Development grants (GRADS)

GRADS is a funding scheme for Higher Degree by Research (HDR) students to deliver events that build personal and professional skills and/or promote engagement with the wider University community.

The scheme is facilitated by the HDR Development team within the Graduate Research School.

What's involved

Up to A$5,000 may be awarded to an eligible applicant to deliver an event for all HDR students or a nominated student group. The event must benefit HDR students by building personal and professional skills and/or promoting engagement with the wider University community. Examples might include:

inviting a guest speaker to talk about career development
organising a workshop with student/academic presenters to discuss research communication strategies
facilitating a discussion around equity and inclusion involving a designated student cohort
building connections between students in similar roles across schools and faculties (e.g. HDR representatives) to exchange experiences and find collaborators.

50

automatic

Link

Eligibility

All HDR students currently enrolled at the University of Sydney are eligible to apply. You can apply as an individual or as an organising committee comprised of HDR students.

Staff are not eligible to apply unless enrolled as an HDR student.

Value of award and inclusions

Funding amounts will vary depending on the scope and location of the event, with a maximum of A$5,000 being available per event.

keynote speaker fees and their travel costs
workshop facilitation
catering
AV support and venue hire
gifts or prizes

milestone presentation events
events for the members of your immediate research team
events aimed at personal development (skills building for one person)
events designed for entertainment only
existing seminar/workshop series or ongoing programs
co-funded events (internal or external)

50

automatic

Link

Core commitments

Funding recipients will be responsible for planning, organising, delivering and reporting on the event within agreed timelines.

attend training with HDR Development
plan, organise and deliver the event
develop marketing and communications material to promote the event
acknowledge funding and support from the HDR Development in all promotional material and during the event
monitor University email inbox for any communication from HDR Development and respond in a timely manner
inform HDR Development of any changes to approved budget and await approval before making any commitment with service providers or suppliers
inform HDR Development of the event details
disclose to HDR Development any potential or perceived conflict of interests
provide invoices to be paid by HDR Development by the deadline
collect attendee feedback at the event
submit post-event report including attendee feedback by the deadline
attend a debriefing meeting at the end of the funding round.

provide training for successful applicants around event management
provide advice upon request during implementation
assist with event promotion
attend events upon invitation
provide post-event report template
process payments upon receiving invoices
provide feedback during the debriefing meeting.

Selection process

Your application will be assessed by a selection committee and judged on:

scale of the event (events that bring students from across schools and faculties will be prioritised)
extent to which the proposed event benefits HDR student skill building and/or engagement with the wider University community
extent to which the proposed event considers equity and strategies for engaging diverse student groups
clearly articulated event logistics, including proposed dates and venues.

Alignment with HDR Capability Framework

In 2025, HDR Development introduced the HDR Capability Framework, a practical tool that supports HDR candidates in building the technical, professional and transferable skills that underpin impactful, high-quality research.

Events that align with one or more of the following capabilities will be prioritised in the selection process:

Tackles complex research challenges with fresh ideas and critical thinking.

Identifies opportunities and/or participates in interdisciplinary research to work across disciplines/research paradigms to solve complex problems.

Gains hands-on experience through internships, networking and industry collaboration.

Applies for early-stage research support to develop research and professional skills and experiences.

Key dates

Stage	Date
Applications open	Now
Applications closed	26 April 2026
Assessment and selection	From 27 April 2026
Successful applicants notified	12 May 2026
Induction workshop for successful applicants	19 May 2026
Project Management workshop	21 May 2026
Event implementation period	1 June to 30 November 2026
Mid-term catch up	26 or 28 August 2026
Deadline for submitting invoices	1 November 2026
Debriefing meeting	1 December 2026

How to apply

Application is open now. To apply, complete the online application form.

The application form asks you to include:

event title, date, duration, venue, estimated number of attendees
event description, including how it plans to build skills/connections in the HDR community and how it considers equity and strategies for engaging diverse student groups (max 300 words)
a draft budget by completing and uploading the template provided in the application form
quotes to support the budget.

You may submit one application for each event; however, you can submit separate applications for additional events, provided they are significantly different.

Next steps

If your application is successful, we'll contact you by email and you'll be invited to attend the induction and project management workshop. You'll then hold your event during the implementation period. Your event must conclude in 2026.

Invoices

Once you've been invoiced for event costs, please send these invoices to the HDR Development team at hdr.development@sydney.edu.au.

Other grant schemes

Check out the following grant schemes which are also available for the University of Sydney students:

GRADS events

Check out upcoming and past GRADS events.

Applicant's name	Faculty/ School	GRADS event name
Chuyang Zhou	ENGI	AI Across Faculties: A Student-led Forum for Interdisciplinary Exchange
Clare Meere	SCM	Listening and Storytelling as academic method
Jialing Xie	ADP	From Research to Impact: Building Cross-Sector Skills for Translational HDR Work
Rory Graham	FASS	Games beyond gaming: HDR symposium for interdisciplinary games research
Sibel Alca	FMH	Doughnuts & Drama - fill the hole in your presentation style
Sibel Alca	FMH	Money, money, money; it's a rich researcher's world
The organising committee	ENGI&FMH	HDR STEM Career Pathways Symposium
Wenhua Wu	ENGI	Future Ready: Academic Success, Industry Connections, and Career Development
Xuefei Li	ADP	Ethics Beyond the Form: Navigating Human Ethics in Cross-Disciplinary Research for HDR Students
Yining Luo	FMH	Beyond the Thesis
Zhiwei Yang	FMH	Networking 101 for Dummies

Applicant's name	Faculty/ School	GRADS event name
Andrew Gamble	FMH	Enhancing skills for visual engagement in research
Dan (Vivian) Zhu	FASS	HDR Reading Club for Team Reading and Interdisciplinary Insights
Eldrin Hermoso	BUSS	Spilling the Tea with Academics
Felicia Lie	SCIE	SUCS Symposium
Felicia Lie	SCIE	SUCS seminar series and LE FERVRE student lecture
Frank Fei	ENGI	Engineering HDR Conference 2024
Gemma Altinger	FMH	Consumer Involvement in Research Training
Leila Vatandoustsardroud	ENGI	Integrated Photonics Workshop
Qian (Eileen) Yang	FASS	Panel Discussion for Supporting First-in-Family HDR Students
Sibel Alca	FMH	Doughnuts & Drama - fill the hole in your presentation style
Sulagna Basu	FASS	Breaking Barriers and Building Bridges
Thomas De Angelis	FASS	CREATE HDR Seminar Series

Any questions?

Contact the HDR Development team at hdr.development@sydney.edu.au