Early-career researchers aiming to build a serious academic and innovation-driven career in Australia now have a powerful opportunity ahead. The Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA) 2027 is designed to support outstanding emerging scholars with generous funding, long-term stability, and the freedom to lead impactful research projects at a critical stage of their career.
For post-PhD researchers looking for a competitive edge, DECRA is more than just a grant — it is a career-launching research award that provides salary support plus up to $50,000 per year in project funding, helping recipients focus fully on producing world-class research with real national and global value.
What DECRA 2027 Offers Successful Applicants?
The DECRA scheme provides three years of focused funding support, giving early-career researchers the chance to grow into research leaders while working in high-quality academic environments. It is especially valuable for those pursuing ambitious research that addresses major gaps in knowledge and delivers benefits across economic, environmental, cultural, or social sectors in Australia.
Winning a DECRA award means gaining both financial backing and academic credibility, along with opportunities to collaborate nationally and internationally while advancing long-term career pathways in research and innovation.
Benefits and Funding Coverage Under DECRA 2027
The Discovery Early Career Researcher Award is structured to fully support researchers through salary funding and strong project-level investment. Successful applicants can receive:
- Salary and employment on-cost support for three years
- Up to $50,000 per year in project funding
- Support for research assistants, technicians, and postdoctoral staff
- Access to infrastructure, laboratories, workshops, and technical services
- Field research and essential travel costs (up to $50,000 total over the award period)
- Funding for equipment, consumables, and specialised software
- Publication, dissemination, outreach, and research impact activities
- Costs for conferences, focus groups, workshops, and collaboration events
- Reasonable essential support for researchers with caring responsibilities
This makes DECRA one of Australia’s most prestigious and practical early-career research awards available.
Eligibility Requirements (Who Can Apply?)
The DECRA 2027 award targets early-career researchers with strong potential for leadership and high-quality research contributions.
Eligible applicants must generally demonstrate:
- Outstanding early-career academic performance
- Capacity for innovative, high-impact research
- Emerging leadership and supervision capability
- Commitment to research that delivers meaningful outcomes for Australia
Applicants should also be positioned within teaching-and-research or research-only roles and be ready to lead a defined project over the full three-year period.
The application timeline for the Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA) 2027 begins with applications opening on 28 January 2026. The Request Not to Assess period will close on 25 February 2026, after which applicants must ensure their full submissions are completed before the official deadline. The last date to apply for the DECRA 2027 award is 11 March 2026.
Following the review and selection process, the anticipated funding announcement is expected to take place between 10 December 2026 and 9 March 2027, when successful applicants will be formally notified of the outcome.