6 February 2020
The Australian Government is investing $5.5 million in 10 ground-breaking medical research projects aimed at improving outcomes in mental health, dementia, aged care, cerebral palsy, diabetes and many more life-changing conditions.
The Hon Greg Hunt MP, Minister for Health
This support allows Australian researchers to engage with world leading researchers and facilities on projects of the highest calibre, and helps translate scientific discoveries into realworld outcomes that benefit communities in Australia and elsewhere.
Dr Victoria Ross from Griffith University is leading MINDUP Australia to evaluate workplace interventions to address poor mental health and elevated suicide risk.
By partnering with the European MINDUP project to conduct a controlled trial in Australia, this research will accelerate implementation of effective mental health promotion and intervention programs in the Australian construction industry.
The project is supported by MATES in Construction, which says, “Every year 190 Australians working in the construction industry take their own lives, this means we lose a construction worker every second day to suicide. For our young workers, the facts are that they are well over two times more likely to take their own lives than other young Australian men.”
$2.7 million will also be provided to four international research projects on personalised medicine and clinical trials to improve dementia diagnosis and treatment. This funding complements the Morrison Government’s current $185 million Dementia, Ageing and Aged Care Mission, supported by the Medical Research Future Fund, and previous $200 million investment in the Boosting Dementia Research Initiative (2014-2019).
Other funded international research projects will contribute to improved early detection and intervention for cerebral palsy, prevention of gestational diabetes and infant brain injury in preterm birth, and diagnosis and treatment of common infectious and inflammatory diseases, as well as improved interventions in dementia and mental health.
The 10 grants funded will support Australian partnerships with leading research teams in Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Spain and the United Kingdom.
Click here to read the full media release.
Research funding recipients
| Chief Investigator | Application Title | Administering Institution | Budget |
|---|---|---|---|
| Doctor Rosie Watson | COmBining memantine And cholinesterase inhibitors in Lewy body dementia treatment Trial (COBALT) | University of Melbourne | 1,218,120.05 |
| Chief Investigator | Application Title | Administering Institution | Budget |
|---|---|---|---|
| Professor Roslyn Boyd | Born-To-Get-There: Implementation of early detection and early intervention in remote Australia | The University of Queensland | 499,329.50 |
| Professor Luis Salvador-Carulla | European platform to promote wellbeing and health in the workplace (EMPOWER) | Australian National University | 499,221.80 |
| Professor Helena Teede | IMPlementaion ACTion to prevent DIABETES from Bump 2 Baby (IMPACT DIABETES B2B) | Monash University | 497,609.10 |
| Professor David Walker | Brain injury in the premature born infant: stem cell regeneration research network | RMIT University | 496,586.50 |
| Doctor Victoria Ross | Mental health promotion and intervention program in the Australian context: MINDUP Australia | Griffith University | 421,778.80 |
| Professor Lachlan Coin | DIAMONDS – Diagnosis and Management of Febrile Illness using RNA Personalised Molecular Signature Diagnosis | University of Melbourne | 391,896.60 |
| Chief Investigator | Application Title | Administering Institution | Budget |
|---|---|---|---|
| Professor Glenda Halliday | Diagnostic and prognostic precision medicine for behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia | University of Sydney | 498,850.00 |
| Professor Colin Masters | Blood Proteins for early Discrimination of dEmentias (bPRIDE) | University of Melbourne | 498,412.20 |
| Doctor Samantha Burnham | E-DADS: Early Detection of Alzheimer’s Disease Subtypes | Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation | 488,725.00 |
