UNSW Renews Medical Research Affiliation Agreements
UNSW’s Medicine and Health faculty continues its collaboration with The George Institute, Black Dog Institute, NeuRA, and more.
The announcement by UNSW that it has signed a contract for another 10 years of affiliation with The George Institute for combined medical research comes as no shock to anyone. Following the initial affiliation agreement signed in 2017, The George Institute has joined the impressive catalogue of medical research institutes that contribute to and collaborate with UNSW’s own Medicine and Health facilities research.
The past 8 years of collaboration had already seen the introduction of a new research centre, the ‘Centre for Sex and Gender Equity in Health and Medicine’, which was launched last year with the aim of changing the approach to clinical testing of medical trials to account for the effects on people of all sexes and genders; a contrast to the previously white-male-centric trials.
Following the statement released by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) in August of last year, in which Australia’s largest public medical grant funding body called for all researchers in Australia to take into consideration the “sex, gender, variations of sex characteristics and sexual orientation” in their studies, whether their study focuses on these variables or not, the director of the Centre for Sex and Gender Equity in Health and Medicine expressed both her support and concerns about the statement.
Professor Bronwyn Graham, the director of the Centre and a professor of psychology at UNSW, referred to the statement as being “an incredibly positive step,” while also noting her worry about the statement not having been made policy.Along with the continued partnership between UNSW and The George Institute, the university is currently in the process of finalising the renewal of partnerships with many of its other medical collaborators, the full list of which includes:
- Black Dog Institute
- Neuroscience Australia
- Children’s Cancer Institute
- Garvan Institute of Medical Research
- Ingham Institute for Applied Medical Research
- Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute
The history of UNSW’s expansive list of collaborations with medical research institutes spans its 62-year history, and has culminated now in the many research centres across its campuses, the newest of which is the aforementioned ‘Centre for Sex and Gender Equity in Health and Medicine'. Other established research centres on campus include the Kirby Institute, the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, and more (the full list being available on the webpage for the Health and Medicine faculty).
Beyond the on-campus facilities, the university also provides teams of researchers to assist affiliated research partners at their own centres in a program known as the ‘NHMRC (National Health and Medical Research Council) Centres of Research Excellence’.
The Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing, located on level 1 of the AGSM Building and established in 2012, is currently undertaking a five year program under ‘NHMRC Centres of Research Excellence’ in conjunction with the Garvan Institute (along with its constituent collaborators of the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute and the University of Sydney), and is one of many active medical research projects of UNSW and its affiliates.
The renewed affiliation between UNSW and its research partners suggests that the future of medical research is in good hands, and UNSW will be able to maintain or perhaps even increase its QS World University Ranking, where it is currently placed 20th.
