The Sylvia and Charles Viertel Charitable Foundation was established by Charles Viertel to benefit organisations or institutions involved in medical research into diseases along with the alleviation of hardship of the aged and the sick.

Applications are invited for a five-year Senior Medical Research Fellowship valued at $275,000 per annum to be held in Australia to commence in 2025. The Trustees award at least two (2) Fellowships each year at their discretion.  Additionally, the Foundation is collaborating with Bellberry Ltd to offer an extra (3) Fellowships each year.  The Bellberry-Viertel Fellowship will have the same value and be offered on the same terms as the other two Fellowships each year.

The Foundation intends to award at least one fellowship to an eligible female applicant. 

The Fellowships are an integral part of a scheme that is intended to provide both salary and project grant support for outstanding Australian medical researchers. The total value of the award is $1,375,000. Applicants cannot hold another full-time salary grant. 

Outstanding researchers who are medically qualified or graduates of another scientific discipline, with recognised postdoctoral achievements seeking to establish a research career in Australia and undertake research in an Australian academic institution, are eligible to apply whether or not they are currently working in Australia. Applications will be judged on the basis of merit and excellence in competition with other applications. 

Eligibility

The Senior Medical Research Fellowship is an integral part of the Foundation's intention to provide salary and project grant support for outstanding medical researchers in Australia in the fields of medical science and public health. 

Eligibility for a Senior Medical Research Fellowship will require the following:

• The applicant is medically or scientifically qualified to at least the postdoctoral level. 
• The applicant has been working at a postdoctoral level for less than ten (10) years (doctorate received after 1 January 2014) and does not currently hold a senior research or teaching position. The Medical Advisory Board and the Trustees reserve the right to take into consideration exceptional circumstances during the ten year period. Examples of exceptional circumstances include maternity leave and major illness. The applicant must provide proof of their research doctorate award from their University. 
• The applicant is sponsored to undertake the Fellowship research in an Australian institution. 

The applicant is an Australian national or permanent resident. Applicants shortlisted for interview will need to provide proof of their status. 

The Foundation will consider applications where Ethics Approval has been sought. Applicants shortlisted for interview will need to provide proof of ethics approval having been sought and/or approved. No award will be made until ethics approval has been granted by the Institutional Ethics Committees for Human Research and/or Animal Experimentation as appropriate. 

• Email: charities@eqt.com.au