A national health and medical research strategy is on the way, with strategist Rosemary Huxtable releasing a draft.
Ms Huxtable was commissioned by the feds in May ‘24 and has methodically gone about listening to the lobbies and consulting consumers – as in citizens as distinct from medical researchers – on what they want (FC here).
She sets out five important areas of the nice-to-have kind, to underpin “a vibrant research system that delivers for the nation,” including:
Future-proofing the workforce
- Researchers moving in, out and across the sector
- Training pathways for clinical researchers better than the present “disjointed and inconsistent” ones
- Aligning training and future workforce needs, “to moderate the flow of PhD graduates.” (FC remembers a brawl over this a decade back when researchers institutions were accused of pumping out more graduates than they could employ)
- Improving workforce diversity through grant conditions
Funding
- Strategic coordination of all sources, “there is limited interaction and coordination between funding entities”
- “Invest in more co-funded grant opportunities to provide larger scale, crosscutting funding on priority issues”
- A national approach to grants that balances high-risk innovation and long-term research for priority national needs
- Establish how much is spent, where and on what, “to design a more fit for purpose funding model”
Data
- Mine the existing collections for research and planning
- AI applications in clinical environments
Infrastructure
- Developing a national roadmap
- Investing in manufacturing for “sovereign capability in critical areas”
- Working with governments “for guaranteed research access to facilities and infrastructure required to support clinical trials and translational research in healthcare settings”
Oversight for a ten-year implementation
“Health and medical research is inherently multifaceted, involving diverse stakeholders including governments across jurisdictions, research institutions, healthcare providers,
industry partners, philanthropy and communities. A governance structure is necessary to ensure that activity … does not become fragmented, duplicative, or misaligned,” the draft strategy states.
The Australian Association of Medical Research Institutes was quick to support the plan, particularly if its members are involved. “We are encouraged by the vision laid out in this draft and look forward to working with government to ensure the final Strategy translates into tangible action that supports our institutes and the researchers within them.”
But AAMRI would not be AAMRI without calling for cash. “Further detail is needed on how the Strategy deliver long-term funding certainty and sector sustainability.”
Which rather seems to miss the point that the Huxtable model appears bigger on productivity than more money for the existing research system.