The Health Collaborative Research Network (Health CRN) in partnership with the Office of Research has established the National Health & Medical Research Council (NH&MRC) Support Group to assist researchers in developing applications in the 2014 round of NH&MRC grants...

Professor Hilary Winchester, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic and Research) and Professor Sonĵ Hall, Director, Health CRN said the establishment of the NH&MRC Support Group is strongly focussed on health researchers across CQUniversity who have been identified as research champions, those who drive high quality, sustainable research agendas and develop tomorrow's research teams.

The Support Group has met twice and is working through a number of strategies to position itself for the future.  Specific areas that the group will address are:

• Workshopping of research ideas against national priorities
• Assistance with research design, epidemiology and statistics
• Building track records and pilot funding
• Translational elements, research into policy and practice
• Health economics and how to appeal to government funders and policy makers.

Support Group members include:  Dr Sarah Blunden, Professor Drew Dawson, Dr Mitch Duncan, Dr Andrew Fenning, Associate Professor Sally Ferguson, Professor Bronwyn Fredericks, Professor Gregory Gass, Professor Sonĵ Hall, Professor Brenda Happell, Professor Brian Maguire, Professor Margaret McAllister, Professor Lynne Parkinson, Associate Professor Greg Roach, Professor Naomi Rogers, Professor Kevin Ronan, Dr Charli Sargent, Associate Professor Andrew Taylor-Robinson and Dr Corneel Vandelanotte.  Professor Hall chairs the NH&MRC Support Group.

The HEALTH CRN was established in 2011 after a successful application to the Commonwealth to help propel CQUniversity Australia towards becoming a renowned, world-class research institution.

Under the HEALTH CRN umbrella, researchers from CQUniversity Australia work in partnership with researchers from Curtin University, Queensland University of Technology and The University of Queensland. This joint collaboration focuses on achieving stronger performance outcomes in health-related research through the development of research capacity at CQUniversity Australia.

The HEALTH CRN allows researchers to engage in collaborative opportunities with partnering Universities, receive research training and mentorship and increase research capacity at CQUniversity. Details are via www.cqu.edu.au/crn