28 May 2025
In 2024, HTQ paused its popular Consumer and Community Involvement (CCI) Microgrants Program to thoroughly evaluate its effectiveness in enabling CCI in health and medical research. The results speak for themselves, with 98% of Queensland researchers recommending the CCI Microgrants Program.
Since its establishment in May 2022, HTQ has awarded 67 CCI microgrants worth over $69,000, helping researchers meaningfully engage consumers and community in their work. The grants have supported various research projects, from developing consumer-driven research topics for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cancer research to building a complete picture of an injured patient’s journey from emergency to recovery.
As part of its evaluation, the HTQ team surveyed previous grant recipients to gather their feedback on the application process and the impact of receiving a HTQ microgrant.
The HTQ assessment revealed:
Researchers reported that HTQ microgrant funding enabled:
They provided positive feedback about the simple application process and the support provided by the HTQ team. Researchers also suggested improvements, such as increased funding per project, streamlining communication and payment timelines, and expanding the program’s reach.
HTQ has also supplied CCI microgrants to projects encouraging the appropriate integration of First Nations perspectives into health and medical research. One project example is Mind Your Body: A student-centred teaching guide on menstrual health written by and for Queensland’s Indigenous and remote primary and secondary school students.
University of Queensland Associate Professor Nina Lansbury and Kaiwalagal, Umaii and Kiwai woman Ms Minnie King led the project. They used a HTQ microgrant to finalise and launch the Mind Your Body menstrual health teaching guide to remote and Indigenous communities. HTQ’s microgrant covered the costs of the guide’s review by First Nations students in Western Cape York and research assistance to revise, print, and distribute the guide to schools.
The guide is now being adopted by some teachers and school-based nurses in schools across Queensland. Although parents can opt out, the education program has about a 99% uptake.
HTQ aims to relaunch the CCI Microgrants Program later in 2025, guided by the insights gathered through this evaluation, and aims to continue to evaluate it regularly.
Download a CCI Microgrants Program evaluation summary.
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Health Translation Queensland acknowledges the Traditional Owners and their custodianship of the lands on which we live, work, and play. We pay our respects to their Ancestors and their Descendants, who continue cultural and spiritual connections to Country. We recognise their valuable contributions to Australian and global society.
