Research impact from powerful partnerships
by Michèle Nardelli
L-R:Dr Leanne Britcher,
Assoc.Prof. Jonas Addai-Mensah, Assoc.Prof. Bill Skinner, Dr Peter Murphy, Prof. Hans Griesser
Pharmacist of the Year, Professor Andrew Gilbert from UniSA’s Sansom Institute will lead a $2 million project to develop strategies for managing the health and wellbeing of older Australians suffering from chronic illnesses.
Collaborative funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council and the Australian Research Council (ARC) will support the five-year project, which is part of the federal government’s Ageing Well, Ageing Productively priority.
Professor Gilbert says the research team will focus specifically on developing guidelines to achieve the best possible outcomes for older Australians with common combinations of chronic conditions.
“We hope to provide a better understanding of the consequences of current patterns of care for older people with multiple chronic conditions and develop improved approaches to care,” he said.
“With an ageing population, this research will make an important contribution by reducing the extent to which the elderly are placed at risk of adverse drug reactions. It will help patients, in partnership with their doctors, to achieve the best possible health and quality of life.”
And in another national project focusing on Australians’ health and wellbeing, world authority in anthropometry research, Associate Professor Tim Olds has been named lead researcher in a joint study with CSIRO to carry out the first national nutrition and physical activity survey done in Australia in more than a decade.
The $3 million survey will gather data from more than 4000 young people in regional and metropolitan Australia.
“At a time when the health and fitness of children is so much in the spotlight, this work will provide an up-to-date basis for developing strategies to improve the health of Australian children,” Prof Olds said.
Professor Olds’ team will collect data on the weight and activity levels of young people aged between five and 16 years and CSIRO will undertake the nutrition survey. The survey, to be conducted with the help of research fieldwork company I-View, is being funded by the Departments of Health and Ageing, and Agriculture Fisheries and Forestry, with support from the Australian Food and Grocery Council.
In the second round of ARC Linkage grants announced just last month, 10 UniSA projects were successful. With funding totalling almost $2.4 million matched by $3.8 million from industry partners, UniSA is the state and national leader for industry partnered research.
UniSA Pro Vice Chancellor Research and Innovation, Professor Caroline McMillen said the funded projects, representing all four divisions of the University, reflected the strength and diversity of UniSA’s research base.
“The impact of these projects will be powerful, underpinning economic growth in core industries, better health for both the old and young in our community, and reaching into a range of areas in society to inform improvements,” Prof McMillen said.
“The fact that industry partners continue to support research with UniSA so strongly is testament to the quality and impact of the research we undertake.”
ARC Linkage grant successes include three projects at the Ian Wark Research Institute, partnered by Tiwest Joint Venture and AMIRA International, looking at particles recovery in mineral flotation, the development of dry coated pigment particles and pigment coating surface treatments.
In the area of justice and legal studies a project has been funded to look at private security and directions and trends for reform. Funding will also support research into the prevention of child abuse and neglect, and evaluation of domestic violence perpetrator programs. Another project will look at the impact of protein supplements for pregnant cattle in influencing the development of best quality calves for the beef export market.
Also successful was a bid to develop improved diagnostic technologies via a novel flex sensor for use on catheters.