International collaborative grants in health and medical research with partners in Canada and the European Union, Japan, the Philippines, Thailand and the United States will share in a total of $8.1 million, announced by the Australian Government today.
National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) CEO Professor Anne Kelso AO said the 10 projects announced today allow Australians to benefit from research conducted overseas and help our researchers to have an impact on an international scale.
The research supported by these international collaborative grants ranges from diabetes prevention to TB control and programs to increase physical activity for older people and to support healthy lifestyle choices for Indigenous youth in urban settings. Professor Kelso
The research will address known and emerging research gaps and challenges, increase scientific impact and build capacity for research in Australia and our region.
By sharing expertise between international researchers, these grants build lasting connections between individual researchers, institutions and their nations. Professor Kelso
NHMRC funding provided through these schemes will support the Australian component of the collaborative partnerships, while the international research partners will be funded by their respective funding agencies.
$4.9 million will support four NHMRC-Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Healthy Cities Implementation Science Team Grant Scheme grants.
The research will implement and evaluate the effectiveness of different strategies to improve the wellbeing of people who live in cities.
Professor Anne Tiedemann from The University of Sydney will lead research that aims to adapt the Canadian initiative Choose to Move for communities in Sydney, Australia.
This initiative involves community collaboration and has shown to be effective in supporting older people to increase physical activity.
$1.4 million will support three projects through the European Union Joint Programme – Neurodegenerative Disease Research (JPND).
The research projects funded through this collaboration will focus on improving understanding of the mechanisms that underlie interventions and potential treatments for Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease and motor neurone disease.
$1.8 million will support three projects from the NHMRC-e-ASIA Joint Research Program.
The research projects funded through this collaboration will address infectious diseases and antimicrobial resistance in the East Asia region.
Antibiotic resistance may cause 10 million deaths every year globally by 2050.
Research led by Professor Jian Li at Monash University will integrate cutting-edge computational and experimental approaches to develop new, safer antibiotics to control multidrug resistant bacterial infections. This research collaboration between scientists in Australia, Thailand and the US has the potential to produce urgently needed alternatives to failing medicines.
Projects funded
Projects funded are outlined in Tables 1 and 2.
| Chief Investigator | Application Title | Administering Institution | Budget |
|---|---|---|---|
| Prof Genevieve Healy | Small Steps for Big Changes: Implementing an Evidence-Based Diabetes Prevention Program into Diverse Urban Communities | The University of Queensland | $1,169,612 |
| Prof Anne Tiedemann | Choose To Move Sydney | University of Sydney | $1,212,853 |
| Assoc Prof Ben Beck | Building CapaCITY/É for Sustainable Transportation | Monash University | $1,249,675 |
| Prof Gail Garvey | Supporting Healthy Lifestyle Choices to Promote Mental Health & Wellbeing of Indigenous Youth Aging-Out-of-Care in Urban Settings | The University of Queensland | $1,249,997 |
| Chief Investigator | Application Title | Administering Institution | Budget |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dr Andrew Brodie | Taking steps against the burden of Parkinson’s disease | University of New South Wales | $471,455 |
| Prof Juergen Goetz | Facilitating focused ultrasound-mediated Tau clearance in Alzheimer's disease and other Tauopathies by understanding the underlying autophagic mechanisms | University of Queensland> | $483,493 |
| Assoc Prof Bradley Turner | The role of microglia in the effects of environmental enrichment in neurodegenerative disorders | University of Melbourne | $486,525 |
NHMRC-e-ASIA Joint Research Program
| Chief Investigator | Application Title | Administering Institution | Budget |
|---|---|---|---|
| Prof Jian Li | Development of Innovative Antimicrobials for Combatting Multidrug-resistant Gram-negative Bacteria: An integrated multi-disciplinary approach | Monash University | $749,920 |
| Prof Katryn Stacey | Gut leak and microbiome contribution to severe dengue disease | The University of Queensland | $669,50 |
| Dr Rhea Longley | Applying novel serological exposure markers to quantify residual malaria transmission in the Philippines | WEHI | $361,877 |