Tag: Research Australia

Ordinary people doing extraordinary things – true advocacy!

Thank you to all those that nominated their heroes for the 2016 Research Australia Health & Medical Research Awards. 2016 has seen the highest number of nominations and the stories are amazing. We look forward to sharing some of them with you.

The Advocacy Award recognises an Australian from the community, the media, or a celebrity who has raised community awareness about the benefits of health and medical research. Which of these amazing people below will join the ranks of the prestigious Advocacy Award alumni including: Dr James O Little AO, Professor Ian Hickie AM, Li Cunxin, Stephen R Leeder, Ita Buttrose AO, OBE, Mark Beretta, Karen Livingstone and Connie Johnson & Sam Johnson

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Roadmap for Research Infrastructure

Research Australia has responded to the Capability Issues Paper provided as part of the development of a new National Research Infrastructure Roadmap. The Roadmap will guide the Australian Government’s future investment in large national research infrastructure.

Research Australia’s submission supports the consideration of international participation in Australian facilities and Australian participation in international facilities as part of the process of evaluating new research infrastructure facilities. We have supported the proposed governance principles and suggested that specific governance arrangements need to be fit for purpose for the individual proposal rather than fitting a predetermined template.

Research Australia has emphasised the importance of broadening the governance frameworks in relation to data infrastructure to consider the issues raised where the data is individuals’ health information, and made the point that legislative and cultural barriers to the better use of data need to be addressed in tandem with technological solutions.

The need to consider workforce training and capability issues as part of the broader roadmap was endorsed, as was the need to consider the full infrastructure lifecycle.

Infrastructure Roadmap submission

Big thinking for healthier futures – novel approaches to Data Innovation in HMR

Thank you to all those that nominated their heroes for the 2016 Research Australia Health & Medical Research Awards. 2016 has seen the highest number of nominations and the stories are amazing. We look forward to sharing some of them with you.

Data Innovation in Health & Medical Research Award is presented to an individual or team that has developed the most innovative method of gathering, making available, processing or interpreting data in a way that advances health and medical research. Individuals and teams from all fields of health and medical research are eligible for nomination, not just those who specialise in the manipulation of data. Innovations that provide new methodologies for research or have increased the availability of data for research are encouraged. This new Award is being presented for the first time in 2016.

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R&D Tax Incentive- proposed reduction opposed

As part of the Budget Savings (Omnibus) Bill 2016, the Government has once again introduced a measure to reduce the rate of the R&D Tax Incentive by 1.5%. Research Australia has made a submission to the Senate Economics Legislation Committee opposing this measure, as we have done previously.

The reduction will have the greatest impact on small companies who are in receipt of the refundable tax offset. While the 1.5% reduction is intended to reflect the recent reduction in the tax rate for small companies and is there supposedly ‘tax neutral’ the reality is that these small research intensive companies are running at a loss and not paying tax, so they will be adversely affected. Large companies will also be adversely affected because the mooted tax reductions for large companies have not yet been legislated.

The Government has yet to release the report of the Review it commissioned in 2015 into the operation and effectiveness of the R&D Tax Incentive.

R&D Tax Incentive Submission

New Poll: Australian’s will share their personal health data if privacy protected

Media Release: Wednesday, 7 September 2016

Some 91 per cent of Australians would be willing to share their de-identified medical data if it went towards research purposes.

That’s just one of the important findings from a Roy Morgan Research poll conducted on behalf of Research Australia as part of their annual national Australia Speaks study.

“What scientists and researchers need is data to develop new treatments and to track changes in the rise and fall of diseases over time,” said Research Australia CEO, Nadia Levin.

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Influencing and collaborating – these clinicians lead research to deliver better outcomes

Thank you to all those that nominated their heroes for the 2016 Research Australia Health & Medical Research Awards. 2016 has seen the highest number of nominations and the stories are amazing. We look forward to sharing some of them with you.

The Health Services Research Award recognises an individual who has made an outstanding contribution to health services research, provided leadership in health services research, undertaken research that has led to a significant improvement in healthcare, or championed the development of the health services research field. Which of these amazing people below will join the ranks of the prestigious Health Services Research Award alumni including: Prof Robert Sanson-Fisher AO and Prof Jeffrey Braithwaite

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New poll with new message for new Government: Australians want to see medical research prioritised and medical breakthroughs a reality

Media Release: Monday 5 September 2016

A new poll released has revealed 87 per cent of Australians support the Federal Government’s Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF).

The Roy Morgan Research poll conducted for Research Australia, also shows 78 per cent of Australians believe the MRFF will lead to better health outcomes.

“It is clear there is significant support for the Medical Research Future Fund and Australians want to see it become a reality,” said CEO of Research Australia, Nadia Levin.

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Review of NHMRC funding programs

The NHMRC CEO Professor Anne Kelso has appointed an Expert Advisory Group to provide advice and assistance to the NHMRC in undertaking a Review of Funding Programs. A Consultation Paper was issued in July and was followed by a series of public forums in August.

Research Australia has made a submission in response to the Consultation Paper supporting the proposal for two streams of grants, one which emphasises the researchers’ track record and the other on the research proposal. The submission proposes that the limit on the number of Chief Investigators be removed and does not support a fixed duration of 5 years for grants. Research Australia supports the proposal for early career people grants with a research component, and recommends that a Fellowship Program independent of Team or Investigator grants be retained, particularly for researchers who participate in and support multiple research projects and would be adversely affected by the proposed caps on the number of grants a person can apply for or hold.

NHMRC Review

Early career researchers make their mark with high impact work

Nominations for the 2016 Research Australia Health & Medical Research Awards are now closed and we would like to take this opportunity to thank all those that nominated their heroes. 2016 has seen the highest number of nominations for the Awards and the stories are amazing. We look forward to sharing some of them with you.

We start with a small selection of nominations for the Griffith University Discovery Award. This Award recognises an early career researcher (anytime from qualification but no more than 5 years past PhD or research higher degree) whose paper, patent or discovery has already demonstrated its importance or impact.  Which of these amazing people below will join the ranks of the prestigious Discovery Award alumni including: Dr Jeff Holst, Dr Sarah Whittle, Dr Mark S Pearson, Dr Oliver Baumann, Dr Motoko Koyama, Dr Franziska Bieri, Dr Genevieve Healy and Dr Andrew Gardner.

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$1.277 billion transfer for Medical Research Future Fund: Australian Government puts innovation money where its mouth is

Media Release: Friday 26 August 2016

Australian health and medical researchers have welcomed a significant step to secure Australia’s health and medical research future.

The transfer of $1.277 billion to the Medical Research Future Fund Special Account is being read by the sector as words in action.

“This is Prime Minister Turnbull and Health Minister Ley doing exactly what they said they would do – build our health system and build an innovation nation,” said CEO of Research Australia, Nadia Levin.

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