Life-changing medical research funded

More than $3.4 million has been awarded to the University of Adelaide from the Federal Government's Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF), for two projects that will aim to address the health needs of children and will examine suicide prevention.

The University of Adelaide’s Professor Anton Middelberg, Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Vice-President (Research), congratulated the researchers for their dedication to delivering improved community health outcomes.

“Both projects will undertake vitally important research to help provide better medical support and health outcomes to vulnerable Australians,” Professor Middelberg said.

“The University of Adelaide prides itself on leading the way when it comes to research with real-world impact. Our projects solve complex medical issues and deliver tangible benefits to Australia and the wider world.”

Details of the two research projects are:

Professor John Lynch from the University of Adelaide’s Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences and his research team have received nearly $2.5 million over four years from the MRFF 2022 Research Data Infrastructure Grant to investigate if the health needs of 50,000 children in out-of-home care are being met.

For over a decade, there have been repeated calls for data infrastructure to better support the unmet health needs of children in out-of-homecare.

This project responds to those calls by partnering with care-experienced young people, carer, Indigenous community, clinician and policy representatives.

The research team will bring together existing SA and NSW linked data platforms with frontline health service data to inform better service design, delivery and monitoring.

“The University of Adelaide prides itself on leading the way when it comes to research with real-world impact. Our projects solve complex medical issues and deliver tangible benefits to Australia and the wider world.”The University of Adelaide’s Professor Anton Middelberg, Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Vice-President (Research)

Dr Toby Freeman from the University of Adelaide’s Faculty of Arts, Business, Law and Economics has been awarded $904,604 over two years through the MRFF 2022 Mental Health Research Grant to look at suicide prevention with a focus on work and unemployment factors.

Suicide causes 3000 deaths in Australia each year. Working conditions, job insecurity and unemployment are known factors of suicide risk.

The research aims to broaden the focus of suicide prevention to take account of employment and unemployment factors, including government policies, working conditions and local community strategies.

A training package will also be developed for GPs to strengthen knowledge and skills.

The MRFF is a $20 billion long-term investment supporting Australian health and medical research. The MRFF aims to transform health and medical research and innovation to improve lives, build the economy and contribute to health system sustainability.