NIF is delighted to congratulate its long-term partner, the Australian Epilepsy Project (AEP), on securing $30 million in Australian Government funding through the Medical Research Future Fund.
The AEP is the country’s largest advanced imaging project, and will “expand its groundbreaking brain health platform across the Australian health system,” AEP says.
Although only recently founded (2021), the project already uses 7 MRI scanning sites across NIF’s national advanced human network. NIF provides advanced imaging capabilities, computational techniques and informatics so that epilepsy patients enrolled in AEP can undergo comprehensive, advanced MRI scans.
“Using AI-powered technology that combines advanced MRI, genetics and cognitive testing, the AEP is establishing a national standard of care for epilepsy, helping Australians access faster diagnosis, more personalised treatment, and better long-term outcomes.”
The funding is part of a “landmark 10-year plan” that allows MRFF grant funding to reach a record $1 billion a year by 2030–2031. AEP’s funding fits into the category of bridging “the gap between promising research and the delivery of new medical treatments and innovations”.
AEP’s Chief Investigator Professor Graeme Jackson says that the project “brings the highest standard of care to the whole population regardless of where you live, with particular impact for rural and regional Australia. This is the future.”
Rapid progress and real changes
The AEP’s aim is to tackle the uncertainty of diagnosis, progression of epilepsy and treatment; the lack of access to diagnostics and treatments; and healthcare costs.
This work is already making appreciable differences to people’s lives: 10% of scans have identified previously hidden seizure-inducing brain lesions, and people taking part report:
- 8% better quality of life
- 6% less depression/anxiety
- 8% reduction in seizure frequency
- 9% better work productivity.
NIF and AEP
Read more about NIF’s involvement with the AEP:
- Precision medicine breaks postcode and time barriers for people living with epilepsy (Oct 2025)
- 9 News: Recent epilepsy breakthroughs use imaging data captured on NIF instruments (Jun 2025)
- TEDx Swinburne: Towards curing epilepsy by tracking the eye of the storm (Oct 2024)
- NIF imaging: accelerating innovation in epilepsy understanding (Jun 2024)