The Paul Ramsay Foundation (PRF) is inviting applications for its 2026 PRF Fellowship Program, offering up to $250,000 over 18 months to support individuals with bold, innovative ideas aimed at stopping disadvantage in Australia.
The Fellowship is designed for community leaders, practitioners, academics and thought leaders who are ready to explore transformative ideas that challenge conventional thinking and help shape conditions so people and communities can thrive across generations.
PRF Chief Impact Officer Carolyn Curtis said the fellowship program aimed to build a community of leaders and influencers who are collectively amplifying social change in Australia.
“We know that great ideas can come from lived experience, professional practice, or academic insight,” Ms Curtis said. “This Fellowship is about giving passionate individuals the time, resources and support to pursue ideas that could shift systems and unlock lasting change.
“We’re looking for ideas that can make a new and substantial contribution to stop disadvantage in Australia, and that are expansive on not just ‘what’ needs to change but also ‘how’ better outcomes could be achieved.”
Up to five Fellows will be selected to join a national cohort, participating in workshops, retreats and collaborative learning experiences. Fellows will receive up to $220,000 to support their work, which can be used flexibly in pursuit of their idea and strictly for the public benefit, and an additional $30,000 for personal development, including coaching support.
Fellowship topics should align with PRF’s purpose and one or more of its three strategic ambitions:
- Places and communities are connected, and imagining and leading their own futures.
- Children and young people have positive life paths free from entrenched poverty and harm.
- First Nations peoples and communities are self-determining.
Applicants must be over 18, eligible to work in Australia, and conduct their research in Australia for the benefit of Australian communities. In order to receive the funding, Fellows will need to be affiliated with a charity, not-for-profit organisation or university that is willing to ‘host’ the Fellow.
PRF strongly encourages Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples to apply.
PRF Fellows have explored topics as diverse as inequity in Australian schools, the future impact of AI on First Nations communities, and capabilities to effectively implement and sustain system reforms.
“The PRF Fellowship gave me an opportunity to explore a topic that is meaningful to me and has important wider implications for breaking cycles of disadvantage,” said 2024 PRF Fellow Jane Kohlhoff, who is working to identify ways to enhance access to evidence-based childhood mental health supports for children and families living in rural areas.
“I had the freedom to develop my Fellowship project in the way I needed. There is emphasis in the Fellowship Program on investing in the Fellows, rather than on strict deliverables. It gave me an opportunity to break my usual mold and explore different parts of my career, abilities and potential.”
Applications are open from 22 October to 19 November 2025. Interested individuals are encouraged to review the detailed guidelines, join an online information session on 30 October, and submit their application via the PRF grantee portal.
For more information, contact [email protected]
About us:
About the Paul Ramsay Foundation
PRF is a philanthropic foundation.
The late Paul Ramsay AO established the Foundation in his name in 2006 and, after his death in 2014, left most of his estate to continue his philanthropy for generations to come.
At PRF, we work for a future where people and places have what they need to thrive.
With organisations and communities, we invest in, build, and influence the conditions needed to stop disadvantage in Australia.
Find out more about how we work at www.paulramsayfoundation.org.au
Contact details:
Pia 0412 346 746
