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30 October 2008

Project Grants

This year NHMRC received 2697 applications, which were considered by 42 Grants Review Panels in Melbourne over a period from the 28 July – 15 August 2008. The awards were announced by the Minister for Health & Ageing, the Honourable Nicola Roxon, on 16th October, 2008. 688 new project grants were supported (26.6% of the submitted grants), including 53 New Investigator project grants (i.e., applicants for their first ever NHMRC Project Grant). 75% of the applications received were judged worthy of funding by the GRPs (that is, were nominated to Categories 4 and higher).

Fellowships

NHMRC received 229 applications for appointment in the NHMRC Fellowship scheme in 2008. NHMRC currently (in 2008) supports 346 researchers on NHMRC Research Fellowships, including 67 Senior Principal Research Fellows, 83 Principal Research Fellows, and 196 Senior Research Fellows. Five years ago, there were 275 NHMRC Research Fellows. Research Committee is currently considering whether some adjustments should be made to the scheme, particular to increase flexibility for Fellows and to ensure that our assessment processes are fully in accord with the objectives of the Scheme.

NHMRC currently supports 207 Career Development Awards. This compares to 42 in 2005. In 2008, we have received 405 applications. If current levels of appointment are maintained, this will lead to around 333 Career Development Awards by 2011. 

NHMRC currently support 352 Training Fellowships undertaking research in Australia and 199 Training Fellowships in overseas locations (CJ Martin, Neil Hamilton Fairley and Sidney Sax Fellowships).

We estimate that more than 7500 Australians (out of the ABS/ASMR estimated health and medical research workforce of 20,000) are supported on our schemes across the board, including on our Project, Program and Capacity Building Grants, Centres of Clinical research Excellence, and specific fellowships.

We are currently considering the consequence for NHMRC’s schemes on the introduction of the new Future Fellowship scheme announced recently by the Government, to be administered by our sister organisation, the Australian Research Council.

Demographic Study

To help NHMRC plan its researcher development, we have commissioned a demographic analysis of the entire health and medical research workforce. We have a responsibility to plan our future support of researchers (through specific Fellowships and through support of Project and Program Grants) on the basis of best possible evidence of current and future needs and numbers.

New funding scheme — Partnership Projects for Better Health

This major new translational research scheme was introduced by NHMRC in June 2008 to increase policy and practice focussed health and medical research. A unique funding vehicle has been developed to support larger projects designed to meet the need for research that is more effectively integrated into health care delivery and that can better inform the development of health policies. 

Applications are sought from partnerships of researchers and organisations or institutions charged with providing and improving health care delivery. The deadline for receipt of applications is 19 December 2008.  As for all NHMRC schemes, this is a competitive funding mechanism, and applications will be ranked in accord with peer review against the selection criteria.

Research collaborations internationally

NHMRC will shortly announce the tumour type for which Australia will take primary responsibility in the International Cancer Genome Consortium (www.icgc.org).

A collaboration with the Wellcome Trust and New Zealand Health Research Council has supported 10 grants for research in the health issues of our region of the world. We are currently finalising arrangements for the replacement scheme, with at least one new partner.

NHMRC is also an active member of the Human Frontiers Science Program, in which Australian scientists have considerable granting success.  Our partnership with the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation also continues.

Finally, we are also nearing finalising the next call for research into the health problems of indigenous and native peoples in Canada, New Zealand and Australian, in partnership with the NZ Health Research Council and the Canadian Institute of Health Research.

Reports

Two recent government commissioned reports are of interest and relevance to health and medical researchers:

The National Health and Hospital Reform Commission continues its important work and will also report again soon. NHMRC is strongly of the view that research and evidence generation, transfer and implementation need to be at the heart of the reform of our hospital and healthcare system.

4 April 2008

Building on the strengths of Australasian health research for improved health

Health care is probably Australia's largest single industry. Like all industries, research and innovation are essential. There is much to learn if we are to better prevent ill health and better maintain good health throughout life, to more effectively deliver health care based on evidence of what works, and if we are to discover new therapies and cures. How do we ensure that Australia's health and health care improves, and that the knowledge needed is gained and transferred to further improve the practice of health care?

First, a strong research effort is needed and health and medical research has become one of Australia's strongest and most successful areas of research. All Australians should be proud of the achievements of our researchers, with Nobel Prizes for Physiology or Medicine won in the last half century by Barry Marshall and Robin Warren (2005), Peter Doherty (1996), John Eccles (1963), and Macfarlane Burnett (1960). Other researchers have been recognised as Australians of the Year for their contributions to health through research. These include Ian Frazer (2006), Fiona Wood (2005), Fiona Stanley (2003), and Sir Gustav Nossal (2000).

Australian health and medical researchers also perform outstandingly against the international benchmark of citations. Independent bibliometric analysis of Australian health research publications shows that Australia greatly exceeds the expected number in the top 1% of citations internationally and many Australian health research areas have up to 2 or 3% of published papers cited in the top 1% internationally.

Another independent indicator of the quality of our research is the support we have received from the world's largest health and medical research funding agency, the United States National Institutes of Health. In 2006, Australia was the third highest recipient of international research funding from NIH, behind Canada and the United Kingdom. On a per capita basis, Australia ranked second.

Australian health research also levers foreign capital into our country. We have recently analysed the outcomes from over 1200 NHMRC grants, and found that the research funded attracted another 28 cents for every NHMRC dollar from overseas, and another 27 cents from Australian sources.

A further measure of success can be seen in the establishment of national and international collaborations. Our researchers reported that 65% worked in collaboration with international researchers, reflected in 35% of publications having at least one international author.

Australian companies have been built upon original discoveries by medical researchers, including Cochlear and Resmed. Ian Fraser's discovery of a vaccine against most forms of cervical cancer (Gardasil) is now contributing to the success of CSL. Warren and Marshall's discovery that a bacterium Helicobacter Pylori is responsible for much gastric disease has not only reduced suffering, but saved the health system significant expense - surgery, hospitalisation, chronic drug treatment with proton pump inhibitors.

Now we face new challenges, to discover the causes of the many diseases that afflict us and to find out through research how to better prevent chronic disease and ill health with its uneven burden. It always seems especially unfair that the poorest and most disadvantaged in our society, and around the world, suffer most from disease and ill health.

Knowledge transfer from research into health care practice and to inform health policies is a challenge faced around the world. A high quality research workforce is an essential component, but is not in itself sufficient. NHMRC is developing new ways of ensuring that Australia's health greatly benefits from the outcomes of research and the leadership roles that researchers play. Watch this space.

12 February 2008

Review of NHMRC’s support for Public health Research

A high quality public health research effort in Australia is crucial if we are to tackle successfully the health problems of our country, and those in our region of the world.

I have recently instigated a review of our ways of supporting public health research, with a panel to be chaired by Prof. Don Nutbeam.  Though in total NHMRC supported more than $87 million in public health research in 2007, I have been concerned about the rate of growth in project grant support in particular. The success rate for applications in public health research in the last two years has fallen. This coincides with the decision by NHMRC three years ago to abolish external reviews of project grants. I have reversed that decision and this year we will seek two external reviews of all project grant applications.

I will be seeking the advice of our Research Committee, following their consideration of the Nutbeam Committee report, on measures needed to ensure that all applications received expert and fair peer review. One matter will be to consider whether the project grant scoring methods inadvertently disadvantages some discipline areas in public health research.

NHMRC is also undertaking a review of the scoring processes for Program Grants, and there is likely to be changes here too in time for the application process for later this year (for program Grants starting in 2010).

All is not bad news for public health research though. The introduction of Population Health Capacity Building grants (commitments of more than $57 million for 25 five year grants, including 11 new grants valued at $23 million in 2007); Career Development Awards (total commitments of $18.9 million for 44 grants since 2002 for public health and health services research researchers);  and new Training Awards categories (89 new Australian and Overseas awards since 2002, valued at more than $24 million) has greatly increased the numbers of researchers supported by NHMRC since the beginning of this decade.

But there is more to be done and I look forward to advice from Research Committee and the NHMRC Public Health Review Working Group on how to achieve this.

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4 February 2008

Review of NHMRC’s support for Public health Research.

A high quality public health research effort in Australia is crucial if we are to tackle successfully the health problems of our country, and those in our region of the world. I have recently instigated a review of our ways of supporting public health research, with a panel to be chaired by Professor Don Nutbeam.  Though in total NHMRC supported more than $87 million in public health research in 2007, I have been concerned about the rate of growth in project grant support in particular. The success rate for applications in public health research in the last two years has fallen. This coincides with the decision by NHMRC three years ago to abolish external reviews of project grants. I have reversed that decision and this year we will seek two external reviews of all project grant applications.

I will be seeking the advice of our Research Committee, following their consideration of the Nutbeam Committee report, on measures needed to ensure that all applications received expert and fair peer review. One matter will be to consider whether the project grant scoring methods inadvertently disadvantages some discipline areas in public health research.

NHMRC is also undertaking a review of the scoring processes for program grants, and there is likely to be changes here too in time for the application process for later this year (for program grants starting in 2010).

All is not bad news for public health research though. The introduction of Population Health Capacity Building grants with commitments of more than $57 million for 25 five year grants (including 11 new grants valued at $23 million in 2007); Career Development Awards with total commitments of $18.9 million for 44 grants since 2002 for public health and health services research researchers; and new Training Awards categories (89 new Australian and Overseas awards since 2002 valued at more than $24 million), has greatly increased the numbers of researchers supported by NHMRC since the beginning of this decade. But there is more to be done and I look forward to advice from Research Committee and the NHMRC Public Health Review Working Group on how to achieve this.

Professor Warwick Anderson
Chief Executive Officer
National Health and Medical Research Council

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19 December 2007

This country has many reasons to be proud of our researchers’ accomplishments, including three Nobel Prizes for work done here, but health remains one of our biggest challenges. It lies at the core of maintaining our wellbeing as individuals and as a community. If our health is suffering, our quality of life is impaired and there are significant losses in productivity. Health and medical research is the R&D arm of the Australian health system, contributing to the country through prevention and delay in onset of ill health, provision of more effective health care by health practitioners and the health system, and the development of innovative businesses to provide jobs and develop the Australian economy.

On December 7th 2007, we invited applications from researchers for support of research projects across the whole range of health issues. We support all research approaches, biomedical, clinical, public health and health services research, at over 70 Australian institutions. NHMRC funded research tackles prevention and treatment, better implementation of health care, better understanding of the cell, molecular and physiological processes that contribute to health and disease, and better evidence for public health programs.

The health gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians is high on our agenda. The NHMRC Indigenous Health Roadmap – developed by NHMRC and the Office of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health – provides a framework to assist researchers in selecting research opportunities that align with the health needs identified by Indigenous communities. In early 2008, NHMRC will consult with Indigenous communities and health services as well as research institutes to ensure the Roadmap’s critical research priorities remain relevant. The consultation is being overseen by NHMRC’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health and Research Advisory Committee, chaired by Professor Cindy Shannon. The Roadmap also aims to develop our Indigenous health research workforce.

In January 2008, the second phase of the international review aimed at ensuring the integrity and scientific excellence of the NHMRC peer review process will be conducted by a group of international research leaders including Dr Elias Zerhouni of the US National Institutes of Health, and Professor Sally Davies of the UK’s Department of Health.

In late January 2008, NHMRC in partnership with Bio 21 will convene a national summit on the potential for research to contribute to the reform our hospital and health care system, to improve patient outcomes particularly for those with chronic preventable disease and research to improve the delivery of clinical care by doctors, nurses and allied health professionals. We have invited Professor Davies, Director of Research and Development in the UK Department of Health to lead the session. More that $25,000,000,000 is spent on private and public hospitals each year in Australia and research can play a vital role in ensuring a higher quality and more effective system.

We faces many challenges – the growing burden of chronic diseases, growing rates of obesity, new infectious agents such as avian influenza, the health problems flowing from social inequities, ensuring that our children get a healthy start to life, dealing with mental disease and many others. Australians look to health and medical research for help and NHMRC is proud to support more than 6000 Australian researchers in their work to build Australia’s health.

Professor Warwick Anderson
Chief Executive Officer
National Health and Medical Research Council

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