Applying for a grant

How to Apply 

  1. Read the criteria for the grant carefully to ensure that what you propose is in accordance with the conditions of the grant
  2. Read the relevant assessment criteria:
    •    Professional Development Grant Assessment Criteria
    •    Research Grant Assessment Criteria
  3. Complete the appropriate application form and arrange for referee reports to be completed
  4. Send application forms and referee reports to grants@shpa.org.au.

*Please note: Combined attachments should not exceed 10 MB. If larger than 10 MB, please send applications and referee reports separately to ensure all documents are received.

When applying for grants, please ensure you provide all the information that is requested (see the Check List at the end of the relevant application form). 

Application Forms

Referees' reports
It is the applicant's responsibility to forward a copy of the Referee's report form to their nominated referees to complete and request that the form be returned by the closing date directly to SHPA. The Referee Report Forms are included in the application forms. 

Grant conditions

Applicants are required to have held SHPA membership for at least 12 continuous months. Student members (incl. pre-registrant members) must have held membership for a minimum of three months.

Before preparing an application, applicants are advised to read the General Conditions and Mandatory Conditions for the SHPA Grants Program and the specific grant flyers to make sure their activity is in accordance with the grant conditions.

When to Apply

Closing dates are adhered to strictly to enable the Research and Development Grants Advisory Committee adequate time to consider applications before Committee meetings.

It is important that members intending to apply for grants to attend conferences prepare their applications well in advance of the date of the conference. The Committee does not consider application for funding for conferences received after the date of the conference.

Assessment of Applications 
Applications are assessed by the Research and Development Grants Advisory Committee 4–6 weeks after the closing date for submissions. Applicants are typically notified ofthe outcome of submissions two weeks later (6–8 weeks after the closing date).

To ensure that the assessment process is objective, all applications are assessed against a predetermined set of criteria. The criteria may differ depending on the conditions of the grant, however there are certain core criteria that are applied to all applications.

The criteria are divided into two types: essential and desirable. Essential criteria pertain to the conditions of the grant, for e.g. the Pharmacia Contemporary Therapeutics Grant is for a project relating to advances in patient management in a particular drug therapy area; if your project does not relate to patient management within a specific drug therapy area then it will not be considered for this particular award. It is therefore important to carefully read the conditions of the award in the flyer to ensure you are applying for an appropriate grant.

Those applications meeting the essential criteria are then assessed against the desirable criteria. Many of these criteria are incorporated into the grant application forms so it is important to take note of these criteria when preparing your application. The following Grant Application Assessment Criteria documents provide more information:

To Change a Submitted Application

All applications, correspondence and variations to plans already submitted should be sent to grants@shpa.org.au, or to:

Chair, Research and Development Grants Advisory Committee
The Society of Hospital Pharmacists of Australia
PO Box 1774
Collingwood VIC 3066

For advice on whether your proposal is appropriate for a grant application, or how to apply for a grant, contact shpa@shpa.org.au.