Annual Report 2015–2016

GOAL 4: SUPPORT COLLABORATIVE, MULTIDISCIPLINARY APPROACHES TO
SOLVING HEALTH PROBLEMS
Support collaborative, multidisciplinary approaches to solving
health problems, including supporting Australia’s participation in
international research.
Activity 1.4 NHMRC
Corporate Plan
Support high quality health and medical research
Commencing in 2015–16, funding will be provided for the NHMRC to
support a new collaborative Program in Northern Australia. The Program,
which will be undertaken in collaboration with Austrade, will focus on the
research of tropical disease and the effective translation of this research
into health policy and practice.
Portfolio Budget
Statement—
Program 1.1: Health and
Medical Research
Program Objectives
Target 1: Promote and review management of multidisciplinary funding proposals
Corporate Plan
Promote and review management of multidisciplinary funding proposals,
ensuring that appropriate systems are in place to incorporate and assess
contributions from disciplines outside the health and medical field,
including physics, engineering and mathematics.
Work
ongoing
There has been an increasing trend toward multidisciplinary applications. NHMRC accepts all applications
addressing any health question, from basic science to health economics, and any multidisciplinary research
questions that bring together these varied and cross-cutting disciplines. The Project Grant scheme is one
of NHMRC’s key mechanisms to fund multidisciplinary research. Convening multidisciplinary grant review
panels ensures that the applications are reviewed by panel members who have the appropriate expertise.
An example is the genetics, molecular biology, bioinformatics and computational biology panel.
PART 2 Performance Report
The Northern Australia Tropical Disease Collaborative Research Program is another example of NHMRC’s
commitment to funding multidisciplinary research to address health system challenges. It funds high quality,
multidisciplinary research into the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of tropical disease. It aims to build
strong collaborations and capacity in the health and medical research workforce, and promote the effective
translation of this research into health policy and practice.
Target 2: Undertake a collaborative, multidisciplinary tropical health research
program
Corporate Plan
Work with Austrade and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
(DFAT) to ensure a coordinated approach to NHMRC’s call for applications
from consortia of research institutions to undertake a collaborative,
multidisciplinary tropical health research program by December 2015,
in order to implement an initiative in tropical health research and
translation for Northern Australia.
Work
ongoing
NHMRC convened a workshop of key stakeholders on 24 November 2015 to discuss implementation plans
for the Northern Australia Tropical Disease Collaborative Research Program, including alignment with existing
Australian Government tropical health programs.
Annual Report of the National Health and Medical Research Council 2015–2016
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