STEM Equity Monitor

Gender equity in research funding outcomes in STEM and other fields

Two datasets show research funding of chief investigators and partner investigators.

Datasets used in these visualisations were provided by:

  • Australian Research Council (ARC)
  • National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC).

These datasets show the number of women and men applying for ARC and NHMRC funding, as well as the success rate of women and men researchers in STEM and other fields.

 

Research grant funding outcomes

Explore the interactive dashboard

You can use this interactive data to see how many chief investigators and investigators applied for and received funding across years.

Source: Australian Research Council (ARC) unpublished 2026, National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) 2026 (unpublished)

Learn more about the data

The Power BI dashboards in the monitor present data in different formats, including charts, graphs and tables. You can customise these dashboards based on what you're interested in.

  • Filter the data: Click the options on the left side of each dashboard and make your selections.
  • Find more information about a specific data point: Hover your cursor over the dashboard to reveal more information, such as counts or percentages, if available.
  • Reset the page to its original selections: Click the button labelled ‘Refresh to default view’ in the bottom left corner of the page.
  • Move between different pages in a dashboard: Click the buttons along the top of the dashboard, if available.

The ARC and NHMRC supplied this data. The datasets show the number of chief investigators and investigators who were named on applications, as well as application outcomes each year. Investigators may be double counted if they are involved in multiple research projects within the same year.

The original datasets included people whose gender was neither woman or man, or whose gender was not known. This data is not included here due to small sample size. This means proportion of all applicants in the visualisation above is calculated from only women and men.

We define whether data falls in STEM, non-STEM or health research fields on our methodology page. Some researchers working in health or non-STEM research fields may still hold STEM qualifications or work in a STEM occupation.

Users who prefer a STEMM definition (science, technology, engineering, mathematics, medicine) should select research from STEM fields and research from health fields together in the visualisation above. Users who prefer ‘field of research’ not to be grouped as STEM, non-STEM or health should select all fields in the visualisation above.

Data available in the visualisation above for 2015 to 2022 uses the 2-digit Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC), 2008 edition. This is the previous time series and will not be added to in future. For 2022 ARC data only, and for the purposes of this exercise, outcomes announced under ANZSRC 2020 were allocated back to ANZSRC 2008 at the 2-digit level of the classification.

For data from 2023 onwards, the visualisation uses the 2-digit ANZSRC, 2020 edition for both ARC and NHMRC data.

Read more about our methodology and this data.

Data insights

In 2025, fewer women than men applied for grant funding for research in STEM fields. This is similar to 2024 and previous years.

All research relies on using STEM skills. The breakdowns shown here are by the topic of the research itself. Research in STEM fields is shown separately to research in health and non-STEM fields to understand the similarities and differences in outcomes between these fields.

Across research in all STEM fields in 2025, 27% of applicants for ARC funding were women and 39% of NHMRC applicants were women.

As fewer women than men applied, fewer women than men gained funding. For example:

  • 622 women received ARC funding for research in STEM fields, with 498 as chief investigator. In comparison 1,697 men received ARC funding, including 1,271 as chief investigator.
  • 184 women received NHMRC funding for research in STEM fields, with 78 as chief investigator. In comparison, 277 men received NHMRC funding, including 107 as chief investigator.

Success rates for women and men applying for funding for research in STEM fields were similar and each increased from 2024 to 2025. For example: 

  • 33% of women investigators who applied for an ARC grant for research in STEM fields in 2025 were successful, up from 24% in 2024. In comparison, 33% of men were also successful, up from 22% in 2024.
  • 32% of women chief investigators who applied for an ARC grant for research in STEM fields in 2025 were successful, up from 24% in 2024. In comparison, 32% of men were also successful, up from 22% in 2024.
  • 15% of women investigators who applied for an NHMRC grant for research in STEM fields in 2025 were successful, up from 14% in 2024. The success rate for men also increased from 14% to 15% in 2025.
  • 17% of women chief investigators who applied for an NHMRC grant for research in STEM fields in 2025 were successful, up from 15% in 2024. In comparison, 16% of men were also successful, up from 14% in 2024.

There was a higher proportion of women among applicants for funding for research in health fields than in STEM fields. For health-related research in 2025:

  • women represented 50% of ARC applicants and 49% of NHMRC applicants
  • women were named as chief investigators on 52% of ARC applications and 50% of NHMRC applications.