Ten years of the life-changing Medical Research Future Fund

Today, we mark 10 years of the Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF), which has and continues to deliver life-changing medical research for Australians.
 
Over the past decade, funding from the MRFF has supported over 1690 highly promising Australian-based research projects resulting in new innovations and treatments which have transformed and saved people’s lives.
 
In 2021 the University of Melbourne’s Australian Epilepsy Project (AEP), was awarded $30 million to develop an AI clinical decision support platform for people with epilepsy and their neurologist.
 
An estimated 151,000 Australians are currently living with epilepsy, a common disabling chronic neurological condition that can impact a person’s quality of life.
 
The project has transformed the lives of people living with epilepsy like William Campbell who has lived with epilepsy since he was 12 until last year where the AEP identified surgery as a potential cure. Since William’s surgery he has lived seizure-free.
 
The MRFF is an endowment or capital preserved fund, currently valued at $24 billion. Earnings from the fund provide a perpetual stream of funding for research, with the co-existence of the MRFF and the Medical Research Endowment Account (MREA), together awarding more than $1.5 billion in research grants each year.
 
The celebration of the 10-year anniversary of the MRFF comes as the Australian Government last month released the draft of Australia’s first national health and medical research strategy.
 
The strategy, once finalised later this year, will accelerate the Australian Government’s plan to transform health and medical research and place Australia at the forefront of global health and medical innovation.
 
Quotes attributable to Minister Butler:
 
“The 10-year anniversary of the MRFF is a significant milestone and a reminder of its enduring impact on Australian health and medical research.
 
“It has already had a huge impact on the lives of Australians, with many thousands more set to benefit from groundbreaking work.
 
“The Albanese Government is proud to invest in the important work of the MRFF, driving world-class medical research right here in Australia and strengthening our global leadership in health and medical research."