As the Australian Government's lead agency for funding health and medical research, the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) is committed to achieving gender equity in its grant program.
A gender diverse and inclusive health and medical research workforce to take advantage of the full range of talent needed to build a healthy Australia
NHMRC-led action and funding promote gender equity in Australia’s health and medical research workforce.
- Gender equity strengthens the health and medical research workforce.
- Diversity in the health and medical research workforce will lead to better health outcomes for the Australian community.
- Everyone benefits from research environments that are safe, respectful and inclusive.
- Evaluate and adapt NHMRC policies and activities to achieve gender equity and measure our performance against set goals.
- Increase transparency of NHMRC processes and funding outcomes.
- Build commitment to gender equity as a common goal across the health and medical research sector.
- Collaborate with government, research institutions, industry, business and the community to achieve gender equity.
Goal: NHMRC grants support a gender inclusive health and medical research workforce
Actions:
- Consult on and implement actions to address gender disparities in funding outcomes
- Maintain or strengthen funding policies and processes that address gender inequities
- Strengthen guidance and training for peer reviewers to consider career context fairly
- Continue to allocate structural priority funding to address gender disparities where needed
KPIs: Gender inequities in NHMRC funding outcomes are reduced. Support is available for non-binary health and medical researchers.
Goal: NHMRC actions and interventions are based on transparent evidence
Actions:
- Increase transparency in reporting on NHMRC grant applications and outcomes by gender
- Collect and use data to understand structural disadvantages experienced by non-binary researchers and the impact of intersectionality
- Evaluate peer review scoring to identify disparities
- Pilot and evaluate new initiatives to strengthen the evidence base on effective interventions
KPI: Transparent data are available to the sector and used by NHMRC to design interventions that foster gender equity in research as needed.
Goal: Health and medical research environments are safe, respectful and inclusive, and gender equity is recognised as a common goal
Actions:
- Engage with others to encourage the advancement of gender equity and inclusion
- Consider international initiatives that are achieving gender equity and inclusion
- Maintain NHMRC requirements for Administering Institutions’ gender policies and report on their effectiveness
- Raise the profile of gender positive role models
- Develop a statement on sex and gender inclusivity in research design
KPI: NHMRC policies promote gender equity and inclusion in the health and medical research sector.
