Over $60 million in new funding has been announced across basic science, clinical, and public health research.
“Party time, excellent!” – NHMRC funding recipients.
The National Health and Medical Research Council has awarded $66 million dollars to 22 new Centres of Research Excellence with the hope of improving health outcomes and promoting or improving translation of research into policy and practice.
Research teams from a dozen different administering institutions were successful in their applications: Bond University, the Burnet Institute, Charles Darwin University, Flinders University, the Menzies School of Health Research, Monash University, the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, The University of Newcastle, the University of Melbourne, the University of New South Wales, the University of Sydney, and the University of Technology Sydney.
Each CRE has been awarded $3 million in funding over the next five years. Five CREs will focus on basic science research, while six each will focus on clinical medicine and science research and health services research. The remaining five CREs will broadly relate to public health research.
The University of New South Wales Sydney’s Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing will establish the Centre of Research Excellence in Vascular Contributions to Dementia, led by Scientia Professor Perminder Sachdev.
Vascular cognitive impairment and dementia accounts for as many as one in four cases of dementia – a figure that rises to one in two cases where the dementia is found to have multiple underlying causes. VCID has many modifiable risk factors, such as hypertension, diabetes, stroke, and lifestyle factors, making it an attractive option for dementia prevention.
The Centre will change the way vascular dementia is diagnosed, prevented, and treated, according to Professor Sachdev. A key focus will be validating internationally developed diagnostic criteria for VCID, as well as developing a suite of disease biomarkers to allow for earlier and more accurate diagnosis.
“If we can better understand and control the vascular causes of dementia, we have a real opportunity to reduce the burden of dementia in Australia and globally,” he said.
“We want to change diagnostic practices for vascular cognitive impairment and dementia, influence dementia prevention internationally, and develop promising new treatments for cerebral small vessel disease.”
Researchers at the University of Melbourne, in collaboration with five other institutions across the country and Bowel Cancer Australia, will establish the Centre of Research Excellence ARTEMIS to hunt the causes of early-onset bowel cancer. The CRE will explore the aetiology, risk factors, tumourigenesis, exposures, microbiome and immune susceptibilities underlying the disease.
Leading early-onset bowel cancer researcher Associate Professor Dan Buchanan will lead CRE ARTEMIS, named after the Greek goddess of the hunt.
“My research is grounded in the view that contemporary early-onset bowel cancer is a new type of disease with multiple causes and risk factors related to modern day living,” Professor Buchanan said in a statement.
“There are different combinations of inherited risk, environmental exposures, microbiome changes, immune susceptibility and tumour biology that could increase a young person’s risk and result in a diagnosis.
“We are hoping to molecularly ‘tease apart’ these cancers to really understand what’s driving them and pinpoint the role of the gut microbiome in cancer development. From this, we will build evidence for more targeted approaches to assessing people’s risk that will guide a personalised prevention, screening and care pathway.”
Flinders University will oversee three different CREs, the most of any institution, tied with the University of Melbourne, the University of New South Wales, and the University of Sydney. The three CREs will study the long-term needs of cancer survivors, male mental health care, and improving injury outcomes in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.
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Associate Professor Courtney Ryder, who will lead the Centre of Research Excellence in First Nations Injury: STRONG – Strengthening Transformative Responses to Overcome National Gaps in injury for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Communities – said injuries among Indigenous communities did not receive the attention it should be, given the substantial impact it has on the community.
“Injury [is] the third leading cause of death and second leading cause of disease burden. This occurs from poor policies, limited community-led solutions, and care that isn’t culturally safe,” she said.
“STRONG will lead an Indigenous-led, strength-based research program to change these injury outcomes, through public health systems and policy, prevention and care models, and community-led solutions. STRONG will build capacity, creating change to reduce Indigenous injury burden through collaborating with ACCHOs, health divisions, NGOs, government bodies, and sporting bodies to translate research into policy and practice.”
The Centre of Research Excellence into Maximising the System’s Potential to Optimise Living Well with Cancer will be guided by Professor Raymond Chan, the university’s deputy vice chancellor for research. It hopes to develop better holistic support systems for the 1.6 million Australians living with cancer.
“The Centre will generate new knowledge on how to maximise value-based survivorship care through supported self-management, the role of healthcare and social care providers, and coordination of supports beyond health care,” said Professor Chan.
“It will involve people affected by cancer, various health professionals and social care providers to create more coordinated, person-centred models. By using research and collaboration, the Centre will build national capacity and drive lasting change in survivorship care across Australia.”
NHMRC CEO Professor Steve Wesselingh said health and medical research was key to changing the lives of Australians by providing vital evidence to improve health outcomes.
“Through NHMRC’s Centre of Research Excellence scheme, we are supporting high quality, collaborative research that can be translated into better policy, practice and care. This investment will help build the skills, partnerships and research workforce needed to respond to priority health challenges,” he said.
The full list of NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence recipients for 2026 can be viewed here.
