R&D Career Grants: Resource hub

This means that the business must have:

• • an in-house R&D programme
  • a recent history of R&D activities over the preceding year and an R&D plan for the upcoming year; and
  • a minimum of one R&D full time equivalent (FTE) employed by the business.

See our guide to describing your R&D. 

This means that the business must be able to provide financial information that demonstrates that the business is expected to be viable for at least the next six months.

Depending on the size and capability of its R&D team, a business may receive multiple R&D Career Grants at one time. Read our guide on the number of students per business for more information.

Two current R&D Full Time Equivalent (FTE) staff are required for each student and this 2:1 ratio applies regardless of the type of student grant (Fellowship Grant, Career Grant or Experience Grant). R&D FTE can include both contracted and permanent employees who are doing R&D as part of their role and can be cumulative eg 2 x 0.5 R&D FTE = one R&D FTE.

The exception is when the business has only one R&D FTE - in this case one student can be applied for. 

Yes. There is no rule that prevents several businesses within a group from applying for a Career Grant. However, each business entity within the group must apply separately for the student they are employing and will sign separate funding agreements. The business who applies must be the business who employs the student, provides payslips and invoices for reimbursement.

No. The R&D Career grant application is student-specific. You need to have identified the student first and be able to provide evidence from the tertiary institution of their course completion/thesis submission within the last 12 months. 

No. All students must be PAYE employees for the duration of the grant. This includes employment on a fixed term six-month contract so long as the student is on the company’s payroll for PAYE.

Yes. The student must work full-time at the business as a paid employee for at least six months. For clarity, we consider full-time employment to be a minimum of 32 hours per week.

They must be located primarily at the business’ premises, not at a university or at home, as the key to these grants is giving students exposure to a working R&D environment.

Yes. If the student has worked in the business or industry as a paid employee in a role that is related to their area of study, they are ineligible for this grant, unless this employment was on a temporary or part-time basis or based at a tertiary organisation.

Yes. The student can have worked in the business previously so long as this was a temporary position for less than three months. If the student has been working in the business as a paid employee in a role related to their Masters/PhD for more than three months on either a full-time or part-time basis, they are ineligible.

Note: The student remains eligible for an R&D Career grant if they have worked in the business solely as an R&D Experience grant student for no more than two internships eg for 10 weeks in 2023/2024 and again in 2024/2025.

No. The student cannot already be employed by the business on a permanent contract at time of application submission.

NZQA Level 9 or 10 (eg PhD, a named doctorate, master’s degree).

The student needs to provide evidence from the tertiary institution that they have either submitted their thesis for examination or completed course requirements within the 12 months prior to submission of the grant application. This could be in the form of, for example, a transcript, submission receipt or a confirmation email.

So long as all other eligibility criteria is met, some international students may be eligible for an R&D Career provided they received their master’s or PhD from a New Zealand university, and they have a valid visa allowing them to work in New Zealand for the duration of the placement.

The business is responsible for ensuring that the graduate can legally work in New Zealand before they start work.

Yes, provided they fulfil other criteria.

There are several sites and job boards dedicated to university talent and internships. Please see Job Boards on the website.

If circumstances change it is very important that you advise us. We’ll consider the impact of the changes on the grant criteria and discuss these with you.

Standard term of the contract is six months; however, the actual documented term is eight months to reduce the need for contract extension requests (e.g. due to annual leave).

The start date of the grant cannot be backdated to a date that is prior to submission of the application. The start date will usually be the Monday of the week of application approval. 

There is no obligation for the company to retain the student beyond the six-month contract.

Maximum amount of grant funding (excl GST) is $30,000 (Masters student) or $35,000 (PhD student) but may be a lower amount if the student graduate is being paid less than $60,000 pa (Masters student) or $70,000 pa (PhD student). 

Example: Salary is $56,000 so maximum funding available is $28,000 based on six months’ salary. 

If the business chooses to pay the student a higher salary, they must still claim the funding over the six-month term.

Example: Salary for Masters student is $120,000 pa and maximum funding available is $30,000. The amount of $30,000 is claimed over the six month term (i.e. the $30,000 cannot all be claimed within the first three months of the contract).

The business must provide progress reports to Callaghan Innovation and a final report about the student’s involvement in the project. These reports are short and in the form of survey questions. From time to time, we may require the business and student to complete a survey after the completion of the grant. This survey helps to inform the design of future R&D grants.

Claims can be submitted monthly in the online portal and the following information is required to be uploaded:

• • Copies of payslips for the period being claimed
  • A Tax Invoice from the business  
  • A brief progress report from the business covering any Issues and risks with each claim 
  • A final report from the business with the final claim

Please see copy of the Funding Agreement in the Resource Hub for further details. 

The business is the primary contact; however, the student may also contact us at any time to discuss issues related to the grant and/or the project.

New customers, please contact our Customer Support team.

For existing customers, reach out to your contact person at Callaghan Innovation or email customersupport@callaghaninnovation.govt.nz.

No. Only one user has the ability to complete an application in the online portal. This means that the user who starts an application in Forge is the only person who can edit and complete it. If other people in your organisation are contributing to the application, they will need to provide this information to the initiating user to include in the application. The word version of the application form found in the Resource Hub on the website may be helpful in these circumstances as a reference for other users - application form.

Yes. Because demand is high, we’re prioritising funding for businesses with students who are ready to get started on their projects right away. That said, if you need a later start date, we can work with you as long as it’s within 30 days of submitting your application.

No. If you have received or been approved for student grant funding in the last three years, you are not eligible to apply for the New to R&D grant. 

However, if you are approved for a New to R&D grant, you may apply for a student grant in the future.

There is no waitlist in place for Career grants.

Callaghan Innovation has a robust set of policies and procedures on confidentiality and privacy to protect information provided by grant applicants from being shared with unauthorised third parties. We are a New Zealand Government agency and the guidelines published in Maintaining Confidentiality of Government Information on the Public Service Commission website also apply. 

We are however subject to the Official Information Act 1982 and we are obliged to disclose information under that Act if requested to do so and provided there are no grounds under that Act to withhold the information. When sharing your information under an OIA request we will take reasonable steps to endeavour to protect your personal, confidential and/or commercially sensitive information, including where necessary, de-identifying and/or redacting information that is not necessary to share to meet our obligations. 

Callaghan Innovation will advise you if we receive a request under the Official Information Act 1982 or the Privacy Act 2020 for any information relating to your Funding Agreement and will consult with you before responding to the request.

If you have questions about the grant and are interested in applying, you can contact our Customer Support team.

If you have an application underway and have questions about the application form and process, you can contact your Funding Engagement Specialist directly. 

If you have questions about using the portal or if you have an approved grant and have questions about the contract and claims process, you can contact the Operations team @ FCMOperations@CallaghanInnovation.govt.nz.