Leadership INSIGHTS: Issue 04

This issue of Research Australia’s Leadership INSIGHTS series, introduced by CEO and Managing Director Nadia Levin, asks three leaders to address the risks to Australian health and medical research uncovered by COVID-19 and how the sector can excel after the pandemic. Chris Hancock AM, Chief Executive Officer of AARNet, examines the vulnerability of medical research to cyber attacks, including attacks on COVID-19 research facilities, and identifies people as the critical weakness in any security system. He argues that medical data is too powerful not to use, citing its role in the pandemic response, and calls for security awareness, mitigation planning and responsible stewardship as precision medicine increases data collection. Victoria Bowring, Chief Executive Officer of the Sanfilippo Children’s Foundation, considers how small charities funding rare disease research can maximise impact through a clear research strategy, responsive and proactive grantmaking, expert and consumer review, and sharing tried and tested processes across organisations. Alastair Furnival, Principal of Evaluate, asks whether the elevated standing of public health leaders during COVID-19 will lift the role of science in public policy, drawing on CP Snow’s ‘two cultures’ debate and Allan Bloom’s critique, and suggests the question may now be whether the public understands enough to judge whom to trust.