The National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) and the Consumers Health Forum of Australia Ltd (CHF) are reviewing the Statement on Consumer and Community Involvement in Health and Medical Research (the Statement).
The Statement was originally developed in 2002 and last updated in 2016. Its aim is to support consumer and community involvement across all types and levels of health and medical research.
The review will ensure the Statement remains a trusted resource providing national leadership and overarching guidance to support consumer and community involvement in health and medical research. The Statement will be reframed to focus on the principles and values of consumer and community involvement, and the roles and responsibilities of all involved.
NHMRC and CHF published a draft revised Statement on 12 June 2025. The draft Statement is available as a PDF in the downloads section below or in a digital format at: Draft Statement on Consumer and Community Involvement in Health and Medical Research. NHMRC and CHF are currently finalising the revised Statement.
Advisory committees
As part of this work, a Consumer Statement Advisory Committee (CSAC) comprised of individuals nominated by CHF and nominees from NHMRC’s Consumer and Community Advisory Group was established to review the Statement and provide advice to CHF and NHMRC. This working Committee ceased in 2024. Ongoing advice will be sought from the NHMRC-MRFF Consumer Advisory Group.
Further information on CSAC is available on the Australian Web Archive, Trove.
Stakeholder engagement and involvement
Stakeholders were involved throughout the review process. Stakeholders include consumers and community representatives, researchers and research administrators, peak bodies, advocates, funders and government.
In 2024 and 2025, NHMRC and CHF undertook 2 stakeholder engagement processes. The first, facilitated by the Australian Health Research Alliance (AHRA), collected stakeholder views on what should be included in the revised Statement. NHMRC and CHF used the input from this process to develop a draft revised Statement.
The second stakeholder engagement process was facilitated by the Kids Research Institute Australia. It collected stakeholder feedback on the draft revised Statement, including suggestions for improvement of the document and how it may be implemented.
Further information on both processes is available on the Completed consultation activities page.
Consumer Statement contact list
To ensure that all interested parties have can remain up-to-date on the review, NHMRC has created a Consumer Statement contact list. All interested stakeholders are invited to submit their contact details to NHMRC at any time throughout the review process. NHMRC will use this contact list during the review to communicate opportunities for involvement and to provide updates on the work.