Community Voice in Australian Research

The kit is a collaborative effort between the National Health and Medical Research Council, the Consumers’ Health Forum of Australia, researchers and consumer and community groups.

NHMRC CEO, Professor Alan Pettigrew believes the kit will help organisations to think through the issues involved in health and medical research and develop a framework for community involvement.

Professor Pettigrew says that involving the community in health and medical research builds trust between researchers and community groups. This helps to foster understanding of the issues involved and what is important to both parties.

Executive Director of the Consumers’ Health Forum of Australia, Helen Hopkins says that consumers value the health and medical research undertaken in Australia and want to make sure that it is relevant and delivers benefits for the community.

She says health consumers know that it can take a long time to find a cure, but they often have very practical questions that need to be included in research planning and good ideas about how to make sure relevant community members know about the research.

The kit contains two publications that together will assist researchers, research organisations and consumer and community groups participate in the research process.

The Model for Consumer and Community Participation in Health and Medical Research provides a framework for researchers and the Resource Pack for Consumer and Community Participation in Health and Medical Research assists consumer and community organisations.

If you would like an electronic version of the resource pack for communities in PDF format please send us an email at probono@probonoaustralia.com.au