National research infrastructure working together to improve the health of Australians

Innovation in Australia’s health and medical research translation has been boosted with National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS)- enabled health and medical research partners signing a memorandum of understanding (MOU).

Bioplatforms Australia (BPA), National Imaging Facility (NIF), Phenomics Australia, Population Health Research Network (PHRN) and Therapeutic Innovation Australia (TIA) will enhance collaborative opportunities between infrastructure capabilities and enable support across the whole research translation cycle, following the signing of the agreement to form the NCRIS Health Group.

Health and medical researchers investigate solutions to complex problems that are often not easily solved by a single discipline, and the NCRIS Health Group is aimed at enabling them collaboratively throughout the translational process.

Research to improve health outcomes is underpinned by research infrastructure encompassed by the NCRIS Health Group, including:

  • National integration of large-scale health datasets to enable population health research
  • Bespoke modeling to understand how diseases develop and test potential treatments 
  • Discovery and development research to identify drug targets
  • Development of medical products including therapeutics and diagnostics such as nuclear medicine and radiopharmaceuticals
  • Scale-up and manufacturing of medical products
  • National facilities supporting clinical trials

The NCRIS Health Group already enables research throughout the translation cycle, and this MOU will formalise access to health research expertise, instruments and infrastructure for collaborative use by researchers.

Prior to the formation of the NCRIS Health Group, partners have undertaken cooperative activities, including shared staffing, partnership in government initiatives such as the Medical Research Future Fund and the Australian Research Council, as well as collaboration in other key health and medical research projects.

President of the Australian Cardiovascular Alliance, Prof Gemma Figtree is undertaking internationally significant work enabled by the NCRIS Health Group in collaboration with other leading researchers and clinicians across biobanking, phenotypes, ‘omics, preclinical modeling and clinical trial networks as part of a strategy for novel drug development.

Prof Figtree said supporting collaborative medical product research will improve health outcomes for Australians through novel medical products, platforms, technologies and practices, which has the potential to improve quality of life and decrease health-related costs.

“I have enjoyed superb interaction with a number of the NCRIS Health capabilities through their support of the Australian Cardiovascular Alliance and CAD Frontiers. I am impressed by their vision and “can-do” approach, and our aligned philosophies around collaboration, multi-disciplinarity and acceleration of Australian discovery and innovation,” Prof Figtree said.

“Australian researchers are regarded at the highest level by our international colleagues. Improved alignment of our immense research talent to tackle our nation’s greatest health challenges, with maximum access to state-of-the-art infrastructure will accelerate solutions, but also benefit the growth of a vibrant and sustainable med-tech ecosystem that can attract global and local industry partnerships.”

The NCRIS Health Group is engaged in collaborative arrangements that support cross-disciplinary research, assisting Australian researchers to leverage access to world-leading facilities for more impactful outcomes. For more information, see the Health Innovation and Translation infographic below.

For further information about the NCRIS Health Group, contact:

BioPlatforms
comms@bioplatforms.com

National Imaging Facility
admin@anif.org.au

Phenomics Australia
contact@australianphenomics.org.au

Population Health Research Network
phrn@uwa.edu.au

Therapeutic Innovation Australia
info@therapeuticinnovation.com.au

NCRIS: The power behind Australia’s science

NCRIS: The power behind Australia’s science

Australian science continues to make national and international headlines, most recently focusing on the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2019 – 2020 Australian bushfires. Behind these headlines, you will find a community of impassioned researchers. And behind them, you will find a network of research enablers from NCRIS, the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy. Since 2004, NCRIS has enabled a wealth of research excellence, making it both headline worthy and a critical pillar of the Australian economy. Leading economists agree.

Powerful economic findings

Recently, a number of  research infrastructure organisations from the NCRIS community commissioned Lateral Economics (LE) to assess the positive impacts of NCRIS for Australian society and the environment. LE’s report has identified ways in which NCRIS funding has and will continue to support the Australian community and economy.

The report found that the direct benefit of investment in NCRIS is calculated to be above a $7 return for every $1 invested, which is a return on investment (ROI) of 7.5:1. The report notes that by 2022-23 the investment could support the employment of an additional 1,750 scientific and technical staff, support staff, and supply chain and industry staff. These benefits along with others outlined in the report indicate the significant impact NCRIS has made on Australia’s economic security. The report concludes: 

“Based on economic theory and evidence from the time of the GFC to present, we can think of few approaches to providing additional stimulus to the Australian economy that are more cost effective than increasing investment in NCRIS.” 

NCRIS delivers 

The impact of NCRIS is clear, however the program itself is not often centre stage.  It is time to shine a light on NCRIS.  From supercomputers and microscopes, to data collection and software platforms NCRIS provides the infrastructure that supports Australia’s scientists.

The result is a network of world-class research facilities that are driving innovation and research in Australia and internationally. This network is made up of 22 NCRIS projects, which link over 200 institutions employing more than 1,900 highly skilled researchers and technical experts. This interconnected infrastructure and the specialist teams who run NCRIS programs allow Australia to meet the key challenges outlined in the UN sustainability goals and tackle some of the biggest scientific and societal challenges we face today. These have been highlighted in the Lateral Economics report as: 

Bushfire preparedness. With a range of sensors across Australia supported by NCRIS facilities such as TERN and AURIN, Australia can be better prepared for bushfire threats in the future.
Cyclone warnings. IMOS is providing rich, high frequency data from Australia’s surrounding oceans which can provide early warning signs of cyclones, not to mention ocean acidification and sea level rise associated with climate change.
Population health. A range of NCRIS facilities (e.g., PHRN, Phenomics Australia, Bioplatforms Australia, Therapeutic Innovation Australia) are helping to improve the health of Australia’s population.
Understanding the building blocks of reality. NCRIS facilities such as Microscopy Australia, National Imaging Facility, ANSTO, and Astronomy Australia Ltd are contributing to world leading research on the building blocks of the universe and of life.
Monitoring biodiversity. Australia’s unique biodiversity is being monitored, described and protected by the Atlas of Living Australia (ALA), BioPlatforms Australia, IMOS and TERN. In particular, ALA is our national biodiversity data infrastructure. It integrates and delivers fundamental data on Australia’s plants, animals and fungi to support ecosystem assessment, monitoring and planning.
Boosting crop yields and resilience. The Australian Plant Phenomics Facility contributes fundamental services in the effort to improve crop yields and crop resilience with genomic and molecular characterisation performed through Bioplatforms Australia.
Deriving value from data. ARDC, Pawsey Supercomputing Centre and the National Computational Infrastructure enable data from many fields of research across a wide range of scales to be stored, curated, managed and analysed.
Understanding the earth. AuScope improves our understanding of fundamental earth science and enables a range of benefits including substantial reductions in the cost of and more effective resource exploration.
Advanced manufacturing. The Australian National Fabrication Facility (ANFF) and Therapeutic Innovation Australian (TIA) provide industry and the wider community with access to cutting-edge advanced manufacturing technologies. Furthermore, NCRIS organisations such as Astronomy Australia Ltd are involved in advanced manufacturing activities.

Selected examples of major benefits of NCRIS-supported infrastructure to the Australian community from the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure (NCRIS) spending and economic growth report, June 2021. 

Why Australia needs science innovation

Current global challenges have proven the ability of science to respond and to break new ground when faced with a novel challenge. The fact we have vaccines a year into a global pandemic is testament to this. The ability to respond quickly and skillfully requires infrastructure and team work. The challenges are numerous and Australia has, through NCRIS, been building its scientific capability. A flow on effect of this is that investment in NCRIS has also resulted in a stronger and more resilient economy. The Lateral Economics report noted that:

“The economic impact analysis has revealed that NCRIS stimulus has contributed to supporting the economy during the GFC and the current COVID-19 pandemic.”

Dr Cathy Foley in her inaugural speech as Australia’s new Chief Scientist in March 2021 was perhaps thinking along similar lines when she noted that science is critical to solving humankind’s greatest challenges: 

“The question for me is how to strengthen the connections [between] scientists, researchers and innovators, with industry and policymakers.” — Dr Cathy Foley

This question highlights the direction in which Australia’s science must head.  NCRIS will be a key driver of this interdisciplinary and impact driven future. 

AUTHORS

Philomena Manifold (AuScope), Jo Curkpatrick (Australian Plant Phenomics Facility) Romy Pearse (Astronomy Australia Ltd), Nicola Tew (Population Health Research Network) and Karina Nunez Machado (Pawsey) on behalf of the NCRIS Communications Network

MORE INFORMATION

If you would like to know more about this report, please contact Nicola Tew (Communications Officer, Population Health Research Network, University of Western Australia).

FURTHER READING

National Collaborative Research Infrastructure (NCRIS) spending and economic growth by Lateral Economics, 2021

Thank you and farewell Professor Graham Galloway

The National Imaging Facility (NIF) would like to acknowledge and thank founding NIF Director Professor Graham Galloway for his outstanding contribution to imaging in Australia as he finishes his role as NIF Chief Executive Officer.

Graham has been instrumental in establishing collaborative research infrastructure nationally. His vision led to the formation of NIF and his enormous efforts in the 2016 Research Infrastructure Road Map expanded NIF capabilities nationally.

Graham’s leadership, passion and dedication as founding Director of NIF and Chief Executive Officer for the past 15 years will have significant impact on the Australian research capabilities for future generations.

“It has been an incredible privilege to have been part of a dedicated team and I thank them all for their unending loyalty and support. I am particularly indebted to the staff of NIF Central, without whom none of this would have been possible. The strength of NIF is not in the hardware alone, but the expertise of the Facility Fellows, whose commitment has enabled the great research. Finally, I have been blessed being part of the wider national research infrastructure, and I thank my many NCRIS family colleagues, who I count as valued friends.” Professor Galloway said.

NIF acknowledges Graham’s tireless work in imaging and a research career that has always placed him at the forefront of developments in the field, from his first postdoctoral fellowship at Oxford University, coinciding with the arrival of the first whole body magnetic resonance system capable of performing MR spectroscopy, to leading the team to install the first 7T MRI in Australia. Graham was further recognised by the International Society of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM) as the 2021 ISMRM Fellow of the Society for his establishment of national and international infrastructure. An acknowledgment for his pioneering work in building national imaging research facilities and programs, and for national and international leadership in MRI technology and education

The NIF Board and the University of Queensland are delighted to announce the appointment of Professor Wojtek James Goscinski as the Chief Executive Officer of the National Imaging Facility to lead the next stage of NIF’s growth and development.

Wojtek has been the founding Coordinator and Platform Director of MASSIVE, a national high-performance data processing and analytics facility at Monash University with national impact and an international profile. He leads the Australian Characterisation Commons at Scale project, which is a partnership between the Australian Research Data Commons, the National Imaging Facility, Microscopy Australia, and nine Australian Universities. 

NIF would like to warmly welcome Wojtek to the NIF community and wish Graham all the best in his new endeavours.

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