Forrest Fellowships are offered to early-stage postdoctoral researchers who have outstanding academic profiles and who have already made significant personal research contributions within and beyond their discipline. Forrest Fellows will have been among the top performing students in their undergraduate and graduate cohorts.

They will already have gained high-level research experience through studying and researching in several different institutions, and their innovative doctoral research will be recognised well beyond their current institutional home. Forrest Fellows will wish to extend their postdoctoral research well beyond the focus of their doctoral dissertation and will aim to do so in a way that builds intellectual bridges within and between disciplines. Forrest Fellows are also committed to communicating their research to others, to have a positive impact on the world around us.

To be eligible to apply applicants must be in their final year of PhD or no more than two years post PhD conferral. For applications submitted in 2026 – with Fellowship commencement in 2027 – applicants must have had their PhD conferred on or after 1 January 2024, or will have successfully completed all the requirements for the award of their PhD by 31 December 2026.

Applicants must contact a prospective mentor from one of the eligible Western Australian universities before submitting an application:

• Curtin University
• Edith Cowan University
• Murdoch University
• The University of Notre Dame Australia
• The University of Western Australia