Ten outstanding and versatile research teams have collectively been awarded $50 million to support them in working together to address major problems in human health under the NHMRC's 2024 Synergy Grants scheme.
Synergy Grants support exceptional multidisciplinary teams of investigators to work together to answer major questions that cannot be answered by a single investigator.
The funding will support new discoveries in a range of health and medical areas, covering the spectrum from basic science to clinical medicine, public health and health services research.
University of Sydney researcher, Associate Professor Veronica Matthews, will lead the Stronger Together As Unified Nations for Community-led Health (STAUNCH) project which aims to strengthen the capacity for self-governance among Australian First Nations.
Built on nearly 20 years of collaborative research, STAUNCH will generate new evidence on Indigenous nation building processes that centre on holistic health and wellbeing solutions and that deal with intersecting challenges collaboratively and effectively. This Synergy project will harness the efforts and expertise of some staunch people to address the complex structural reforms needed to Close the Gap.
Other research projects funded in this announcement include:
- Associate Professor Joanna Groom of WEHI will lead a multidisciplinary team to rethink current vaccine design approaches, aiming to reveal how to best promote long-term protection against emerging and mutagenic respiratory infections.
- Professor Michael Berk from Deakin University will lead the Development of Innovative Clinical Treatments in Schizophrenia (SYNDICAT) project which aims to discover new treatments to reduce the individual, social and economic burden of schizophrenia.
- Associate Professor Shahneen Sandhu of The University of Melbourne will manage a multi-career stage team of immunologists, microbial ecologists, computational biologists, and clinicians to explore how microorganisms in the intestinal tract produce key factors involved in immune responses against melanoma.
