Response to the Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) Australian Medical Research and Innovation Strategy and Priorities Consultation

This submission answers the survey questions in the consultation on the Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) Australian Medical Research and Innovation Strategy 2026–2031 and Priorities 2026–2028. Research Australia supports the proposed Vision, ‘Transforming health through research excellence and lasting impact’, but asks that it commit explicitly to equity and to sovereign capability across the pipeline, citing evidence that every $1 invested in health and medical research returns about $4. It recommends strengthening the Strategic Objectives with explicit gender equity, a focus on regional, rural, remote and very remote (RRRvR) communities, funding linked to GDP rather than CPI, more grants of five years or longer, support to bridge the ‘valley of death’, clinician researcher careers and national data infrastructure. It also recommends adoption of the National Statement on Consumer Engagement in Research, intersectionality, blended capital models, restored Australian Bureau of Statistics R&D data, an Australian equivalent of the United States agency BARDA, government procurement as a ‘first customer’, and Indo-Pacific clinical trials leadership. On the nine proposed Priorities, it adds elements including ethical governance of artificial intelligence, interoperable health data, long-term investment in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander research leadership and Indigenous Data Sovereignty, sovereign manufacturing and Phase III capability for advanced therapeutics, and embedded research roles in health services. It maintains the Priority Populations are inadequate because women and girls are not mentioned, drawing on its Women’s Health Research Roadmap and its workforce, RRRvR and consumer recognition papers.