The winners and losers of the 2013 National Health and Medical Research (NHMRC) Project Grants were announced in October. A record low success rate of just 16.9% (down from last year’s 20.5%) meant the…
Women who take time off research to have children face funding obstacles when returning to the workforce.
Cia de Foto
Kim Jacobson, WEHI (Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research)
A glass ceiling remains in place for female medical research scientists in Australia. Although approximately 50% of PhD students and postdoctoral scientists are female, males run the majority of research…
It’s not all about the money but universities could drive a harder bargain.
Victor1558
In the pharmaceutical industry there is a place known as the Valley of Death. It is the place between research and innovation where many drugs enter but fail to emerge from the other side. One reason for…
Crowdfunding a research project may be for you – and here’s how you can maximise your money.
nanny snowflake
With only one in five National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) grant applications successful, and a similar rate for Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery grants, it’s little wonder researchers…
Infections and deaths caused by superbugs are increasing every year. So the government’s five-year strategy to tackle the problem, if a little tardy, is a welcome step. In January, Chief Medical Officer…
What place for The Thinker will there be in an Australia under an Abbott government?
Steven Fettig
And so now we officially know: philosophy is a waste. How can we be sure? Because Coalition spokesman for scrutiny of government waste Jamie Briggs has promised an Abbott government would get rid of “those…
Not all pursuits can have their worthiness calculated in dollars and cents.
epSos.de
I doubt anyone truly believes governments are infinitely resourced. Even the most rabid, single-issue monomaniac can appreciate that to add public money from bucket X, it must come from bucket Y. So it’s…
Research and development election policies are a bit thin on the ground at the moment.
AAP/Science in Public, Paul Phillipson
Building the knowledge economy and a national innovation system should be a priority in the upcoming election but, as of today, only the Greens have released a dedicated research and development policy…
Lack of funding is just the tip of the iceberg for Australian Antarctic research.
AAP/Australian Antarctic Division
A hundred years after Australian explorer and geologist Douglas Mawson returned from his epic scientific adventures in Antarctica, Australia’s scientific exploration of the icy southern continent has all…
Public confidence in medical research is vulnerable to attacks on its integrity.
Andrew Huff
Clinical trials of an experimental cancer drug being undertaken by the University of New South Wales were suspended this week, after questions about the accuracy of some preliminary results were made public…
Research breakthroughs such as new cancer drugs can take decades of research, Professor Cory said, and long term funding plans are needed.
AAP Image/David Crosling
Australia must boost its research and development investment to at least the level of other OECD and Asian competitors, the chief of the Australian Academy of Science said today, warning that inaction…
Tony Abbott has a history of supporting medical research since his time as health minister under John Howard.
Paul Miller/AAP
The Coalition’s Policy to Protect and Streamline Health and Medical Research Funding is one of the first documents off the blocks this election. Short and sweet, it is designed to appeal to medical researchers…
The University of Melbourne said last night it seeks to raise $500 million in philanthropic funds by 2017.
AAP Image/Julian Smith
Universities are increasingly looking to philanthropists for research funding but experts have warned that donated funds may come with strings attached. The University of Melbourne announced yesterday…
Universities Australia Chair Sandra Harding looks at the future of universities.
University image from www.shutterstock.com
Professor Sandra Harding, the Universities Australia chair and Vice-Chancellor of James Cook University addressed the National Press Club in Canberra today. Here is a copy of her speech. In his novel set…
It would be a mistake to assume that any private money funding research creates a conflict of interest.
AAP Image/Alan Porritt
The research funding world is not often filled with controversy, but the story of indigenous academic Marcia Langton’s research funding has recently garnered a lot of attention. Langton, who in her recent…
Adam Bandt celebrating his 2010 election success as the federal member for Melbourne.
Julian Smith/AAP
Douglas Hilton, WEHI (Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research)
Adam Bandt is the first Australian Greens MP to win a seat in the House of Representatives at a federal election. And while the seat of Melbourne, which takes in the inner suburbs and CBD of the nation’s…
Adam Bandt is the first Australian Greens MP to win a seat in the House of Representatives at a federal election.
Alan Porritt/AAP
Douglas Hilton, WEHI (Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research)
Doug Hilton: I’m the director of the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research and I have with me today Adam Bandt, the Greens’ member for Melbourne. Why don’t you start by outlining your background…
Mismatches are messing with the future of interdisciplinary research.
matthewreid
Water, food and energy issues are increasingly recognised as key global challenges for the 21st century. Each requires and attracts substantial research attention, and tackling them inevitably requires…
Tony Abbott at a press conference after the prime minister announced the election will be held on September 14.
AAP/Alan Porritt
It was a big day in political circles yesterday, with Prime Minister Julia Gillard announcing an election date and launching her priorities for the nation. Among the hubbub that followed, an important…
Researchers have welcomed Tony Abbott’s commitment to protect health and medical research funding from budget cuts.
AAP/David Crosling
Universities and researchers have broadly welcomed yesterday’s surprise election date announcement, with Universities Australia chief Belinda Robinson saying it was in the national interest to have greater…
Director, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute & Professor of Medical Biology, and an honorary principal fellow in the Department of Zoology at the University of Melbourne, WEHI (Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research)
Previous Vice President of the Academy of Science of South Africa and DSI-NRF SARChI chair in Fungal Genomics, Professor in Genetics, University of Pretoria, University of Pretoria