GA2.0 Fellowship Scheme

Call for Expressions of Interest

Genomics Aotearoa is establishing a Fellowship scheme to lift the capability building initiated during the first funding period to the next stage. This Fellowship scheme intends to support the careers of our cohort of key, transformative early-career researchers and at the same time ensure that GA’s projects are cutting-edge, disruptive, and transformative. Our vision with this scheme is to empower outstanding early-career researchers to become influential leaders advancing cutting edge genomics and bioinformatics for the benefit of Aotearoa New Zealand.

The first call for Expressions of Interest is open now and closes on 17 June 2026.  

Check out the table below for an overview.  

For more details and the template to submit an expression of interest, please download the files linked underneath the table.  

The co-Directors will answer questions from interested candidates at 4 pm on 5 June 2026 - directly after the 3 pm GA Seminar (They will stay online on the same zoom link as the seminar). 

Links to relevant files:

CV Templates

Q&A

The following questions were asked and answered in the Q&A session on June 5th or via e-mail. 

Q: Could you please clarify the award amount and relation to FTE?
The award amount of $115,000 for annual salary support is an “up to” amount relative to the FTE and the salary scale of the applicant at their organisation. The maximum was set based on the top level of the University of Otago’s salary scale for research fellows. Individuals with salaries beyond $115K per year who want to work between 0.5 and 1.0FTE on the Fellowship would need to demonstrate good value for the FTE being proposed.

For example, a candidate with an annual salary of $115,000 could be funded for 1.0 FTE + up to $115,000 per year in overheads. If they were only committing 0.5 FTE, they would be funded for $57,500 per year + up to $57,500 per year in overheads. A candidate with an annual salary of $100,000 would be funded at that level at up to 1.0 FTE. 

Q: Is there a set start date for the Fellowships? What is the latest possible start date?
A: Start dates can be from about a month after the Board has approved funding of individual Fellowships, later start dates can be agreed upon. All Fellowships need to wrap up at least two months prior to GA’s current funding period which ends on 30 June 2030. 

Q: Are all four fellows going to be selected this year?
A: Probably not, however, it is possibile if four exceptional applications are presented to the Board. 

Q: What are the criteria for the selection for which EOIs go through to full proposals?
A: All of the criteria are in the guidance document. We will be checking through to make sure that anything that we send through for assessment, does actually meet the criteria that we laid out. 

Q: Regarding the process: after the expression of interest and full submission, this leads into the Board meeting - is the final decision up to that? 
A: Yes, correct. Only full proposals that have done well in internal and external assessments will be put to the Board, so candidates have a good chance if they get to that point – the Board will make the final decision though. 

Q: What is the balance of assessment between the CV, in terms of the quality of the applicant, and the quality of the proposal?
A: We are looking at all EOIs on a case-by-case basis. We are trying to focus on providing a bridge to some of the higher level leadership fellowships from the Royal Society, or to get people into permanent positions in universities and PROs, so demonstrating the quality of the person is important. Publishing great papers is a big part of it, but the proposal also needs to stand up to scrutiny, so think carefully about your proposed project and mentor, as well as the impact of that project and links to other people, because that's what we're trying to build. The goal is to create a community of people who have all of those leadership skills that enable them to be extremely effective researchers.

Q: Will I able to let my CV mostly do the talking on my achievements and can I focus on what I am proposing in the EOI form? 
A: Really important things that need to be highlighted can be mentioned in the EOI, but the CVs will certainly be considered very closely during the EOI process, so don't duplicate all the information from your CV.

Q: What is the intended scope of the mentor? Would it make sense for the mentor to be someone that is already a mentor, so, for instance, current PI, or is the focus, to identify someone that would be helpful for building new skills?
A: The mentor demonstrates that you've got institutional support. This is someone to anchor you at your organisation, probably (but not necessarily) a somewhat senior person who is very interested in working with you, and knows you well enough to write a meaningful support section. They will provide institutional level support, and also some career mentoring as well. You could be moving to a new mentor/supervisor, however you’d want to demonstrate a fairly solid relationship with them and they’d have to be an integral part of the research you’re proposing. 

We also absolutely appreciate the need for mentoring in terms of developing new skills, and we are really keen to work with the fellows on doing that as part of the Fellowships. This could include internships and/or training in leadership topics.

Q: A lot of the language in the proposal was relating to previous or current GA programs and themes that have been ongoing. Is the focus on the last round of GA projects, or more focused on what GA are working on now? Around machine learning and AI and new tools development?
A: The focus is on themes included in our Missions (see Fellowship guidance document page 7). 

Q: When it says the fellowships should be linked to one or more GA-funded projects, is that the same as GA's strategic focus on page 7?
A: Yes. Your project doesn’t need to be exactly what is written there, rather these are the sorts of areas GA works in, which may change as priorities change. Don't worry too much about the technologies, but think about what the outcome would be, particularly in terms of benefit for New Zealand.

Q: Do the projects we are proposing have to have a link with an existing GA project?
A: We have a process for developing GA-commissioned projects, which is underway at the moment. Our first project should be contracted relatively soon, but you couldn’t align yourself currently, because we don't have any running.

The research missions describe the sort of areas of research that we have identified as priority areas for us. They are not current projects, those are things that we think would be useful for New Zealand. If your work aligns with those, or if you have a new exciting idea, don't feel like you have to worry about other projects being developed. If you propose a project and we're already developing something similar, we're going to say, we are going to connect you with others working in that space for discussions. This could lead to you being part of a project rather than in a Fellowship.

Q: Should the proposal be part of a project that’s been commissioned for development, or should it expressly not be in one of the current projects being developed? 
A: What we want to avoid is double-dipping for the same thing, but you can pitch something in your Fellowship proposal that would be additional to a GA-commissioned project, or could provide a different link to a project, or a different technology. We recognise the synergistic effects of having a team of people working on something together, so linking in with the project is a good idea, but don't propose something that's already in another project. Additionally, the proposal within the Fellowship also intends to give fellows a bit of space where they can carve out their own niche, where they can do some research that they are driving rather than the project team is driving – independent but not disconnected. 

Q: How might the FTE split work if someone is involved in a GA-commissioned project? Would the FTE fall completely under the fellowship, but you're also working on those projects? 
We are open to proposals in that space as there are many ways you could do that. We are keen to have Fellows that are involved across GA projects, as well as doing some of their own independent research, or linked research. We can be flexible about exactly how their involvement in the projects plays out. 

Q: Would a fellowship proposal focused on environmental RNA, eRNA, and metatranscriptomics be considered within the scope of the environment mission, particularly under environmental monitoring? 
A: Yes. 

Q: If I am currently employed full-time, can I apply for the fellowship and split my time between the fellowship and my current job?
A: If your position is not permanent, and your employer is able and willing to guarantee that you are available for at least 0.5 FTE for your fellowship, this would make you eligible. We don’t need a signature from your host organisation at the EOI stage, but if you are invited to submit a full proposal, that needs to go through your organisation’s research office and be signed off. 

Q: Is the fellowship only for postdocs and not for PhD students? 
A: The current call is from three years post-PhD.

Q: Is there any leniency with the 3 years postdoc minimum? Would you accept an application if I was only two years post PhD? 
Yes, we would accept an EOI. We will mainly look at research outputs to compare to other candidates. 

Q: Can I work on a conservation project?
A: All of GA’s projects need to have some economic benefit. If you are thinking about a project which has conservation as part of it, please think about it in terms of benefit. You would need to talk about tools and technologies which would help us reduce the cost of working with conservation species, or improve environmental concerns or decision-making, etc. Any project needs to be pitched in terms of value-benefit to New Zealand. 

Q: What level of industry or end-user partnership is expected for a strong application, and how actively does the programme help build those connections if they don’t already exist? Would this be in the proposal stage or during the tenure of the fellowship?
A: We need to be thinking about impact from GA-funded research, and so if you have industry or end-user partnerships, that is a big plus for your proposal. If you are proposing as part of that proposal to build those connections, then these will be milestones that you have to deliver on, so plans have to be realistic. The assessor group will be looking at how reasonable whatever you're proposing is.

We'll also be very keen on helping you make those connections. It is unreasonable to suggest that someone 3 years post-PhD is going to have really strong end-user connections. They might have some that can be built on, or that can be something that is developed. Having a mentor with those connections will be very helpful, because they will hopefully be able to leverage those to help you out.

Q: Is it better to provide a case that will make money, or a case that will save money, or will they be treated equally?
Either case is good and will be considered with equal priority. It’s important to be credible, and if it is around commercialisation, GA would be very keen to help support that.

The advantage of the “save money case” is if people are already spending money, you give them a way to save money. That's potentially easier to implement than, for example, setting up a new commercial venture that's going to make money. On the other hand, GA is required to support pathways to commercialisation. So if you have ideas that might set up some sort of enterprise that could make money or provide a service that is useful, then GA would be interested in hearing about that. Rather than buying a stake in it, we would support the commercialisation drive. 

Q: Rather than creating a new tools, can you use existing tools but use them in new ways and link with industry to save money?
Yes, we are supportive of applying tools in a way that works for us in New Zealand. Using pre-existing tools in smart ways,  possibly with some New Zealand specific tweaks, is a sensible and efficient way to achieve impact. Any project is likely to use a range of existing tools and possibly new tools, and new pathways and pipelines. Think broadly about how applying them in industry could achieve impact.

Q: Should fellowship projects be primarily focused on delivering applied outcomes and implementation-ready tools, or is there some scope for broader capability-building projects? For example, would the development of an interactive genomics platform for environmental monitoring be competitive on its own, or would it be expected to address a specific use case, such as surveillance of viruses in New Zealand ecosystems.
A: You would want to see good end-user support for the development of an interactive genomics platform, so you'd actually want to be able to show that there are groups or organisations that are needing this to be delivered.

GA delivers mission-led research. Our aim is to deliver impact for New Zealanders. So for your Fellowship proposal, it's really important that your research is going to make a difference for New Zealand, for our environment, for our primary production, for our health. You don’t need to necessarily deliver that impact with your project entirely, but you need to be on the route to delivering that impact.

We encourage that you link those really smart ideas with an impact. It is very possible to do extremely high-quality fundamental research, while still having your eye on impact and ensuring that you have things lined up so that you can deliver that impact. 

When the Board is looking at proposals, they'll be thinking strategically. So if you're looking at a project that is saying, basically, I'm going to build a tool, the Board will ask, “okay, who's going to use the tool? Is there a possibility that we will fund this, but then it doesn't get used? If so, that is money that has been spent that has not generated impact.” So there will be that strategic lens applied. 

Please remember, we aren't here to fund all of the exciting ideas we could have in genomics. We have a set of things which is in the guideline document, which we are focusing on. If you think about this in commercial terms, we're trying to buy expertise to help us achieve those things. We have a set of KPIs that we have to hit. What we're trying to do with these Fellowships is bring in expertise, bring in brilliant people and excellent ideas that can help us hit those KPIs.