Category: News

Research Australia to host Pre-Election Summit

Later this month Research Australia will be using our unique convening power to bring together key representative organisations from across the health and medical research pipeline to identify the key issues that unite us as we approach the next federal election.

Our inaugural Pre-Election Summit will be held at Old Parliament house in Canberra, on 27 March. As the national convenor of the health and medical research sector, Research Australia will capture the issues our sector wants commitment to – from a future Australian Government of any political persuasion.

Some of the issues to be discussed on the day will include:

  • A bipartisan commitment to the Medical Research Future Fund reaching $20b in funds under management by 2021.
  • Sustainable, predictable research and development tax-incentives.
  • A renewed commitment to strengthening Australia’s international attractiveness as a destination for clinical trials
  • A bipartisan commitment to the national roll-out of My Health Record and the secondary use of deidentified My Health Record data for research purposes.

Research Australia will be sharing the outcomes of the event in the news section of this website after the conclusion of the event.

Low Survival Cancers and Diseases (LSCD) Grant Opportunity

The National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) has announced a new funding opportunity through the Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) with a Low Survival Cancers and Diseases (LSCD) Grant Opportunity.

The competitive grant opportunity will provide support for clinical trials that address low survival cancers and diseases. Applications to this grant opportunity must propose a single clinical trial that aims to improve survival rates for Australians with a low survival cancer or other disease.

Applications for the grant open today, please visit the NHMRC website for more information on the opportunity including key dates, grant guidelines and details on how to apply.

Major MRFF Announcements

There has been some big news coming out of Canberra in the last few days, with two major announcements regarding the Medical Research Future Fund.

“Million Minds” health mission to focus on mental health

Earlier today, the Minister for Health announced a National ‘million minds’ Health Mission, focusing on mental health, to be funded from the MRFF. The plan for the Mission is to be developed ‘over the next six months’, including details of what the MRFF will fund. This follows on the Brain Cancer mission announced last year.

$2.5 million announced for National Action Plan for endometriosis

The Federal Government has announced that $2.5 million will be available for a targeted call for research into the diagnosis and treatment of endometriosis. The funding was announced by the Health Minister on 2 March 2018 as part of the Government’s development of a National Action Plan for Endometriosis.

Please visit the MRFF Funding Announcements page for more information about these and other MRFF funding announcements.

Submission to the Review of the ACNC legislation

Research Australia has made our submission to the Review of the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission legislation.

The changes proposed by the Commissioner include extending his power to determine what is effective use of charities’ resources.

Research Australia believes the legislation is working well and there is no reason to amend the Act.

Please click here to read our submission in full.

 

Save The Date! 2018 Health & Medical Research Awards

Research Australia is pleased to announce that the 2018 Health and Medical Research Awards will be held in Sydney on Thursday 8 November.

Research Australia invites you to join us for the 16th installment of our annual Health & Medical Research Awards to celebrate the best of Australian health and medical research. Our Awards bring together the Who’s Who of the health and medical research pipeline, including researchers, government, health corporates, pharmaceutical companies and consumer interest groups to honour our Award recipients.

It will be a night to hear from our sector leaders, catch up with colleagues and old friends, exchange stories and reflect on the year’s achievements. Keep an eye out on the Research Australia website in coming weeks for more information about each Award and how to nominate.

For now, please Save The Date in your diary so you don’t miss this night of nights.

When: Thursday 8 November, from 6.30pm
Where: Sofitel Darling Harbour – Sydney, NSW
Dress: Black Tie

Please keep an eye on the Awards page for information on nominations, which will be opening shortly.

For more information about any aspect of this year’s Awards, contact the Research Australia team via email admin@researchaustralia.org or phone 02 9295 8546.

We look forward to seeing you there.

Review of the ACNC legislation

It seems hard to believe the ACNC has been with us for five years. For many charities, including the large number active in health and medical research, the drawn-out process around the creation of the ACNC, the new registration and reporting requirements, and the prospect for several years of it all being unwound seem much more recent.

Nonetheless, the ACNC Act requires the review of the legislation be undertaken after five years and this is now happening. The Terms of Reference, available from the Treasury website are fairly open ended and straightforward, seeking input in a range of areas. Submissions to the Review are due by 28 February.

In an interesting development the newly appointed ACNC Commissioner, Dr Gary Johns, has already made a submission to the Review, which is publicly available.

In a move that has raised concerns in many circles in the not for profit sector, Dr Johns has proposed that he be given additional powers to:
(a) promote the effective use of the resources of not-for-profit entities; and
(b) enhance the accountability of not-for-profit entities to donors, beneficiaries and the public.

In the past Dr Johns has been critical of charities that participate in advocacy, and many in the sector are seeing this proposal as a move by the ACNC Commissioner to take greater control of the activities that charities undertake. This comes at the same time that a Bill before Parliament seeking to improve transparency in relation to political lobbying has the potential to impose additional red tape on charities that engage in a broad range of ‘political expenditure’. (The ACNC Commissioner has criticised these measures in a submission to the Senate Inquiry.)

If your organisation is a charity, you may want to consider making a submission to the review of the ACNC legislation and responding to the Commissioner’s proposals. Research Australia is considering its own position and is keen to hear from its membership. Please contact Greg Mullins, Head of Policy, on 03 9662 9420 or via email at greg.mullins@researchaustralia.org if you would like to contribute to our submission or discuss any aspect of the review.

For information about this and other government reviews, consultations and new legislation of relevance to the health and medical research sector, visit the Current Consultations page on Research Australia’s website.

 

Prestigious Japan Prize won by Australian medical researcher

Australian Laureate Professor Jacques Miller has been jointly awarded the prestigious Japan Prize for research undertaken in the 1960s that established the basic concepts underlying modern immunology and led to the development of immunotherapies which have saved countless lives around the world.

Professor Miller undertook this research while working at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute (WEHI) in Melbourne, in collaboration with American researcher Professor Max D Cooper. The Japan Prize Foundation said the work of the two winners laid “the conceptual groundwork for our understanding of nearly all fields touched by immunology.”

‘Research Australia congratulates Professors Miller and Cooper on this very significant award, recognising the extraordinary contribution they have made to science and human health’ said Research Australia CEO Nadia Levin. ‘This award is further evidence of the long history of world class health and medical research undertaken in Australia, and the contribution it makes to better human health around the world.  It is also a reminder of the need for patience. New discoveries in basic research can take decades to make an impact in the community, but when they do the benefits can be immense’.

Professor Miller is also widely regarded as the last person to discover the function of a human organ, the Thymus, and is a previous recipient of the Copley Medal of the Royal Society of London and the Prime Minister’s Science Prize (2003). Although he formally retired from WEHI in 1996 he continues to be actively involved in immunology research at the Institute.

Professor Miller becomes just the second Australian researcher to win the prize since it was first awarded in 1985, joining Professor Frank Fenner who won the award in 1988 for overseeing the eradication of smallpox.

The Japan Prize is awarded annually to scientists and engineers from around the world who have made significant contributions to the advancement of science and technology, thereby furthering the cause of peace and prosperity of mankind. More information is available at http://www.japanprize.jp/en/index.html

 

Research Australia’s response to the 2030 Plan

Research Australia welcomes today’s announcement from Innovation and Science Australia (ISA), Australia’s independent science, research and innovation advisory board, calling for the Government to enhance the national culture of innovation to help drive the country’s prosperity.

We are pleased to note that the 2030 Plan, “Australia 2030: Prosperity through Innovation”, articulates the jobs of the future and skills we need to ensure Australia’s world class research can translate into global outcomes.

Research Australia has long stated that Australia has the potential to lead and create new markets by applying cutting-edge science and technologies to new, first in world applications that improve human health. However, to achieve or even entertain these possibilities, we have to be courageous and adapt our current approach to funding to reach “an economies of scale” ideal. This includes funding for areas such as machine learning and artificial intelligence, robotics and automation, high performance computing, and of course genomics and epigenetics.

While there are some questions about the Plan’s detail, Research Australia looks forward to working through them with our membership and the Government.

Research Australia is particularly pleased to see that many of the recommendations made in our June 2017 submission to ISA in response to the 2030 Strategy Issues Paper were adopted in the report, specifically the focus on frontier technologies and embedding research in Australia’s health system.

Continue reading “Research Australia’s response to the 2030 Plan”

Research Australia welcomes additional rare cancers and rare diseases research

The Government has today announced an $69 million boost in funding for research in to rare cancers and rare diseases, including $26 million allocated to 19 projects as a part of the Medical Research Future Fund’s “Rare Cancers, Rare Diseases and Unmet Needs Clinical Trials Program”. This program has been expanded from $13 million when announced last year to $26 million in recognition of the quality of the applications received.

A $10 million targeted call for research into rare diseases and cancers is expected soon, and an additional $33 million will be made available in the next financial year to further expand research in this area.

Research Australia welcomes the additional funding, and recognises the importance of funding for these areas which impact many Australian families.

Last year Research Australia made a submission to the Senate Select Committee Inquiry into Funding for Research into Cancers with Low Survival Rates, which you can read in full here.

You can keep a track of all of the Medical Research Future Fund funding announcements here, or click here to read the Minister for Health’s full statement on today’s funding boost.

 

Corporate Giving And Innovative Research Have The Greatest Impact

Commitment, support and passion are hallmarks of organisations making a difference and this is even more significant when it’s to fight a devastating childhood cancer.

With very few treatment options and no cure yet, diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG) is a devastating childhood cancer, that is highly aggressive and difficult to treat due to the location of the tumor. The only way is through expensive medical research.

At a gala event in Melbourne last Thursday, the national advocacy body, Research Australia awarded the QBE Foundation the Leadership in Corporate Giving Award for amazing support of The Kids’ Cancer Project to raise funds to find a way to beat this terrible disease.

Continue reading “Corporate Giving And Innovative Research Have The Greatest Impact”