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ASI Breakthrough Immunology Award

Australian and New Zealand Society for Immunology Inc.

Background

ASI recognises the increased financial pressure that our members face due to limited funding from major governmental bodies. This funding shortfall affects all of our members, but particularly ECRs and MCRs, who are at a key stage in their careers.

Purpose

The purpose of the ASI Breakthrough Immunology Award is to specifically support promising early- to mid-career researchers (ECRs and MCRs) achieve a major breakthrough step in their career by providing much-needed funding for the generation of preliminary data sets required in major competitive grant funding applications.

It has a particular focus on supporting the careers of emerging immunologists, those with recent near-miss applications, or applicants re-entering the workforce after an extended career break.

Two ASI Breakthrough Immunology Awards will be awarded per year, with each award worth AUD $ 50,000 for one year. In keeping with our EDI values, we will award at least one woman recipient per year.

The funding will support research projects addressing a basic immunological question by research teams with a limited amount of funding covering current and future years to facilitate the acquisition of preliminary data thereby increasing competitiveness for major grant funding rounds.

Application procedure

Click here to download the Breakthrough Immunology Award application form.
Carefully read the notes about Budget below.
Save your file as "LASTNAME YYYY_Breakthrough" as a single pdf file.
Log in to your member profile, click on 'Applications' and follow the prompts.

Budget

Please note that GST does not need to be included in your budget – total award funding is exclusive of GST.
Consumables, animal costs, publication costs, software, outsourced service fees, equipment and personnel costs may be listed.
Funds cannot be used to support travel or minor operational maintenance (such as postage, printing, stationery, computer hardware and office/laboratory space).
Funds will not be provided to cover any overhead costs levied by the administering institution.
Award-supported personnel will be employees of the institution(s) in which the research is done and will be subject to the conditions of employment of those institutions.
If equipment is purchased, the host institution to which equipment is entrusted must undertake to maintain the items in good and working condition, and in a location where the sponsored research project is being conducted. Equipment bought with funds that were part of the award remain part of the project but provided that the project is satisfactorily completed, the equipment become the property of the host institution.

Assessment Criteria

The chief criterion for the research award is to provide support for promising early- to mid-career researchers, not to simply fund projects.

Preference will be given on a needs basis, to near-miss considerations and career re-entry considerations. Preference will also apply to outstanding individuals not already recognised by awards of this stature, taking into account the prior achievements relative to opportunity (CV), team composition/feasibility, scientific quality and innovation of the application.

The awards will be assessed by a panel of judges including a balance of genders, career stage and geographical representation with members across branches. Results will be collated taking into consideration score, rank and if applicable any outliers.

If required, a panel discussion will be convened and confirmation of the awardees will be made by the ASI Executive committee.

The Executive Committee reserves the right not to make an award.

Value

AUD $50 000 for each award. There will be two (2) awards granted.

Terms and Conditions

The project needs to address a basic immunologic question. The research undertaken can have relevance to the medical field and make use of clinical samples, but funding cannot be used for clinical trials (e.g. compound testing)
Main applicants must disclose their funding. This includes but is not limited to competitive and philanthropic grants, industry funding, start-up packages, fellowships.
Preference will be given to individuals on a financial needs basis.
The work is expected to be undertaken in Australia and/or New Zealand, but this does not preclude funding a component of the project involving international collaboration.
If applicable, the research must be approved by an authorised ethics committee. Ethics approval is not required for submission of the application but if the application is successful, ethics approval will be required within 6 months of approval notification and before any funds will be released.
The awardee must sign, acknowledge and agree to the terms stipulated in the Research Award Agreement.

AI Based Application Success Predictor

1. Strong mechanistic immunology focus

The most competitive applications directly address:

immune regulation,
adaptive and innate immunity,
inflammation,
autoimmunity,
infection and host defense,
tumor immunology,
vaccine science,
immunometabolism,
immune-cell signaling.

Mechanistic depth is one of the strongest predictors of competitiveness.

2. Clear translational or clinical relevance

ASI reviewers strongly favor projects likely to:

improve immunotherapies,
enhance vaccine development,
advance precision medicine,
improve diagnosis of immune disorders,
contribute to infectious disease control,
improve patient outcomes.

Applications linking basic immunology with clinical relevance tend to score highly.

3. Strong scientific rigor and methodology

Successful proposals generally demonstrate:

robust experimental design,
appropriate controls,
reproducibility,
validated immunologic assays,
strong statistical analysis,
feasible timelines.

Weak methodology is a major reason for rejection.

4. Strong preliminary data

Competitive applications often include:

pilot immune profiling data,
proof-of-concept mechanistic findings,
preliminary omics analyses,
validated animal or cellular models,
prior publications.

Strong preliminary evidence substantially improves reviewer confidence.

5. Strong publication and academic productivity

Important predictors include:

peer-reviewed publications,
first-author papers,
conference presentations,
prior grant success,
technical expertise,
evidence of scientific independence.

Research productivity is heavily weighted.

6. Advanced technical capability

Reviewers favor applicants with access to:

flow cytometry,
single-cell sequencing,
spatial omics,
advanced microscopy,
bioinformatics support,
animal models,
translational immunology platforms.

Technical feasibility strongly influences scoring.

7. Strong mentorship and institutional environment

For trainees and early-career investigators, reviewers heavily assess:

mentor expertise,
immunology research environment,
collaborative infrastructure,
protected research time,
career-development planning.

Strong mentorship is one of the strongest fellowship success predictors.

8. Interdisciplinary collaboration

High-scoring projects increasingly involve:

clinicians,
infectious disease specialists,
oncologists,
computational biologists,
geneticists,
systems biologists,
bioengineers.

Collaborative integration strengthens competitiveness.

9. Innovation balanced with feasibility

Competitive applications usually combine:

novel immune mechanisms,
emerging immunotherapies,
AI/data integration,
advanced immunologic technologies

with realistic experimental scope and achievable milestones.

10. Potential for future national/international funding

Reviewers favor projects likely to:

generate NHMRC/ARC or international funding,
establish independent immunology programs,
produce high-impact publications,
contribute to major collaborative networks.

ASI funding often serves as developmental or seed support.

Common Reasons for Rejection

Frequent reviewer concerns include:

insufficient mechanistic depth,
weak preliminary data,
poor statistical planning,
unrealistic scope,
limited translational significance,
inadequate technical feasibility,
weak innovation,
unclear hypothesis structure.

Specialties

Immunology

Eligibility Requirements

Applicants with 0-15 years post-doctoral research experience (counted at application deadline). Career disruptions as defined by the Australian Research Council Relative to Opportunity statements will also be taken into account. Please provide details if you feel that you are eligible to apply.
Applicants who currently hold major NHMRC/ARC funding or equivalent as CIA or have held funding within the last three years are ineligible
Only one submission is permitted per application round.
Applicants may be a group leader but cannot hold an appointment as an A/Prof. or Prof.
If the main applicant is not a sole applicant, a maximum of three collaborators may be listed. These collaborators:
- May hold an appointment as an A/Prof. or Prof.
- Must be current ASI members (cross-disciplinary members of the team do not require ASI membership if they are not Immunologists).
- Ideally would form a balanced team reflecting equity, diversity and inclusions principles.
If the main applicant is not a sole applicant, and a listed collaborator is the direct supervisor of the main applicant, evidence must be provided that the application is independent from the direct supervisor’s projects under existing funding.
Applicants must provide evidence of support of their application from their host institution. The host institution can be within a university, affiliated to a university or major hospital, or an appropriate independent medical or scientific research institute.
Applications for projects involving budgets that exceed maximum AUD $ 50,000 will not be considered.
Applications that do not meet the formatting, text limits or eligibility requirements will be deemed ineligible.
Applicants must have been Ordinary or Student members of ASI for two years preceding the application.
Applicants must have paid their membership subscription before 1st April of the year of application.
Applicants who have previously received an ASI Breakthrough Immunology Award are ineligible.
Applicants who are current members of the ASI Executive Committee are ineligible.

Eligible Countries:

Australia

New Zealand

Sponsor Details

Sponsor Institute/Organizations: Australian and New Zealand Society for Immunology Inc.

Sponsor Type: Corporate/Non-Profit

Address: PO Box 7345 Beaumaris VIC Aus 3193

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