1. If you have received TAAHC Clinician Researcher Fellowship funding previously, can you apply again?
See 'Section 4 - Eligibility' in the Funding Rules.
Early Career clinician researcher - applicant does not hold a Higher Degree by Research; 3 or fewer peer reviewed publications as first author; and has not held an external competitive research grant as Lead or Chief Investigator
Applicants who have previously held a Fellowship in the experienced clinician researcher category within the last two years (as of the time of application) are ineligible to apply for and receive a Clinician Researcher Fellowship.
An ‘external competitive research grant’ is a research grant that is awarded by an external organisation (i.e. not your own organization) following an application-based, competitive peer review process (so this includes TAAHC research funding).
2. If a staff member works part time, can they access the funding over a period greater than 12 months.
See 'Sections 3.2 - 3.5: Clinician Researcher Fellowship Categories - Funding Amount and Fellowship Duration' in the Funding Rules.
The minimum fellowship duration for all categories is three months, up to a maximum duration of 12 months.
4. Is there any flexibility to the requirements of 8.1 – Funding use “The Fellow’s total salary (drawn from all sources) is not to exceed the salary the Fellow would have received in their substantive clinical position, i.e. the Fellow cannot use Fellowship funds to pay for a stipend that increases their substantive clinical position salary.
This can be drawn to the attention of the TAAHC Clinical Leadership Group and Board for consideration in future funding rounds, but there is no flexibility in the current round.
5. Can salary costs be used flexibly, such as 1 day a week or in compressed blocks, or a combination of both?
See 'Section 3.5 - Funding Amount and Fellowship duration' in the Funding Rules.
The Fellowship will support research activity for up to and including 20% Full Time Equivalent for the duration of the Fellowship up to a maximum funding amount of $50,000.
The Fellow must spend the designated (awarded) time on their Fellowship over the duration of the Fellowship, but the Funding Rules are silent as to the actual pattern of work. It is therefore possible to undertake the Fellowship in a compressed block, up to 0.2FTE per week or a combination of both.
6. Can research mentors be from non-TAAHC Members?
See 'Section 4.1 – Research Mentor' in the Funding Rules.
Research mentors must meet the eligibility requirements of the TAAHC Mid_Career Fellow Category - hold a research higher degree (PhD or *equivalent) and be up to 10 years post-award at the closing date of the Fellowship scheme OR have published a minimum of three peer-reviewed publications within the last four years, with at least one publication as lead author; or have held an external competitive research grant as Chief or Lead Investigator.
As per these eligibility requirements, the research mentor does not need to be from a TAAHC Member organisation.
*An equivalent research higher degree is a research qualification that is equivalent to the level 10 criteria of the Australian Qualifications Framework Second Edition January 2013