The goal of the Partnership Centres initiative is to bring teams of researchers and decision-makers together to create better health services and health by collaborative work on priority themes determined by the needs of the health and health care systems.
Each centre will have national reach and be supported jointly by NHMRC and organisations with an interest in using research to advance their mission. The theme for each centre – negotiated by the Knowledge Broker between these co-funding partners – will be forward-looking, a priority for Australia’s health and health care systems over the next decade, and congruent with NHMRCs 2010-2012 Strategic Plan.
Within a Partnership Centre there are two levels of partnership:
- The funding partners; and
- The investigator partners who form a collaborative team of research investigators and system-based investigators.
NHMRC has allocated up to $2.5 million per centre per year for its own five-year funding contribution. The partners’ additional co-funding and in-kind contributions negotiated with the office of NHMRC will therefore make available as much $5 million per year for a centre.
The broad objectives for each Partnership Centre are to:
- support the implementation of research-informed changes in health and health care systems;
- synthesise and disseminate research relevant to improving health and health care system performance;
- undertake collaborative research, and
- build capacity, both within the research community to undertake applied research, and within the system to use research as part of change management
Click here for more information about the Partnership Centres initiative.
The Knowledge Broker
On 13 April 2012 the NHMRC farewelled Prof Jonathan Lomas as Knowledge Broker for the Partnership Centres for Better Health initiative. The NHMRC is pleased to announce that his replacement is Prof Philip Davies. Prof Davies has a long history of connecting the research and policy processes, as illustrated in his brief biography. Prior to taking up his current post as a Professor of Health Systems and Policy in the University of Queensland’s School of Population Health he was a Deputy Secretary in the Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing.
The Partnership Centres
Partnership Centre: Dealing with Cognitive and Related Functional Decline in Older People
NHMRC is pleased to announce that the Chief Investigator of the investigator team for the first Partnership Centre is Associate Professor Susan Kurrle, Hornsby Ku-ring-gai Hospital, NSW.
Partnership Centre: Systems Perspectives on Preventing Lifestyle-Related Chronic Health Problems
Further Partnership Centres are currently under negotiation
Partnership Centre Funding Rules and associated diagrams
- NHMRC Partnership Centre Funding Rules 2011-2012 (PDF, 173KB)
- Flow Chart for Investigator Team Selection and Process for Submission Approval (PDF, 99KB)
- Partnership Centre Activity Cycle (PDF, 337KB)
Peer Review Guidelines
- Peer Review Guidelines for Investigator Team Selection (PDF, 141KB)
- Peer Review Guidelines for Partnership Centre Submission Assessment – available soon
Frequently Asked Questions
These FAQs will be reviewed on a regular basis with additional questions and answers added as required.
Partnership Centre Investigator Database (including optional registration form)
Interested persons may choose to register their details in this database for viewing by potential applicant teams/ investigators.
Investigator Team Resource Materials (available soon)
These materials are provided as a resource for the successful Partnership Centre investigator team in preparation of the Partnership Centre submission.
Contact for further information
Enquiries about the NHMRC Partnership Centres can be directed to partnership.centres@nhmrc.gov.au