Open application calls

Researchers can access fully funded grants of sea time on RV Investigator via three pathways: Primary, Supplementary and Piggyback Applications.

Current application calls

Call	Status	Details
Primary Applications	CLOSED	The 2023 call for Primary Applications closed on 21 May 2023. This call was for grants of sea time in the 2025-26 financial year.
Supplementary Applications	CLOSED	Confirmation and dates for any 2023 Supplementary Application call are to be advised.
Piggyback Applications	OPEN	EOI to discuss potential applications are invited for voyages in current published schedules.

Details for open application calls are available on the relevant application category page below.

Application categories

Primary Applications: A Primary Application call is used to build the Primary Voyage Schedule for each financial year. This is an annual call made two years in advance of the start of the available period.

Supplementary Applications: A Supplementary Application call is used to fill unused capacity in the Primary Voyage Schedule. This is an annual call made approximately one year in advance of the start of the available period.

Piggyback Applications: Piggyback Applications are used to fill any remaining capacity in the Voyage Schedule or where projects of national benefit, that require little or no additional resourcing, can be incorporated.

Primary Applications

The annual Primary Application call is used to allocate fully funded grants of sea time and build the Primary Voyage Schedule for RV Investigator.

Supplementary Applications

Supplementary Applications are invited to utilise available capacity in the Primary Voyage Schedule.

Piggyback projects

Piggyback projects use the existing resources allocated to a voyage and can be added with the support of the Chief Scientist and approval from the MNF.

Application assessment

All applications for sea time, irrespective of access Stream, are assessed against criteria under two merit principles: Research Quality and Research Benefit.

Find out more

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