Winning public funding for scientific research in Australia is usually a bare-knuckle business. A typical researcher will spend months every year just writing applications; peer-reviewers are brutal, and success rates for grants are often less than 10 per cent.

But since 2015, Australia has had another path. The $20 billion Medical Research Future Fund was offering hundreds of millions for scientific projects. It was heralded as a huge boost to the Australian science sector. Until now.

An investigation by The Age and Sydney Morning Herald can now reveal that this fund, created by the former Coalition government, handed out half a billion dollars worth of those grants with no competition. And some of that money was sent directly to charities who lobbied the government. 

Today, national science reporter Liam Mannix on the multi-billion dollar research fund dogged by questions about transparency, governance and value for money.