This 2026 Impact Case Study evaluation assesses NHMRC’s Impact Case Study business activity with a focus on case study topics, promotion and use.
Publication Data
Table of contents
Case study topics
Case study topics reflect diverse pathways to impact, most commonly changes to clinical practice and pharmaceutical development. Case studies span all major health categories and all research activity categories within the UK Health Research Classification System. Case studies draw on health and medical research undertaken across many institutions, with a focus on major universities but also including hospitals and medical research institutes. The proportion of women among profiled researchers has increased over time and exceeds half in more recent periods.
Overall, current approaches to selecting case study topics appear fit for purpose and consistent with NHMRC’s objective of demonstrating contribution to improvements in health.
Case study promotion
NHMRC has increased promotion of case studies since earlier evaluations. Analysis of Twitter/X data indicates that engagement with case study posts is similar to most other NHMRC content, though lower than engagement with grant announcements and feature-style posts. Case study tweets tend to include fewer links and less human‑centred language. Revising the style of these posts may improve engagement.
Case study use
Case studies receive similar levels of use to NHMRC Annual Reports and are most commonly accessed via search engines. Users are distributed across Australia and over one quarter are located internationally. Some case studies attract higher and more sustained interest, likely reflecting topic relevance and external referencing. Case studies also add value through reuse and citation in other policy and informational documents.
Overall conclusions
The Impact Case Study business activity is delivering value for NHMRC. It is functioning as intended and supports NHMRC’s accountability and impact objectives.