National Health and Medical Research Strategy

About the strategy

The purpose of the National Strategy is to deliver:

a plan to strengthen and leverage Australia's world-leading research capability
better health outcomes from a productive and efficient research ecosystem.

The National Strategy will develop a framework and establish priorities to:

ensure all Australians benefit from health and medical research by producing better health outcomes for the community
optimise existing money in health and medical research, encourage greater coordination and partnerships across the sector and improve efficiency and effectiveness of research efforts
foster a strong research workforce and create the attractive investment environment necessary for a sustainable research pipeline from discovery and innovation to translation and commercialisation
help build a sustainable research pipeline from discovery and innovation to translation and commercialisation
cover the entire sector and include all levels of government, industry, philanthropy, academia and consumers.

It will:

align to the strategic plans and decision-making processes across stakeholder groups
consider Australia’s global context, including areas of national strength and capability gaps.

Why it’s important

Our consultation to better align the work of the NHMRC and MRFF highlighted the need for a national strategy.

The strategy will help target our funding and strengthen our world-leading health and medical research capability into the future.

This will enable discoveries to get to market faster to further improve the health and lives of Australians.

Status

In May 2024, the Minister for Health and Aged Care announced that we would develop the strategy.

In November 2024, the Minister for Health and Aged Care appointed Ms Rosemary Huxtable AO PSM as chair of the National Strategy.

We have established the National Health and Medical Research Strategy Interdepartmental Committee (IDC) to engage and collaborate with other Australian Government departments and agencies. The IDC will support the development of the National Strategy.

Phase 1 consultation to learn about priorities, challenges and opportunities for the National Strategy took place between January 2025 and June 2025. Ms Huxtable consulted with a broad range of stakeholders through meetings, workshops, roundtables, webinars, surveys and community focus groups.

Phase 2 consultation on the draft National Strategy is now underway. Consultations will include submissions, state and territory roundtables, workshops and webinars.

You can submit a submission on the draft National Strategy by:

providing written responses to guiding questions
uploading a short video
attending a webinar
completing an online survey.

Visit our consultation hub for full details.

News