The purpose of all ISS Institute Fellowships is the acquisition of higher-level skills which enable the Fellow to drive leading practice and innovation in Australia. ​ It is intended that a Fellowship will provide the opportunity to identify problems, skills gaps or areas requiring innovation and enable Fellows to travel overseas to research and investigate best-practice ways of addressing these.

Fellows have the option of utilising their Fellowship funds to focus on their skills-lead research remotely via desktop leaning, networking and through meaningful connections with international experts. This could be done by video meetings, webinars, online conferences, and training, etcetera, essentially providing the follow with the gift of time. This enables a Fellow to concentrate fully on their skill/topic and area of expertise for a set period. Additionally, Fellows are able to wait until the opening of international borders to travel overseas.

Generally, it is expected once you are awarded a Fellowship, your report is to be completed within 12 months.