NICM Research Priorities for the Collaborative Centres

 

Two of NICM’s core aims, collaboration and capacity building, will be addressed through the creation of a number of Collaborative Centres. The Collaborative Centre model is designed to help leverage funds to maximise the quantity, quality and overall benefit of complementary medicine research being conducted in Australia, to promote interdisciplinary research and to increase the breadth and depth of complementary medicine research capacity in Australia.

 

Following stakeholder forums a set of broad research priorities were developed. These provide the first national guidelines for selection of priority research areas in complementary medicine, and will be used as the framework against which the NICM Collaborative Centre research programs are assessed.

 

• Priority should be given to complementary medicine research that has the potential to impact positively on health and wellbeing of all Australians. Rather than simply align research to national health priorities, emphasis should be given to those areas of high burden of disease where preliminary evidence is strong and demonstrates likelihood of positive impact. Preliminary data reviews may be required to assist this process.

• Priority should be given to research that investigates safety, efficacy and cost effectiveness of complementary medicine and translates this into policy and practice. Safety, efficacy and cost effectiveness studies with outcomes relevant to policy and practice help close the loop between research and its implementation.

• Priority should be given to research that investigates methodological issues relevant to the specific nature of complementary medicine. These include the development of methodological tools such as measurement instruments, trial designs and pharmacological approaches which may impact on our understanding of the whole practice, concepts and mechanisms underpinning complementary medicine.

 

 Not all proposed research will be able to address all of the above criteria. However, preference for NICM funding will be given to those applications that most comprehensively encompass these criteria.

 

 A more detailed set of priorities will be developed for particular complementary medicine modalities during the establishment phase of NICM.