Deakin University will help guide a transformation of the way Australian health and care is promoted, designed and delivered.
This is through a new institute made up of more than 200 researchers from birth to end of life care.
According to a recent press release, the Institute will bring together more than 200 academic staff and research students and will integrate research in prevention and population health, health systems and services, health economics and financing, and data and digital health.
It will focus on finding innovative solutions to Australia’s most pressing health issues. These are:
- Growing inequality between advantaged and disadvantaged groups
- Ageing populations with complex conditions
- The increasing burden of preventable risk factors such as obesity
- The need to deliver quality care cost-effectively
Innovative partnership research
According to the University’s Vice Chancellor, meeting these challenges will require a transformational redesign of the health and care systems nationally.
Achieving that aim requires innovative partnership research to develop evidence-backed programs and policies that have real-world impact.
The large and diverse team would all have their eye on three clear goals. These are:
- Boost population health
- Improve patient experience
- Grow efficiency in the healthcare system.
By using a collaborative model across the University’s Schools of Health and Social Development, Nursing and Midwifery, and Medicine, they will be leveraging the expertise of researchers with the highest possible ratings in their research disciplines nationally for research engagement and impact.
More than AU$ 10 million in external funding was brought in by the Institute’s researchers last year.
This may still grow as further engagements with national and international academic partners, governments, businesses, not-for-profits, health services, care providers and patients are made.
Providing transformative research
The institute will provide excellent translational research that aims to accelerate the ideas needed to transform health and care in Australia and around the world.
New research fellowships have been announced as part of the AU$ 4.5 million investment from the University into the new institute.
These researches are aimed at tackling some of Australia’s biggest health issues.
- Reducing inequalities in population health – Closing the gap in Aboriginal nutrition
This three-year project will examine for the first time how population-wide policies would impact on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
- Delivering value in health care – Putting a price on caring for those with dementia
This project will estimate the monetary value of an hour of informal care provided to people with dementia, using new methodology, accounting for carers’ experience and their preferences.
