Activities

NICM Collaborative Centre Networking Forum

Researcher Audit Update - September 2008

2008 ASMR Professional Development Program – August 08

Australian Bureau of Statistics Australian Social Trends – Complementary Therapies July 2008

Health and Hospitals Reform Commission - June 2008

NHMRC - Complementary and Alternative Medicine Research Grants

NICM Collaborative Centre Update - March 2008

March 2008

NICM Audit of CM Research in Australia - November/December 2007

Stakeholder Forums - August 2007

Announcement of the Establishment of NICM - June 2007

NICM Collaborative Centre Networking Forum

 

On Thursday 9 October 2008, NICM hosted the inaugural NICM Collaborative Centre Networking Forum held at the Australian Technology Park in Sydney.

 

The Forum was the first time that participants in the Centres were brought together.  The Centres involve over 20 universities, research centres and industry partners from around the country. 

 

Some 50 NICM Collaborative Centre researchers were engaged in a series of facilitated interactive workshops.  The forum presented an important opportunity to talk through key scientific issues; identify areas of common interest and opportunities for collaboration across the centres; and explore the infrastructure requirements and common challenges everyone is facing in undertaking complementary medicine (CM) research. 

 

It is important that our researchers are brought together to share their ideas and experiences and it is intended that the networking forum will be an annual event, to be held on a rotating basis between major capital cities.

 

The forum also provided an opportunity to commence work on refining research priorities within the Centres and across the CM field generally.  One of the Institute’s roles is to articulate national priorities in basic and translational research, and in its first year of operation, NICM developed overarching research priorities, informed by national stakeholder consultations.  Going forward, these higher level priorities need to be translated into a workable five year plan that will help better concentrate research effort. 

 

On advice from its Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC), NICM has developed a process to help develop the priorities.  The outcomes from the Forum will be reviewed by the SAC and followed by a broader stakeholder engagement process, to be rolled out over December 2008–June 2009.  The process will also help identify infrastructure, capacity and methodological requirements for undertaking work in the priority areas.

 

The Collaborative Centre for Traditional Chinese Medicine held a workshop prior to the Networking Forum and identified anticipated research priorities for TCM research, which were fed into the Network process.  Under the auspices of a MOU NICM recently signed with the China Academy of Medical Sciences promoting research collaboration, the TCM work will be further developed in consultation with scientists at a workshop in Beijing planned for early November.

 

Updates about the priority development process will be posted on the NICM website as work progresses.

 

 

 

Researcher Audit Update - September 2008

 

The 2007-2008 complementary medicine researcher audit has been completed and is available for download below.

The report highlights a number or promising developments since the 2005 report.  These include:

• 24% increase in total funds in CM research
• 79% increase in the number of CM research workers across the country
• 167% increase in the number CM post-graduate students with scholarships.

During this triennium the focus of research has been largely on nutritional supplements (27%), western herbal medicine (26%) and traditional Chinese medicine (22%). 

Click here for the 2007-2008 activity and capacity audit

 

Click here for the 2005 snapshot

 

The National Institute of Complementary Medicine is please to announce it will be participating in the 2008 ASMR Professional Development Program – August 08

 

Program details, experience required and registration form available here –

 

ASMR – NICM Professional Development Collaboration – PDF

Application form - word

 

Australian Bureau of Statistics Australian Social Trends – Complementary Therapies July 2008

 

The ABS has released some significant figures on the increasing relevance of complementary medicine in their annual snapshot of Australian society.

The ABS report draws on data from Censuses of Population and Housing and from the ABS 2004-2005 National Health Survey.

 

Key findings include:

• The number of people visiting a complementary health professional (most commonly a chiropractor, naturopath or acupuncturist) increased by 51% in the ten years to 2005
• The number of people working as complementary health professionals nearly doubled from 4,800 to 8,600 in the ten years to 2006

 

Click here to view the full article

 

Health and Hospitals Reform Commission - June 2008

 

The establishment of the Commission by the Federal Government provides a significant opportunity to present the strengths of evidence based complementary medicine and the growing capacity of the complementary medicine research sector to help address Australia 's health care challenges.

 

To read NICM's submission to the Health and Hospitals Reform Commission please click here.

NHMRC - Complementary and Alternative Medicine Research Grants

 

The National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) recently announced $5.3 million in grants to fund 13 projects a imed at research that will generate evidence and increase knowledge in the area of complementary and alternative medicine.

 

These grants fall under the NHMRC's strategic awards which supports health and medical research in areas which have been identified as a priority and where there is an unmet need for targeted funding. Strategic awards address priorities identified by the NHMRC as part of its triennial strategic planning process as well as those identified by the Australian Government under its National Research Priorities.

 

NICM extends congratulations to all award recipients – click here to see list of recipients

NICM Collaborative Centre Update - March 2008

Since December a small number of the NICM team have been working extensively on the inaugural NICM funding round. Twenty-four Expressions of Interest were received in mid-November and eleven full funding applications were submitted by the December closing date. There was a high level of competition in the selection round for the limited funding available. Announcement of the NICM Collaborative Centres will be made by Senator Jan McLucas Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Health and Ageing at the Opening of the ICCMR Congress at to be held in Sydney on 30 and 31 March (www.iccmr2008.com). Once the official announcement has been made NICM will post details of the successful Collaborative Centres on this site.

March 08

NICM was a silver sponsor of the 3rd International Congress on Complementary Medicine Research held in Sydney on March 29 to 31st, 2008.

The Third International Congress on Complementary Medicine Research brought together over 550 leading complementary medicine researchers, practitioners and industry and government representatives from around the globe.   

Key issues discussed included the latest evidence on the effectiveness of complementary medicine interventions, their safety and their cost-effectiveness especially in chronic disease management.

Click here for full program including plenary speakers. 

 

NICM Audit of CM Research in Australia - November/December 2007

In 2005 the NSW Ministry for Science and Medical Research commissioned a review of the complementary medicine (CM) sector in Australia. The purpose of the review was to gain an understanding of the size and scope of the CM industry, including CM research currently being conducted in Australia. This review provided important background information for government.

The National Institute of Complementary Medicine now wishes to update this data to ensure that it continues to be accurate and thereby able to continue its significant contribution to informing CM policy. The audit is titled “Scope of complementary medicine (CM) research in Australia: an update” and it has been approved by the University of Western Sydney Ethics Committee (Protocol No. 07/188).

In order that the survey is as representative as possible, NICM has attempted to identify the major groups and individuals engaged in CM research in Australia. We have recently emailed a brief survey to these researchers for them to complete and return by email to Dr Phillip Cheras, p.cheras@uws.edu.au. The audit data is being collated in a non-identifying fashion so participants’ responses remain strictly confidential. While every endeavour has been made to identify all Australian CM research groups, if you are an Australian CM researcher and your group leader has not been contacted by NICM we invite you to complete the survey details (click here to be redirected to the survey details) and return it to p.cheras@uws.edu.au or nicm@uws.edu.au at your earliest convenience. Please do not hesitate to contact Dr Cheras on 0412 56 22 50 should you require any further information.

This survey is entirely voluntary and your participation will be deemed to represent consent on your behalf. NICM is grateful for your support of this important review.

Stakeholder Forums - August 2007

The hectic pace during the first few months at NICM moved up a notch with preparations for three extremely valuable Stakeholder Forums. The first was held on the 20th August for researchers and two additional forums were convened on the 27th August for industry and practitioners. These forums were attended by almost 200 delegates and we are extremely grateful to all those who gave so generously of their time and provided so much useful input into our thinking.

Delegates were informed that the National Institute of Complementary Medicine's mission is “to build the capacity of complementary medicine research across Australia, effectively connecting complementary medicine researchers and professionals with the broader research community, industry and other stakeholders, to provide strategic focus and foster excellence in research.”

The purpose of the forums was to inform participants about recent developments at the institute and to seek stakeholder input into questions pertaining to NICM research, structure and funding. Key outcomes from the forums included stakeholders' opinions on the most important criteria for setting NICM's National Research Priorities and stakeholders' attitudes regarding the funding model and assessment criteria to be implemented in the first round of NICM Research Centre funding.

Announcement of the Establishment of NICM - June 2007

NICM was launched on 15 June 2007 at a function on the Campbelltown Campus of UWS, by the Federal Minister for Health and Ageing, the Honorable Tony Abbott and the Local Member for Macarthur the Honorable Pat Farmer. Mr Abbott announced that initial funding for two years of $4 million would be provided by the Federal government for the establishment of the National Institute. NICM later received an additional $600,000 from the NSW Office for Science and Medical Research which was specifically provided for the establishment costs of the institute.

 The launch was attended by more than 100 people from all over Australia. They were told that the administrative hub of NICM will be headquartered at the University of Western Sydney 's Campbelltown Campus and will operate as a virtual institute linking the major complementary medicine groups in the country. The administrative hub will comprise a small group of core staff that will ensure the optimal use of the institute's funds to facilitate capacity building, coordination and collaboration between centres of complementary medicine excellence across the country.

The creation of the first truly national research institute dedicated to furthering research into complementary medicine represents a significant milestone in having complementary medicine and complementary medicine researchers appropriately recognised by the Australian scientific and healthcare communities.

The Hon Pat Farmer (Local Member for Macarthur)
and The Hon Tony Abbott (Federal Minister for
Health and Ageing) at the Launch of NICM on 15 June 2007 .

 

NICM staff have been busy working through the Expressions of Interest for the NICM Collaborative Establishment program, providing all applicants with feedback. NICM received a total of 24 EOIs involving 270 specified researchers and 86 organisations. The total amount of funding sought was in excess of $9.4mil. In the EOI process, only eight of the expressions of interest specified the financial value of the leveraged funding that they would bring to the proposed NICM Centres, but from these eight submissions, an additional $9.0mil in cash and in kind contributions were pledged towards the proposed NICM Collaborative Centres.

Only applicants who have lodged an EOI are eligible to submit final applications. An announcement of the NICM Collaborative Centres is expected some time late March 2008.