National Foundation for Australia-China Relations 2025-26 Grants Program

The Foundation's grant program aims to promote and coordinate enhanced cooperation between Australia and mainland China, Macau, Hong Kong and/or Taiwan, supporting Australia's national interests and the Australia-China Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.

The Foundation will host 2 virtual information sessions targeted at first-time grant applicants or those with limited grant application experience. These will be held on 11 June (English) and 12 June (Chinese). Information and registration is available on the Foundation's website.

The following objectives will guide this grant opportunity:

• Strengthening risk-informed institutional and people-to-people connections and practical cooperation with mainland China, Macau, Hong Kong and/or Taiwan in Australia's national interest.
• Building Australian capability to engage.
• Showcasing Australian excellence.
• Enhancing dialogue and exchange that contributes to a stable and constructive relationship.

This scheme's UQ Indirect Costs rate is 0%, as noted in the UQ Indirect Costs Variation Register.

Global Partnerships supports the Global Engagement Framework. The Global Strategy and Partnerships (GSP) team welcome enquiries to identify potential partners in China.

Overview

Eligibility

Please consult the grant guidelines for the eligibility of your project.

Funding

• It is anticipated most grants will be valued between $100,000 and $500,000, but this does not preclude some grants being more or less than this amount. Grants may be up to 4 years in duration.
• Grants cannot be used for your organisation's fixed or recurrent expenditure. This includes fees for using equipment, facilities and other costs that your organisation may charge you. Grants cannot be used to contribute to capital expenditures and equipment. The grant cannot be used for ongoing salary costs of staff not working directly on the grant activity. Costs can be sought to employ a resource specifically to deliver the grant.  For further details, please refer to the grant guidelines.

How to apply

All applications must be submitted electronically by the applicant using DFAT's SmartyGrants online application form by 12pm AEST 30 June 2025.

The Global Strategic Partnerships (GSP) team will provide a letter of support template (if required by the funding body). If requesting the UQ letter of support, application cover sheet template must be completed by the applicant. The templates and documents, including a brief UQ capacity statement and information on UQ’s engagement in the country of your application, can be found under Key Resources on this page.

Email the Global Strategy Partnerships team to request a letter of support by COB 19 June 2025 (If required by the funding body). Please allow 7 working days for the GSP team to process the letter of support.