The CRC for Aboriginal Health and its predecessor, the CRC for
Aboriginal and Tropical Health, have developed an unique
approach to research, which is very different to the traditional
model of funding and commissioning research. This approach
includes:
- The Indigenous Research Reform Agenda: a broad agenda of
reform to ensure that research provides benefits to Aboriginal
people and is controlled by Aboriginal people;
- The Facilitated Research Development Approach: the CRC for
Aboriginal Health mediates relationships between researchers, the
Aboriginal health sector and government agencies to set research
priorities and develop research projects.
Indigenous Research Reform Agenda
The CRC for Aboriginal Health's predecessor, the CRC for
Aboriginal and Tropical Health, carried out a significant body of
work. This work helped to consolidate and articulate what
had been a long history of reforms to improve the usefulness of
research to Aboriginal people, and is known as the Indigenous
Research Reform Agenda. The principles of the Indigenous Research
Reform Agenda are:
- involvement of Indigenous communities in the design, execution
and evaluation of research;
- defining the coordinating role of Indigenous
community-controlled organisations;
- consultation and negotiation defined in practice as ongoing and
open to scrutiny;
- mechanisms for Indigenous control and transformation of
research;
- mechanisms for ongoing surveillance of research projects;
- processes to determine research priorities and benefits;
- determination of ethical processes for the conduct of research
in terms of consultation and negotiation;
- transformation of research practices from 'investigator-driven'
to a re-assertion of control by Indigenous community-controlled
organisations over the research project and an adoption of the
needs-based approach to research;
- linkage between research and community development and social
change;
- the training of Indigenous researchers;
- the adoption of effective mechanisms for the dissemination and
transfer of research findings; and
- ownership and control of research findings by Aboriginal
communities.
More information about the Indigenous Research Reform Agenda can
be found in the
Links
Monographs.
Facilitated Research Development Approach
The CRC for Aboriginal Health is developing a Facilitated Research
Development Approach to prioritise and develop new research
projects within its strategic research programs. A feature of the
approach is its support for the CRC for Aboriginal Health
in working with the Aboriginal health sector to identify areas
where research may be able to make a real difference. It then
brings together the researchers and industry partners
(stakeholders) to design and conduct the research and disseminate
the research findings.
Evidence shows that involving stakeholders throughout project
development and implementation means that they are more likely to
use research results at the end of the project. To ensure that
stakeholders are involved throughout the process, Program Managers
and Program Leaders are appointed to support and facilitate the
Aboriginal health sector’s involvement in the development of
projects. The steps taken in the Facilitated Research Development
Approach are illustrated in Diagram 1, and set out below.
Diagram 1: Facilitated Approach to Research step by
step
Facilitated Research Development Approach compared
to traditional processes
The CRC for Aboriginal Health’s approach to developing new
research projects is different to ‘traditional’
research development processes. Experience and evidence has shown
that the CRC for Aboriginal Health’s approach leads to:
- community-driven research, not investigator-driven
research;
- collaboration not competition; and
- benefits to both community and researchers, not just
researchers.
The CRC for Aboriginal Health has found that more work with
identifying and developing priorities with industry (community and
other stakeholders) early in the process and working closely with
project teams ensures that projects involve research transfer and
capacity
development from the development phase right through the
project.
Download a more detailed description of the Facilitated Development Approach, taken from the
2005/2006 Annual Report and/or find more information about
our industry
roundtables.
More information on how the CRC for Aboriginal
Health funds research
Not all projects in the CRC for Aboriginal Health are developed
using the Facilitated Research Development Approach. Many projects
have been developed outside these processes.
- Some projects were carried over from the CRC for Aboriginal and
Tropical Health (1997–2003), which preceded the CRC for
Aboriginal Health.
- Traditional grant funding rounds were carried out by the CRC
for Aboriginal Health in 2003 and 2004.
- Small amounts of strategic funding have been granted using the
Chief Executive Officer’s discretionary fund.
- Many projects have been contributed by partner organisations as
in-kind projects. For more information, go to the in-kind
page.
Tools and resources
The CRC for Aboriginal Health has developed documents for its
partners and stakeholders about how it funds research
- Project Leaders use the Statement of Project
Responsibilities (SPR) form to sign-off on a project between
the CRC for Aboriginal Health and partner organisations, so
that funds can be released to commence the research.
Project Leaders should liaise with Program Managers when
they are completing an SPR.
Links Monographs
The CRC for Aboriginal and Tropical Health project that
articulated the Indigenous Research Reform Agenda (IRRA) was called
'Action research for undertaking, managing and disseminating
Aboriginal health research for improved health outcomes' (referred
to as the Links Project). This project combined action research on
the CRC’s own activity, with a broad exploration of national
and international approaches to research reform.
The results of this project were published in the Links
Monograph Series and have informed much of the CRC for Aboriginal
Health's development:
IRRA 1:Positioning the Cooperative Research Centre for
Aboriginal and Tropical Health [pdf] (2002) Authored by: Henry,
J., Dunbar, T., Arnott, A., Scrimgeour, M., Matthews, S.,
Murakami-Gold, L. and Chamberlain, A
IRRA 2: Rethinking research methodologies [pdf] (2002)
Authored by: Henry, J., Dunbar, T., Arnott, A., Scrimgeour, M.,
Matthews, S., Murakami-Gold, L. and Chamberlain, A.
IRRA 3: Changing institutions [pdf] (2002) Authored
by: Henry, J., Dunbar, T., Arnott, A., Scrimgeour, M., Matthews,
S., Murakami-Gold, L. and Chamberlain, A.
IRRA 4: Promoting the use of health research [pdf]
(2002) Authored by: Matthews, S., Scrimgeour, M., Dunbar, T.,
Arnott, A., Chamberlain, A., Murakami-Gold, L. and Henry, J.
IRRA 5: A Review of the literature [pdf] (2004)
Authored by: J. Henry, T. Dunbar, A. Arnott, M. Scrimgeour, L.
Murakami-Gold
CRCATH 1997-2002: Working towards change in Indigenous
health research [pdf] (2004) Authored by: Terry Dunbar, Allan
Arnott, Margaret Scrimgeour, John Henry, Lorna Murakami-Gold
