ABACBS EMCR Funding Futures

The ABACBS Post-doc Subcommittee is excited to present ABACBS EMCR Funding Futures. This one-day professional development event will bring together early- and mid-career researchers for a day focused on grant writing, research pitching, funding strategy, and career development in bioinformatics, genomics, AI, and digital biology.

Funding Futures is designed to foster Australia’s next bright minds in bioinformatics and computational biology by connecting EMCRs with successful research fellows, established lab heads, professors, entrepreneurs, and industry leaders. Participants will gain practical insights into grants, fellowships, funding pathways, and career development while building networks across institutions and disciplines.

 Thanks to the generous support from Australian BioCommons, we are offering three $500 travel scholarships for post-docs to attend this year’s ABACBS Conference, as well as three free registrations for the EMCR Funding Futures event. See details below for how to apply.

• Date: Monday, 16 November 2026

• Location: RMIT University, City Campus, Melbourne

• Presented by: ABACBS Postdoc committee

• In partnership with: ABACBS Annual Conference

Program highlights

• Interactive team-based grant pitch sessions running throughout the day

• Grant funding landscape and grant writing tips from ABACBS leadership

• Investigator grant success stories from fellows and researchers

• An expert review panel with diverse research experiences to judge pitches and discuss career pathways

• Opportunities to build a supportive peer grant-review network

Travel Scholarship

All scholarship applicants will be assessed and ranked. The top three ranked applicants will each receive a $500 travel scholarship, while the next three ranked applicants will receive a full refund of their early-bird EMCR Funding Futures registration fee.

 How to apply:

1.     Register for Funding Futures event & ABACBS 2026 

2.     Apply for the Funding Futures scholarship using the link below.

 Organising Committee

 ·      Alex de Sá (University of Queensland, QLD)

Emma de Jong (The University of Western Australia, WA)

Kathy Huang (University of Melbourne, VIC)

Katrina Mitchell  (University of Melbourne, VIC)

Luis Lara Gonzalez (Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, VIC)

Manoharan Kumar (James Cook University, QLD)

Mikaela Barresi (RMIT University, VIC)

Pedro Baldoni (WEHI, VIC)

Rafael Peres (The Kids Research Institute, WA)

Sagrika Chugh (St. Vincent's Institute of Medical Research, VIC)