Ongoing projects
Page contents: 2007-08| 2006-07 | 2005-06
2007-08
The following research projects were successful in the 2007-08 Public Health Research Program funding round:
| Title |
Administering Institution |
Chief Investigator |
Total Budget |
| The economic consequences of a food poisoning outbreak to Victorian business |
Price Waterhouse Coopers |
Mr Jeremy Thorpe |
$70,000.00 |
| Risk-based approach to food safety inspections, drivers of compliance behaviour and communications of food safety obligations |
Campbell Research & Consulting Pty Ltd |
Mr David Spicer |
$96,820.46 |
| Development of evaluation framework to assess health promotion action plans. |
Monash University |
A/Prof Maximilian de Courten |
$96,862.46 |
| Reducing smoking amongst pregnant Aboriginal women - |
VACCHO |
Ms Jill Gallagher |
$392,480.00 |
| An investigation into why there are continuing outbreaks of mycobacterium ulcerans in Victoria |
Austin Hospital Medical Research Foundation |
A/Prof Paul Johnson |
$300,000.00 |
| How does chlamydia infection impact on the sexual, reproductive and mental health of Victorians and the Victorian health care system? |
University of Melbourne |
Dr Jane Hocking |
$186,869.49 |
| An investigation of the environmental, behavioural and immunological factors that allow some injecting drug users to avoid hepatis C virus exposure. |
Macfarlane Burnet Institute for Medical Research and Public Health |
Dr Campbell |
$93,402.92 |
| Evaluation of effectiveness of DHS HIV Prevention Taskforce. |
UNINSW NCHSR |
A/Prof John Imrie |
$25,605.00 |
| A spatial vulnerability analysis of urban populations to extreme heat events |
Monash University |
Prof Nigel Tapper |
$88,557.88 |
| A health risk assessment for cyanobacterial toxins in seafood from the Gippsland Lakes derived by evaluating uptake and depuration of nodularine by edible biota from the Gippsland Lakes and correlating cell numbers and biovolume of Nodularia with toxin concentrations. |
RMIT University |
A/Prof Dayanthi Nugegoda |
$100,019.82 |
| |
|
Total: |
$1,450,618.03 |
2006-07
The following research projects were successful in the 2006-07 Public Health Research Program funding round:
| Title |
Administering Institution |
Principal Chief Investigator |
Total funding |
| Do rapid detection & isolation of colonised patients reduce MRSA spread? An epidemiological, economic & modelling study |
University of Melbourne |
Dr Caroline Marshall |
$ 150,461 * |
| Effect on individuals of notification of possible exposure to Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD) |
La Trobe University |
Dr Cathy Mead |
$ 102,398 * |
| Making it real: Relevant sexual health communication for young people. |
The University of Melbourne |
Professor Doreen Rosenthal |
$ 98,536 |
| A comprehensive examination of post-prison release health and support services in Victoria exploring the perspectives of prisoners, their families and service providers. |
Turning Point Alcohol and Drug Centre |
Professor Nick Crofts |
$ 186,664 * |
| Reducing harm to older persons in Victoria from extreme hot weather: A survey to identify and correct gaps in knowledge, skills, attitudes and capacity of health professionals and carers to protect the aged. |
Monash University |
Professor Joseph Ibrahim |
$ 99,937 |
| Are Messages about reducing exposure to asbestos and lead-based products during home renovation reaching those most at risk? |
Ipsos Australia Pty Ltd |
Mr George Katos |
$ 99,650 |
| How refugee youth access, interpret and implement sexual health information |
La Trobe University |
Professor Sandra Gifford |
$ 89,511 |
| Making healthy choices for ourselves: Partnerships for healthy eating in Aboriginal communities. |
Victorian Aboriginal Community-Controlled Health Organisation |
Jill Gallagher |
$ 139,870 * |
| Health literacy and effective health promotion with vulnerable communities: Health literacy in newly arrived African communities. |
Murdoch Children's Research Institute |
Dr Georgia Paxton |
$ 96,554 |
| Parent-centred and culturally-responsive literacies for health promotion with newly arrived African communities. |
Murdoch Children's Research Institute |
Dr Julie Green |
$ 118,536 |
| Health, wellbeing and community enterprise: the role of local government. |
The University of Melbourne |
Dr Jo Barraket |
$ 90,169 |
| Health credits: Identifying the economic benefits of licensed premises and translating them into health outcomes at a local level. |
The University of Melbourne |
Dr John Fitzgerald |
$ 99,804 |
| |
|
Total: |
$1,372,094 |
(*) Projects marked with an asterix are funded over 2 years.
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2005-06
In September 2005 the Public Health Branch invited submissions for research proposals from Victorian organisations to undertake targeted public health research in the following categories:
- Health inequalities,
- Health services,
- Chronic disease,
- Communicable disease and
- Environmental Health.
Research projects were requested to address specific questions within these categories.
Overall thirty-two submissions were received resulting in strong competition for the available funding. Following an extensive selection process that included internal and external review, thirteen (13) projects have been awarded funding totalling $1.09 million and are listed below:
| Topic |
Safely First: Issues affecting the uptake of the Health Guidelines for Personal care and Body Art Industries |
| Chief Investigators |
Dr Meredith Temple-Smith, Dr Stephen McNally, Professor Marian Pitts, Dr Penny Weller |
| Organisation |
La Trobe University |
| Funding Awarded |
$78,915 (excluding GST) |
| Topic |
Pivotal, Peripheral or positional: Understanding SOPVs for intervention. |
| Chief Investigators |
Dr Jeffrey Grierson, Professor Anthony Smith |
| Organisation |
La Trobe University |
| Funding Awarded |
$99,750 (excluding GST) |
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| Topic |
Improving Access to Hepatitis C Treatment Services for Disadvantaged Groups: A Two Study Project: Lessons from a Ethno-specific Community Liver Clinic & Recognising and Responding to Hepatitis C in Indigenous Communities in Victoria |
| Chief Investigators |
Dr Stephen McNally, Dr Meredith Temple-Smith, Professor Sandra Gifford, Ms Jill Gallagher, Dr Anouk Dev, Ms Jacqui Richmond, Dr Priscilla Pyett |
| Organisation |
La Trobe University |
| Funding Awarded |
$98,649 (excluding GST) |
| Topic |
Type 2 diabetes and depression: Assessing the prevalence in Victoria and identifying effective public health interventions. |
| Chief Investigators |
Professor James Dunbar, Dr Prasuna Reddy, Professor Stephen Colagiuri, Professor Ian Hickie, Dr Stephen Bunker, Dr Sami Heistaro |
| Organisation |
Greater Green Triangle University (a Flinders University and Deakin University partnership) |
| Funding Awarded |
$89,600 (excluding GST) |
| Topic |
The effectiveness of biocides in the control of amoebae in cooling towers. |
| Chief Investigators |
Dr Michelle Critchley, Dr Richard Bentham |
| Organisation |
Commonwelath Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) |
| Funding Awarded |
$80,963 (excluding GST) |
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| Topic |
Promoting Public Awareness of Prevention, Early Detection & Treatment of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. |
| Chief Investigators |
Assoc Professor David Dunt |
| Organisation |
The University of Melbourne |
| Funding Awarded |
$58,603 (excluding GST) |
| Topic |
Development and testing of a tool to identify youth at risk of sexually transmitted infections in primary care. |
| Chief Investigators |
Dr Lena Sanci, Dr Marcus Chen, Professor Susan Sawyer, Assoc Professor Danielle Mazza, Dr Jane Hocking, Ms Michelle Wills, Ms Dot Henning |
| Organisation |
The University of Melbourne |
| Funding Awarded |
$83,295 (excluding GST) |
| Topic |
Responding to health inequalities: investigating the impact of Neighbourhood Renewal on health and well-being in disadvantaged Victorian communities. |
| Chief Investigators |
Dr Margaret Kelaher, Dr Deborah Warr, Ms Theonie Tacticos |
| Organisation |
The University of Melbourne |
| Funding Awarded |
$89,973 (excluding GST) |
| Topic |
Health needs and sexual health knowledge in the unregulated sector of the Victorian sex Industry |
| Chief Investigators |
Professor Christopher Fairley, Professor Basil Donovan, Dr Christine Harcourt, Dr Sepehr Tabrizi, Professor Suzanne Garland, Dr Elizabeth Hoban, Dr Kay Cook |
| Organisation |
The University of Melbourne |
| Funding Awarded |
$97,032 (excluding GST) |
| Topic |
The effectiveness of a peer health telephone coaching model designed to reduce chronic disease risk factors |
| Chief Investigators |
Dr Sally Savage, Dr Susan Bailey, Dr Rona Bound |
| Organisation |
Deakin University |
| Funding Awarded |
$49,540 (excluding GST) |
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| Topic |
To investigate existing service provision and best practice for pregnancy advisory services and develop a model applicable to Victoria that would deliver accessible, balanced information to women, especially those with an unexpected pregnancy. |
| Chief Investigators |
Dr Julia Shelley, Dr Chris Bayly, Ms Lynne Jordan, Dr Melissa Graham, Dr Jane Fisher, Dr Heather Rowe |
| Organisation |
Deakin University |
| Funding Awarded |
$77,419 (excluding GST) |
| Topic |
Disclosure of genetic information to those at risk of familial cancer, a randomised controlled trial and evaluation of two methods of assisting families. |
| Chief Investigators |
Professor Ingrid Winship, Dr Marion Harris, Assoc Professor Geoffrey Lindeman, Dr Gillian Mitchell, Professor Finlay Macrae, Ms Mary-Anne Young, Dr Bruce Mann, Dr Bev Warner, Ms Deborah Howell, Dr Vicki White, Mrs Susan Fitzpatrick |
| Organisation |
The Cancer Council Victoria |
| Funding Awarded |
$85,856 (excluding GST) |
| Topic |
Supporting parents in telling their adolescent children about their donor-assisted conception: Research, resource development, and public information |
| Chief Investigators |
Ms Louise Johnson, Dr Maggie Kirkman, Professor Doreen Rosenthal |
| Organisation |
Infertility Treatment Authority |
| Funding Awarded |
$99,856 (excluding GST) |
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