead to increasing reliance and burden on assessors to make quick judgements on career disruptions and level appropriateness of applicants. Without semi-standardised processes utilised by research offices, the proposed change risks research excellence and progress towards improving equity of the scheme