The Partnership Centres initiative has brought teams of researchers and decision-makers together to create better health and health services. This is done by collaborative work on priority themes determined by the needs of the health and health care systems.

NHMRC's Partnership Centres aim to improve the availability and quality of research evidence for clinicians, managers and policy makers. By building Australia's capacity to produce and use high quality applied research, these centres have helped to find answers to the complex and difficult questions that decision-makers face when trying to improve Australians' health and health care.

The broad objectives of Partnership Centres are to: 

  1. support the implementation of research-informed changes in health and health care systems
  2. synthesise and disseminate research relevant to improving health and health care system performance
  3. undertake collaborative research
  4. build capacity, both within the research community to undertake applied research, and within the system to use research as part of change management.

NHMRC Partnership Centres 

We established and jointly funded 3 Partnership Centres as part of an initiative in the 2010 to 2012 triennium. Their aim was to identify a small number of priority areas where NHMRC would work with industry partners to support evidence-informed change in priority health policies and practices.

The Partnership Centres are:

  • Cognitive Decline Partnership Centre (NHMRC funded 2013 to 2019)
  • Health System Sustainability Partnership Centre (NHMRC funded 2017 to 2023)
  • The Australian Prevention Partnership Centre (NHMRC currently funding to December 2023).

Partnership Centre: System perspectives on preventing lifestyle-related chronic health problems (The Australian Prevention Partnership Centre) 

The Australian Prevention Partnership Centre was established in June 2013 for an initial 5-year term. In 2018 it was successful in securing funding for a second 5-year term (2018 to 2023). 

In its second term, this Centre is jointly funded to the value of $15.8 million by NHMRC and:

  • The Australian Government Department of Health
  • The State of New South Wales
  • Health Directorate - The Australian Capital Territory
  • Department for Health and Wellbeing – Government of South Australia
  • Department of Health and Human Services – Tasmanian Government
  • Cancer Council Australia
  • Victorian Health Promotion Foundation.

Find further information about The Australian Prevention Partnership Centre 

Funding opportunities 

There are no further funding opportunities to establish partnership centres through this initiative. All current NHMRC funding opportunities can be found at Find Funding.