New Centre of Research Excellence a boost for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health
The George Institute for Global Health will play a key role in a new collaboration to improve Aboriginal child and adolescent health, thanks to a $2.5 million grant from the National Health and Medical Research Council.
The new Centre for Research Excellence (CRE) in Indigenous Researcher Capacity Building will focus on improving Aboriginal child and adolescent health through Aboriginal leadership, collaborative teams and industry partnerships. Professor Sandra Eades of the Baker Institute will lead the CRE, with researchers from other institutes and universities leading a number of key components. The George Institute’s Professor Rebecca Ivers will lead the injury prevention component.
Prof Ivers said: “This centre will allow us to grow the next generation of Aboriginal researchers who will lead research addressing key community priorities for children and adolescents.
“Our first step will be to establish new training pathways including Masters and PhD scholarships for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students. A number of these students will be enrolled through UNSW Sydney and do their studies here at The George Institute.”
The focus of this CRE is on promoting collaborative research and supporting the training of the urban and remote Aboriginal health research workforce at different stages of their career development. The five year funding aims to deliver key advances in understanding how to further improve the health of Aboriginal infants, children, adolescents and young adults, and to expand the evidence base for policy and program, which is critical to inter-generational changes in Aboriginal health.
The participating organisations in this CRE also include University of Newcastle, Edith Cowan University, UNSW Sydney, Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, Hunter Medical Research Institute, Australian National University, Sax Institute, NSW Department of Family and Community Services, Telethonkids Institute, and Gertner Institute.
