Welcome to our winter newsletter.
We’ve had a lot going on this past quarter, but the highlight was our inaugural Research Symposium, held in Port Macquarie in May. Fourteen healthcare workers presented their research translation projects to the NSW Regional Health Partners’ (NSWRHP’s) Governing Board and Translation Committee, demonstrating the breadth and depth of research translation being delivered by the partnership. The projects spanned public health, allied health, primary care, specialist and emergency services, and showed very clearly how evidence can be successfully translated to benefit patients, healthcare providers and health services.
While in Port Macquarie, the Governing Board and Translation Committee had a successful planning day, leading to the development of a draft Conceptual Structure and operational plan that we hope will strengthen the partnership and achieve positive, sustained change across our region.
It has also been a busy period for health research at a national level with the release of the National Health and Medical Research Strategy 2026-2036 and the National Health and Medical Research Council’s (NHMRC’s) Statement on consumer and community involvement in health and medical research. Through the Australian Health Research Alliance (AHRA) and its Regional, Rural and Remote (RRR) Sub Committee, NSWRHP had extensive input into the research strategy, and it is very gratifying to see the strong RRR focus throughout the strategy, as well as recognition of the contribution and importance of Research Translation Centres. Read more about AHRA and the national strategy in the Rural Research Roundup.
More locally, I’m delighted to advise that we have recruited six people for our Consumer Advisory Committee from across our region and have held our first meeting. We are continuing to advertise for more members and hope to build the committee to ten. Feel free to share the link to the application form below.
Our latest health economics resource is in the final design stages and will be published next month. This guide has been developed to support healthcare workers and other researchers applying for research translation grants. It will assist applicants to better articulate the intended benefits of their proposed research, with a particular emphasis on impact, value and sustainability from an economics perspective. We will share this resource widely when it is available.
As we prepare for reaccreditation later this year, our short-term focus is on the research translation projects already underway and finalising Consumer Connect ready for relaunch. I look forward to sharing the outcomes of these initiatives in coming newsletters.
Cheers,
Lisa
Lisa McFayden
General Manager | NSW Regional Health Partners
Inaugural NSW Regional Health Partners Research Symposium
At the national table: advocating for regional, rural and remote health research
In late May, NSW Regional Health Partners (NSWRHP) travelled to Canberra for the Australian Health Research Alliance (AHRA) Council meeting, represented by our General Manager, Lisa McFayden, and Research Director, Ian Skinner.
As one of Australia’s Research Translation Centres (RTCs) — accredited by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) — NSWRHP brings health services, universities and communities together so that research answers real, local problems rather than abstract ones. The fourteen RTCs across the country collaborate through AHRA, the peak body that works to see research translated and embedded into everyday healthcare, improving health outcomes, equity and the sustainability of the system (you can read more at www.ahra.org.au). NSWRHP is one of only a handful of these centres built specifically around the needs of regional, rural and remote (RRR) communities, which makes our voice at the national table an important one.
The Canberra meeting brought the RTCs together with the people who shape and fund health research in Australia, including the NHMRC and the Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) — the Government’s long-term investment in health and medical research. That investment is set to grow substantially, from $650 million this year to $1 billion every year from 2030–31.
Meetings like this one matter because they let us bridge two worlds. We carry the reality of our region into the room — the distance, the workforce shortages and the everyday struggle of doing and translating research in RRR communities — and help national decision-makers understand what that looks like on the ground. We are there to advocate on behalf of our health services and communities, and we bring those conversations home again, across our footprint, so the regions help shape the national picture rather than sit on the edge of it.
By working together rather than competing, the RTCs can also press for things no single centre could achieve alone — a genuine “seat at the table” in national decisions, closer alignment between local and national priorities, and real investment in the RRR research workforce. There was strong support, too, for research done with, not to, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, through genuine co-design.
Encouragingly, this direction is now written into national policy. The NHMRC’s new National Health and Medical Research Strategy 2026–2036 places research translation and RRR health front and centre. It commits to evaluate, support and expand the RTC model, and dedicates a whole focus area to place-based regional, rural and remote research — recognising that around 7 million Australians live in these areas and, on average, experience poorer health and shorter lives.
For our regions, that recognition is hard-won and welcome. NSWRHP will keep working alongside our partners, AHRA, the NHMRC and government to turn it into better access, a stronger workforce and healthier communities.
Warm regards,
Ian
Ian Skinner
Research Director | NSW Regional Health Partners
Trials Without Tribulations
The state-wide Trials Without Tribulations workshop will be held on Friday 18 September 2026 at the Aerial Function Centre, University of Technology Sydney. This workshop, pitched at operational clinical trials staff, is being hosted by Sydney Health Partners in collaboration with NSW Regional Health Partners and Maridulu Budyari Gumal, the Sydney Partnership for Health, Education, Research and Enterprise (SPHERE). The NSW Office for Health and Medical Research is supporting the 2026 event to enable regional, rural and remote clinical trials staff to participate.
Tickets and funding for the workshop are limited. We will invite Expressions of Interest from operational clinical trials staff across our partnership to ensure a fair allocation of tickets.
Meet Prue Neely, physiotherapist, researcher and rugby player
You are the Chief Investigator on a NSWRHP-funded research translation project to reduce the overutilisation of neuroimaging for acute dizziness in the emergency departments at Gosford and Wyong hospitals.
What professional and personal experiences led you to add research to your clinical bow?
In 2014 I began my role as the emergency physiotherapist at Gosford hospital after returning from working in the UK within the NHS. I had completed my physiotherapy training and begun my subspecialisation in vestibular physiotherapy. I had an enthusiasm for treating dizziness, often not shared by my colleagues. Dizziness was not traditionally included in the role of an emergency physiotherapist; we were limited to musculoskeletal and the occasional respiratory patients.
I began to notice that the management of acute dizziness was often not evidence based. I was Initially concerned about peripheral pathology such as benign paroxysmal positional vertigo, but it became apparent that patients with acute vestibular syndrome were over imaged and diagnostic tests poorly understood. I felt that we could improve the care of these patients if we translated the evidence into an emergency specific format.
Calling all regional and rural researchers and healthcare professionals!
We know good research leads to better outcomes and health services. To make sure this research addresses the needs of those living and working in regional and rural communities, it is important that you can have a say.
Here’s how you can help and get involved:
• Participate in developing research projects and grant applications: This will help ensure the real health needs of our communities are addressed. Support is available to help develop your ideas. For help or advice, please get in touch. To find an MRFF grant to support your work, go to the MRFF grant opportunities calendar.
• Nominate yourself to be a member of grant review panels: This will make sure the research that gets funded makes a significant impact on improving healthcare services and health outcomes in regional and rural locations. You can nominate here.
• Subscribe to the MRFF newsletter: This will keep you informed about new and upcoming grant opportunities. Subscribe here.
• Share your thoughts and ideas: By communicating your insights, we can better understand the support and investment required to address the needs of your regional and rural community.
If you would like more information or to discuss any of the above, please get in touch.
hnelhd-nswregionalhealthpartners@health.nsw.gov.au | nswregionalhealthpartners.org.au
James Fletcher Hospital, Wisteria Lodge, 72 Watt Street, Newcastle, NSW, 2300
We respectfully acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as the traditional custodians of the land and recognise their continuing connection to land, waters and culture. We support action on climate change and advocate for research on how to protect and support the health of communities most vulnerable to climate change – those in regional and rural Australia.
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