Definitions: Draft National Health and Medical Research Strategy

A

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples

Refers to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples of Australia while recognising that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People have distinct cultures and identities.

ACCHOs

Aboriginal community controlled health organisations.

AI

Artificial intelligence refers to computer systems developed to perform tasks normally requiring human intelligence, such as visual perception, speech recognition, decision making, and translation between languages. (definition from CSIRO, 2024 AI trends for healthcare).

AMR

Antimicrobial resistance refers to the ability of microorganisms like bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites to resist the effects of medicines designed to kill or inhibit their growth.

ARC

Australian Research Council.

C

CALD

Culturally and Linguistically Diverse refers to individuals and groups who come from diverse backgrounds, encompassing differences in culture, language, ethnicity, and sometimes religion.

CCI

Consumer and community involvement.

Clinicians

Healthcare practitioners who are involved in the provision of health and medical services and care including diagnosis and/or treatment of patients, public and preventive medicine, and clinical research. This includes doctors, nurses, midwives, allied health and oral health professionals.

Commercialisation

Refers to the process by which the outcomes of research are disseminated to a market as new or improved technologies, processes, products, or services that generate economic or social value.

CSIRO

Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation.

E

EMCRs

Early- to Mid-Career Researchers. A term that describes academic or research related career stage following the completion of postgraduate research training (such as a PhD). It focusses on career stage rather than age, meaning EMCRs can be of any age as long as they are in the early to middle phase of their research careers, and is broadly considered relative to career disruptions and relative to opportunities.

H

HMR

Health and medical research.

I

Implementation science

Refers to the study of methods and strategies that facilitate the adoption of evidence-based practices, interventions, and policies in regular use by practitioners and policymakers. It is concerned with identifying and addressing the barriers that, in different settings, may slow or prevent the uptake of evidence-based health system improvements.

Infrastructure

Facilities, equipment, data, and services used by the research community to conduct research and foster innovation, which can include:

• Major equipment or instruments
• Collections, archives, or databases
• High-performance computing systems
• Software and platforms
• Networks and communication systems.

L

LGBTIQ+

Refers to individuals who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, queer, asexual, and other diverse sexual orientations, gender identities, and sex characteristics.

M

MREA

Medical Research Endowment Account is the key mechanism for investment in medical research by the NHMRC. NHMRC’s objectives when funding health and medical research are to: ensure that Australia undertakes the research needed to meet current and future health challenges, improving population health, patient outcomes and the effectiveness and efficiency of the health system, ensure that Australia has the research capability and capacity needed to underpin a world class national health care system and support research of unique importance to Australia that is unlikely to be undertaken elsewhere.

MRFF

Medical Research Future Fund is an ongoing research fund set up by the Australian Government in 2015 and managed by the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing to support Australian health and medical research. The MRFF aims to transform health and medical research and innovation to improve lives, build the economy and contribute to health system sustainability.

MRIs

Medical Research Institutes.

N

NCRIS

National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy.

Networks

People-based collaborative groups that join to work collectively and collaboratively to achieve a shared aim. Networks are often multidisciplinary and bring together a range of different stakeholders that can include researchers, clinicians, community and consumer groups, peak bodies, industry, and philanthropic organisations. Depending on their aims and objectives, networks can be geographical (RTCs), discipline-based (Cancer Research Networks), community-based or focused on a specific challenge or opportunity.

O

Open Science

Open scientific knowledge is open access to research papers, research data, metadata, open educational resources, software, and source code and hardware that are available in the public domain or under copyright and licensed under an open licence that allows access, re-use, repurpose, adaptation and distribution under specific conditions, provided to all actors immediately or as quickly as possible regardless of location, nationality, race, age, gender, income, socioeconomic circumstances, career stage, discipline, language, religion, disability, ethnicity or migratory status or any other grounds, and free of charge. It also refers to the possibility of opening research methodologies and evaluation processes (UNESCO recommendation on Open Science).

P

Platforms

Broad-based, long term, collaborative and sustained structural mechanisms that bring together expertise, systems, technologies, and equipment to conduct, manage, and accelerate medical research and translation, often through the sharing of data and resources. These mechanisms allow access to technologies that are beyond the capability of one organisation to support. They are underpinned by substantive, long term investment commitments and collaborations across all parts of the sector, platforms support larger, scalable approaches to innovation and translation and deliver faster, more impactful health outcomes.

R

R&D

Research and development.

Research translation

The process of moving research findings into practical application in real world settings, and making research findings accessible and usable to practitioners, policymakers and the public to inform decision making and improved health outcomes. Research translation can encompass dissemination of new clinical interventions and health guidelines, development and commercialisation of novel drugs and devices; and changes to policies and programs.

RNA

Ribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid found in all living cells, similar to DNA, but typically single-stranded. RNA plays a crucial role in various biological processes, including protein synthesis.

RRR

Regional, rural, and remote, defined according to the Modified Monash Model (MMM). The model measures remoteness and population size on a scale of Modified Monash (MM) categories MM 1 to MM 7. MM 1 is a major city. Areas classified MM 2 to MM 7 are considered regional, rural or remote. People living in these areas can find it harder to get medical help and accessing doctors can take longer and cost more.

RTCs

Research Translation Centres. NHMRC has recognised leading centres of collaboration in Australia that excel in the provision of research-based health care and training through the accreditation of RTCs since 2014. RTCs are cooperatively funded, and work both independently and together to drive improvements in health services and clinical trials in Australia.

S

SERD

Strategic Examination of Research and Development.

SME

Small to medium enterprises. Businesses employing 0–19 people are classified as small businesses, those employing 20–199 people are classified as medium sized.

T

Translational research

Research done to better understand how to implement research findings into clinical practice and care within health systems. It is concerned with the practicality, acceptability, effectiveness and scalability of innovations in the context of real-world settings.

W

WHO

World Health Organisation.