The Commonwealth Government today announced $292 million to fund more than 600 research projects in Australian universities, hospitals and medical research institutes.
This major funding round will support health and medical research in 52 institutions across the country.
This brings the Federal Government's investment in health and medical research through the National Health and Medical Research Council to around $450 million this year, double the 1999 figure.
Australia is a world leader in health and medical research - on a per capita basis, our research output is twice the OECD average. This announcement comes just days after two of Australia's leading researchers were internationally recognised with a Nobel Prize for their work on the causes of stomach ulcers and gastritis.
Medical research makes good health and economic sense. A report by Access Economics shows that for every $1 invested in medical research, $5 is returned to the Australian economy.
This announcement coincides with Research Australia's Thank You Day campaign, which aims to highlight that everyday Australians benefit from health and medical research.
The theme this year is health issues facing Australian children. In this latest round of research grants there are several projects on child health including a study to reduce childhood injury in Indigenous communities by researchers at the University of Sydney.
Researchers at the Queensland Institute of Medical Research will study asthma in Indigenous communities and look at whether Indigenous children in the Torres Strait have a similar asthma rates to non-Indigenous children.
Further research into childhood asthma will also take place at Melbourne's Murdoch Childre's Research Institute where a trial will look at whether parents should administer anti-inflammatory medication if their child is having an attack without waiting to see their doctor first.
- A list of successful recipients and descriptions of the research projects
- State-by-state breakdown of the projects
Media contact: Kate Miranda, 0417 425 227