Macular Disease Foundation Australia (MDFA) has opened its 2023 research grants program, which will include a new Community Review Panel in the evaluation process for the first time.
MDFA made the announcement on World Sight Day Thursday 13 October, with next year’s grants adding to the $5.1 million it has invested in 29 projects since the research grants program was launched in 2011.
Applications undergo peer review and rigorous evaluation based on the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) process. New to the 2023 evaluation process will be the Community Review Panel comprising of people living with a macular condition or directly supporting those with the disease.
As MDFA’s research program is funded through public donations, this change reflects the organisation’s desire to represent the voice of the macular disease community, new CEO Dr Kathy Chapman said.
“We see this as a welcome addition to a very successful program,” she said.
“Our research program exists because our community is deeply committed to advancing understanding of this disease. We hope that the Community Review Panel will contribute to the funding decisions through their lived experience, making the research we fund even more relevant to the needs of the community, as well as being scientifically rigorous.”
The Grant Family Fund – a legacy gift in honour of the late Faye Grant and her father Ronald Grant – will again offer a total pool of up to $100,000 for early-career researchers for “blue-sky” research.
Dr Anai Gonzalez Cordero, from the University of Sydney, was one of the first recipients. Her project aims to create a macula-containing organoid that could be used as a source of cells for replacement therapies and to test the efficacy of potential treatments.
“This type of blue-sky thinking is very hard to get funding for – it’s seen as high-risk,” she said. But the Grant Family had vision. They wanted to fund novel ideas. This sort of creativity and new ideas and research wouldn’t be funded otherwise.”
Applications close at 5pm (AEDT) 31 January before the successful MDFA research grants applicants are announced in May 2023. To learn more about the MDFA Research Grants Program or to apply, visit here.
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