Roadmap for Strengthening Health Research and Translation in Queensland

Queensland’s health system and services are complex and in many ways fragmented. We have a population of more than 5 million across an area of more than 1.8 million square kilometres.

Health care demand continues to rise, and the growing cost to governments and consumers is unsustainable. Research is a critical component of the solution to this issue. Queensland has some of the best and brightest researchers in the world and better integrating research into the health care system will help solve many of the quality and sustainability issues the health system faces now and in the future.

Since releasing the Queensland Funding Analysis Report in 2021, HTQ has been working to further strengthen Queensland’s Health and Medical Research sector. Following engagement with representatives from across the state, on 31 October 2022, HTQ launched the Roadmap for Strengthening Health and Medical Research for Queensland (the Roadmap).

About the Roadmap

The Roadmap articulates a series of actions that, if Queensland’s health and medical research stakeholders work together on, is likely to increase the federal research funding awarded to Queensland. This, in turn, helps support an active translational research culture within Queensland’s health system and services which will ultimately result in better health and wellbeing for all Queenslanders.

The Roadmap sets out 3 priority areas:

1. Strengthen the ecosystem – develop a dedicated Queensland Health and Medical Research Strategy, aligned with the Queensland Government’s Advance Queensland: Innovation for a Future Economy 2022-2032 Roadmap
2. Build workforce capability and capacity – increase the number and diversity of active clinician researchers
3. Optimise funding – broaden the scope and increase the probability of funding

Under the 3 priority areas, the Roadmap outlines 33 actions for the health and medical research sector to take. The actions are wide ranging from leveraging the strengths in our health system, to establishing near-miss schemes for unsuccessful grant applicants, to supporting consumer and community involvement in research.

About progress on the Roadmap

Throughout 2023, HTQ’s team, its partners and the broader health and medical research sector have continued their efforts to deliver initiatives that align with the Roadmap’s priorities and recommended actions.

HTQ has developed a Roadmap Progress Report which provides a summary of the progress made in driving forward the priorities and recommended actions of the Roadmap.

The report identifies areas of future work for Queensland’s health and medical research community and includes a call to action for the health and medical research community to support an active translational research culture within Queensland’s health services and system. This will ultimately result in better health and wellbeing for all Queenslanders.

Read more on the Roadmap progress.