Projects aiming to improve leadership equity in health care, mental health, children’s wellbeing and patient safety are among those sharing in $7.9 million in grants for research collaboration with health sector partners across Australia.
Six projects have been funded through the latest round of ³Ô¹ÏÍøÕ¾ Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Partnership Project grants commencing in 2023.
These grants support researchers to partner with policy makers and health service providers to design and deliver research that addresses health needs in our community.
NHMRC CEO Professor Anne Kelso AO said partners are vital to this research, identifying the problems, making sure the right questions are asked and working with the research teams to undertake the research and implement the results.
“Research collaboration through partnerships such as those funded today can lead directly to significant improvements in delivery, organisation and access to health services.” Professor Kelso said.
A grant of almost $1.5 million to Monash University aims to improve equity and health outcomes through research on organisational interventions to advance the representation of women in healthcare leadership. The project will be led by the Director of the Monash Centre for Health Research and Implementation Professor Helena Teede AM.
Delivered by women, led by men, a 2019 World Health Organization report, found that, while women account for 70% of the global health and social care workforce and deliver care to around 5 billion people worldwide, they remain under-represented in the most senior roles and largely segregated into lower-status and lower-paid jobs in health care. [1]
Professor Teede is an advocate for advancing women in leadership in healthcare and research and for partnership with the community, patients and carers in research and health service design. As a clinician and an academic, she holds leadership roles across health care, research and policy.
Through their grant, Professor Teede and her team will work with partners such as the Australian Medical Association, Royal Australasian College of Medical Administrators, Royal Australasian College of Physicians and Royal Australasian College of Surgeons to generate an implementation toolkit to advance leadership equity and improve healthcare.
The Partnership Project grant funding also includes:
- Almost $1.1 million for Professor Robyn Clark at Flinders University and collaborators to investigate the effectiveness of delivering virtual care for people living with chronic diseases in low socioeconomic neighbourhoods to reduce hospital admissions and improve patients’ quality of life
- Almost $1.5 million for Professor Mario Alvarez-Jimenez at the University of Melbourne and collaborators to evaluate the real world impact of digitally enhancing a large network of mental health services
- Almost $1.5 million for Professor Fiona Coyer at Queensland University of Technology and collaborators for a project seeking to eliminate harm caused by medical devices and improve patient safety.
Researchers work with partners to define research questions and undertake research that the partners then translate into improved health services for end users.
Projects funded today will be supported by 34 funding partners, which together are contributing a further $10.5 million, bringing the total investment in the collaborative research to over $18 million.
Chief Investigator | Application Title | Administering Institution | Partner Organisations | Budget |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Professor Helena Teede | Advancing Women in Healthcare Leadership – Implementation research | Monash University |
| $1,494,778 |
Professor Fiona Coyer | Eliminating harm from devices across the life span in critical illness: The DEFENCE study | Queensland University of Technology |
| $1,499,948 |
Professor Robyn Clark | safe@home: effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of telemonitoring and virtual care supported by primary care for people living with chronic disease in low socioeconomic neighbourhoods for reducing ambulance ramping, re-admission and GP clinic block | Flinders University |
| $1,096,999 |
Professor Andrew Bell | Systems Thinking with Active Implementation Research (STAIR) to prevent childhood obesity: an effectiveness-implementation trial | Deakin University |
| $1,406,918 |
Professor Mario Alvarez-Jimenez | EValuating the Impact Of DigitaLly Enhancing Australian Youth Mental Health SerVicEs (the EVOLVE project): A large scale, controlled, process and economic evaluation of a blended digital intervention | University of Melbourne |
| $1,498,290 |
Professor Catherine Sherrington | Quality coaching to implement a hospital fall prevention strategy: intervention development and evaluation in a stepped wedge trial | University of Sydney |
| $979,506 |
Total | $7,976,438 |
[1] World Health Organization. Delivered by women, led by men: A gender and equity analysis of the global health and social workforce. Human Resources for Health Observer Series No. 24. Geneva: WHO; 2019. [Available from: ].
