Kenneth Myer Innovation Fellowships

Overview

What are the Kenneth Myer Innovation Fellowships?

The Kenneth Myer Innovation Fellowships aim to support breakthrough solutions to Australia’s most pressing social and environmental challenges.

A Fellowship offers a unique opportunity for recipients to take 12 months, supported by $180,000, to focus on their existing projects that have the potential to achieve positive outcomes for society and the environment, supporting initiatives that align with one or more of the program themes of inclusion & equality, sustainability & environment including climate change, or human, civil & legal rights. 

Fellows receive a combination of time, resources and a program of support to help progress their existing work, and grow and scale their impact.


Who should apply for a Fellowship?

We seek a diversity of people, projects and experience and encourage individuals to submit an expression of interest.

We seek initiatives that are:

• high impact: likely to produce results, aligned with one or more of The Myer Foundation & Sidney Myer Fund’s priority areas of Inclusion & Equality, Sustainability & Environment including climate change, and Human, Civil & Legal Rights
• unique: new or different from existing approaches including applying existing approaches in new contexts or fields
• scalable and sustainable: the potential to scale up and be sustainable over time.

We seek individuals who are:

• experienced and entrepreneurial: a proven track record of achievement or traction in their field, in the subject matter and/or in the approach or initiative
• passionate and connected: a genuine commitment and passion for their cause and the network to make it happen
• collegiate and curious: broad-minded, willing to learn and able to work well with others (including your cohort of Fellows and program advisors and staff), and committed to taking up the Fellowship offering.


What is offered?

Up to $180,000 is available to each Fellow for their 12-month Fellowship comprising a stipend of $140,000 and up to $40,000 for approved project expenses. Project expenses are those directly related to the Fellowship from its commencement such as renting a separate workspace (if required), travel and contracting of external expertise, and available on a reimbursement basis.

During the 12-months, Fellows have access to a range of supports including a panel of experts, who meet quarterly, a mentor and the network of past Fellows.


What is expected of Fellows during the Fellowship?

Each year Fellows are provided with the resources of focused time and funding to explore their particular project. 

The Fellowship is not tied to specific KPIs or objectives; rather it is designed to support Fellows to progress their existing work. However, Fellows are required to do a mid-term and final presentation in support of their Fellowship.

    Application & Selection Process

    What is the application process?

    The Fellowship program invites expressions of interest (EoI) from individuals who meet the eligibility criteria. The EoI period is open for five weeks, generally from late July until early September.  Once the EoI period closes, an extensive and robust process of review commences, with Fellows confirmed in March each year. 

     

    What are the eligibility criteria?

    The applicant must:

    • be an Australian citizen or permanent resident
    • reside in Australia for the majority of the Fellowship period
    • be prepared to take a sabbatical from their current role for 12 months
    • have a proven track record of achievement
    • pursue out-of-the-box thinking and be a risk-taker
    • have an ability to turn well-formulated ideas or new approaches into action (that is, your idea must have substance to it; a good idea on its own is not sufficient)
    • have well-developed networks within an area of the proposed project.

    The proposed project must:

    • be based in Australia
    • be aligned with one or more of the program themes of Inclusion & Equality, Sustainability & Environment including climate change, or Human, Civil & Legal rights
    • have been in development for not longer than three years.


    What are the funding exclusions?

    The Kenneth Myer Innovation Fellowships program will not support the following.

    1. Projects that have been in development for more than 3 years.
    2. Benefits, fundraising events or pooled funds and re-granters (or similar).
    3. Capital or endowment campaigns.
    4. Ongoing or one-off academic research or work towards higher degrees (including by coursework or dissertations).
    5. Medical research.
    6. Initiatives focused on specific diseases.
    7. International projects.
    8. Scholarships.
    9. Sponsorships.
    10. Funding hubs or accelerators.
    11. Creative arts projects.
    12. Collaborations between a number of individuals (noting that should an initiative have co-founders, an expression of interest would only be considered from one co-founder).
    13. Projects that are focused on program or service delivery (noting that an initiative or project would be considered if it is innovative, scalable and has potential for deep and wide impact, as opposed to delivering, for example, regular activities for particular groups).
    14. Organisations (noting that the Fellowship supports initiatives that have been created by an individual; that is, supporting individual endeavour, rather than initiatives that have been created within an organisation).
    15. Education / curriculum based projects (education related to developing content or programs for pre-, primary or secondary school, university or other curriculum-based educational institutions).


    What is the application timeline?

    Monday 14 July 2025

    Expressions of interest open

    11.59pm AEST Sunday 17 August 2025

    Expressions of interest close.

    Expressions of Interest received after the closing time will not be accepted (for example, due to technical, personal or other challenges). There are no exceptions. Also, we do not accept further information from applicants once the deadline for submissions has passed.

    Week beginning Monday 20 October 2025

    Shortlisted candidates invited to prepare a detailed application

    By 11.59pm AEDT Sunday 4 January 2026

    Closing date for detailed applications from shortlisted applicants

    February 2026

    Interviews for selected candidates

    March 2026

    Confirmation of 2026 Kenneth Myer Innovation Fellow


    Recent Awardees

    2026 Kenneth Myer Innovation Fellows


    Alicia Kennedy

    Alicia Kennedy is a social-hearted veterinarian and founder of Cherished Pets. She seeks to transform the way Australia cares for its most vulnerable by embedding a Human-Animal Bond ecosystem of care (HABCare) in public and community health systems. This recognises that pets are often at the centre of people’s lives and wellbeing, and that many challenges are tied to veterinary care, and health, housing, and social support. HABCare advocates to embed connections between veterinary teams and human service agencies.

    Campbell Costello

    Campbell Costello is a veterinarian, bush pilot and founder of Bush Labs. His work seeks to address a critical gap in disease detection and biosecurity response in remote and under-resourced regions, by deploying portable polymerase chain reaction (PCR) diagnostics to a wider range of animal diseases. This will shorten diagnostic wait-times and empower local vets, producers, and health authorities to make timely informed decisions, improving disease surveillance, supporting global food systems, and strengthening animal and human health resilience.

    Zanab Malik

    Zanab is a dental specialist in Special Needs Dentistry and founder of My Special Needs Dental Home, a digital platform that will provide tailored oral care guidance, enabling carers and support workers to deliver appropriate oral care with confidence. This work seeks to embed specialist oral health expertise into daily care environments, expanding access for the 1.4 million Australians living with profound or severe disabilities who are seeking support from only 30 registered special needs dentists across Australia.
    VIEW PAST AWARD RECIPIENTS

    FAQs

    If you are invited to prepare a detailed application, you will have the opportunity to submit such materials.

    We would consider a part-time Fellowship application in circumstances where the applicant has caring responsibilities. Applicants who wish to undertake the program part time whilst maintaining full, part-time, or casual employment would not be eligible.

    The selection process is a multi-stage process taking place over a number of months. It is usually completed by the end of March each year, with new Fellows generally announced in May each year.

    Fellows will be expected to provide a mid-term report to the Kenneth Myer Innovation Fellowships Committee via a personal presentation, and to provide a completion report to the Directors of The Myer Foundation, Trustees of the Sidney Myer Fund and the Kenneth Myer Innovation Fellowship Committee via personal presentation.

    The Fellowship is a stipend that aims to cover the living expenses of the Fellow for the Fellowship year.

    An amount up to $40,000 will be available to each Fellow to cover expenditure associated with the Fellowship such as renting an office space (excluding existing spaces such as home office or if the Fellow is already renting an office or similar space), travel, convening, or purchasing of external expertise. We will not generally support professional development unless it will materially affect the development of the Fellow’s project. Applicants invited to prepare a detailed application will be asked to include an estimated project budget. 

    Expressions of interest for the 2026 Kenneth Myer Innovation Fellowships program will close at 11.59pm AEST on Sunday, 17 August 2025. Expressions of Interest received after the closing time will not be accepted (for example, due to technical, personal or other challenges ). There are no exceptions. Also, we do not accept further information from applicants once the deadline for submissions has passed.

    Applicants are asked to identify outputs and outcomes expected from their Fellowship as part of the detailed application process.

    Fellows will have access to a support panel of experts, an individually matched mentor and specialist pitch training, as well as to a network of 33 alum. They will also be supported by program staff of The Myer Foundation and Sidney Myer Fund.

    The main responsibility of each Fellow is to develop the various aspects of their project. We ask Fellows to commit to the Support Panel meetings and trainings offered and to provide collegiate support to each other where possible during their tenure. Upon completion we ask Fellows to participate in an alumni event and to respond to a short completion survey.

    The Kenneth Myer Innovation Fellowships program will not support the following.

    1. Projects that have been in development for more than 3 years.
    2. Benefits, fundraising events or pooled funds and re-granters (or similar).
    3. Capital or endowment campaigns.
    4. Ongoing or one-off academic research or work towards higher degrees (including by coursework or dissertations).
    5. Medical research.
    6. Initiatives focused on specific diseases.
    7. International projects.
    8. Scholarships.
    9. Sponsorships.
    10. Funding hubs or accelerators.
    11. Creative arts projects.
    12. Collaborations between a number of individuals (noting that should an initiative have co-founders, an expression of interest would only be considered from one co-founder).
    13. Projects that are focused on program or service delivery (noting that an initiative or project would be considered if it is innovative, scalable and has potential for deep and wide impact, as opposed to delivering, for example, regular activities for particular groups).
    14. Organisations (noting that the Fellowship supports initiatives that have been created by an individual; that is, supporting individual endeavour, rather than initiatives that have been created within an organisation).
    15. Education / curriculum based projects (education related to developing content or programs for pre-, primary or secondary school, university or other curriculum-based educational institutions).
    • See also Funding Exclusions on the Kenneth Myer Innovation Fellowships page here. 

      No. Proposals must align with one or more of these areas.

      Yes, Fellowship proposals may align with more than one of these areas.