2026 Australian Government Fellowships

The Australia Awards Fellowships program is a competitive grants program providing short-term development opportunities in Australia that develop influential networks to advance development outcomes in partner countries by:

• increasing the capacity of mid-career and senior officials in the region who are positioned to lead priority development and foreign affairs outcomes in partnership with Australia
• developing and strengthening institutional partnerships and people-to people links across the region and beyond between Australian and overseas counterpart organisations.

Table of Content

• Summary
• Benefits
• Requirements
• Application Deadline
• How To Apply

Summary

• Application DeadlineJanuary 19, 2026
• ValueUp to a maximum of $517,500 per Fellowship
• Study LevelPostdoctoral Fellowships
• SponsorAustralian Government
• Eligible CountryAll Countries

Benefits

Successful applicants will receive funding up to a maximum of $517,500 per Fellowship. The maximum amount of funding available per Fellow is $34,500 inclusive of in-partner country(ies) activities and program overhead fee.

Each application is limited to 15 DFAT funded Fellows.

• Category Number of Fellows Total Funding Maximum funding per Fellow 1 x Fellow @ $34,500 $34,500 Maximum
• Funding per Fellowship 15 x Fellow @ $34,500 $517,500

Requirements

To be eligible, all Fellows nominated by AHOs must:

• be a minimum of 18 years of age at the time of commencing the Fellowship;
• not be an Australian citizen or be applying for Australian citizenship -this includes dual citizenship where one of the citizenships is Australian
• not have Australian permanent resident status or be applying for Australian permanent residency;
• be a citizen of and residing in an eligible developing country. The Fellow’s country of citizenship and residency may differ;
• not be current serving military personnel;
• not be married or engaged to, or be a de facto of a person who holds, or is eligible to hold, Australian or New Zealand citizenship or permanent residency;
• have been working in their country of citizenship or residency and in an area relevant to the Fellowship activities preceding the date of the proposed commencement of their Fellowship;
• be able to satisfy all requirements determined by the Department of Home Affairs for a visa;
• be able to participate in the nominated Fellowship activities at the time and for the full duration proposed by the AHO, except in exceptional circumstances, where approved by the GSU and DFAT;
• be able to travel without family members as DFAT will only fund and provide visa support letters for individual Fellows, not their family members;
• have an adequate level of English language ability to be able to fully participate in the program, including an ability to complete the Fellow’s Completion Survey at the conclusion of their Fellowship.
  • Note: AHOs are responsiblNote: AHOs are responsible for ensuring Fellows have an adequate level of English language ability or must implement appropriate measures to enable Fellows to fully participate in and benefit from the Fellowship activities (e.g., translation services).
  • DFAT does not recommend using translation services for Multi-country Fellowships where use of translation services may compromise learning outcomes or where English language capabilities differ substantially amongst Fellows.
• If successful in their application, AHOs should consult with the relevant Australian Embassy or High Commission in their selection of candidates for Fellowships (in some instances, the Embassy or High Commission may be able to identify as high calibre potential Fellows).

Check also:
ANU Australian Government Research Training Program (RTP) Stipend Scholarship 2026
University of Canberra Research Scholarships 2026

Application Deadline

How To Apply

• Fellowship applications must be submitted online via SmartyGrants.

For more information, kindly visit Australian Government webpage.