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We manage the Government's investment in health research. Our vision is to improve the health and quality of life of all New Zealanders.
Funding Opportunities
The HRC allocates funding through an annual funding round for researcher initiated projects, Requests for Proposals, and a range of career development awards.
About Us
We invest in a broad range of research on issues important to New Zealand, and support the development of health research careers. Our mission is 'benefiting New Zealand through health research'.
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We produce a wide range of publications and documents, which provide information about funding opportunities, research outcomes and HRC-related news.
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We help ensure all research involving human participants is based on good science, meets ethical standards and complies with best practice.
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News and Media
Our latest and archived media releases and news articles.
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Media ReleaseDespite growing evidence for the role of culturally-centred programmes in addressing mental health needs, few programmes have been embedded into practice, says one researcher who hopes to change all that.
Dr Kahu McClintock, Research Manager with Te Rau Matatini, has just been awarded $789,771 to test the use of indigenous approaches for helping at-risk Māori and Pacific youth. Funding comes from the Health Research Council of New Zealand (HRC) and the Ministry of Health, as part of New Zealand’s first Global Alliance for Chronic Diseases funding round.
Dr McClintock’s Indigenous Solutions Research Programme will provide a suite of innovative, culturally-focused and community-based programmes to ensure young people are given access to culturally-responsive early intervention approaches to increase mental health resilience.
The Māori research, conducted with Te Rau Matatini, covers two projects: one in partnership with Cindy Mokomoko from Te Puna Hauora ki Uta ki Tai in the Bay of Plenty, investigating a cultural and theoretical programme for at-risk Māori youth, aged 12 – 18, who have been identified within the education system as having issues with either anxiety, violence, alcohol, drug abuse or depression; the other is in partnership with Eugene Davis from Te Ahurei a Rangatahi in Hamilton, based on marae (traditional spaces) learnings to help young Māori males aged 12 – 18, to strengthen coonections to Te Ao Māori enabling positive future focuses.
Dr McClintock says both projects will challenge what is in place and not working, and states that indigenous solutions are an effective and sustainable way forward for improving mental health outcomes.
Pacific youth also stand to benefit from more culturally-relevant services, says Dr McClintock. When Pacific peoples do engage in mainstream mental health, they sometimes find it foreign and alienating, she adds.
The Pacific research will be conducted in conjunction with the Family Centre (Pacific section) led by Taimalietu Kiwi Tamasese, and also covers two projects: one aims to increase Pacific communities’ understanding of mental health problems, enabling youth and families to act upon them earlier; the other focusses on the mental health workforce, equipping them to embed more culturally-relevant and responsive practices for Pacific people. The hope is that these projects, combined, will improve Pacific responsiveness and prevention of mental health problems while building up confidence in the mental health workforce.
The HRC’s senior manager of Māori Health Research Investment, Mr Stacey Pene, says these projects aim to translate well-recognised concepts into action.
“The research partnership between Te Rau Matatini, Te Ahurei a Rangatahi, Te Puna Hauora ki Uta ki Tai and the Family Centre Pacific Section represents an exciting opportunity to apply indigenous knowledge to improve mental health for our Māori and Pacific youth, their whānau, and communities,” he says.
“The development of such culturally-responsive programmes is vital for increasing the resilience of our youth, and reducing inequity.”
The Ministry of Health’s Māori Leadership spokesperson, Alison Thom, says the prevention and management of mental health is one of the priorities of the New Zealand health system.
“We are pleased to see research proposals that help inform the development and delivery of more effective mental health services and support for Māori and Pacific youth.”
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News ArticleApplication guidelines and forms for the Ngā kanohi kitea full project grant are now available on HRC Gateway.
Ngā kanohi kitea community grants provide an opportunity for iwi, hapū and community groups to investigate a well-defined area of Māori health need or gain. Up to $200,000 is available over 18 months.
Applications for these grants open Monday 15 January 2018 at 8am and close on Wednesday 14 February 2018 at 5pm (hard copies due at HRC by 16 February at 5pm).
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News ArticleThe Health Research Council of New Zealand and the Ministry of Health have formed a partnership to fund evaluation research into general practice models of care provided by Primary Health Organisations (PHOs) in New Zealand.
A total funding pool of approximately $1.33 million is available for allocation. The funding partners invite applications for funding of up to $1.33 million (fully-costed, exclusive of GST) for a duration of up to two years.
All the information you need is now available on HRC Gateway.
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Media ReleaseA new study has found that protocols implemented across New Zealand’s emergency departments are helping rule out a heart attack in patients, a lot sooner.
The study funded by the Health Research Council of New Zealand (HRC) has been published in the journal Circulation, and co-author Dr Martin Than was invited to present the findings as late-breaking news at the American Heart Association’s annual Scientific Sessions in California last week.
Dr Than, Emergency Medicine Specialist at the Canterbury District Health Board, and study co-author Dr John Pickering, Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of Otago, say their findings suggest that globally many millions of patients with chest pain could be discharged early – freeing up health resources for the care of other patients.
"Suspected heart attacks are one of the most common reasons for presenting to ED. Of all those who come in with chest pain, only about 10 to 15 per cent are actually having heart attacks," says Dr Pickering. "That's why it's very important to rule out those who aren't having one."
‘Clinical pathways’ for assessing chest pain and heart attack risk are now being used in emergency departments nationwide. New Zealand was the first country to have a nationwide implementation of these pathways (since the Ministry of Health in 2014 instructed hospitals to use them), and this study is the first to measure the impact of that programme.
Clinical pathways are an evidence-based set of actions that should be followed within a certain time-frame. The pathways/protocols developed and trialled by Dr Than over the past 10 years feature an ‘accelerated diagnostic protocol’ (ADP) designed to assess patients at risk of a heart attack, faster, and send them home earlier.
The protocol is made up of three key elements: conducting an electrocardiogram (ECG) early; taking two blood tests to measure troponin levels – when the patient first comes into the ED and then two hours later; and assessing the patient’s risk score – based on their medical history, demographics and the nature of pain they’re experiencing.
The study, which included seven hospitals and 31,332 patients, found that prior to implementing a clinical pathway/protocol, 8 per cent of patients who came to ED with suspected cardiac chest pain were sent home within six hours. After implementing the protocol, 18 per cent of patients were sent home within six hours.
Patient safety was also assessed by identifying any major adverse cardiac events in the 30 days after discharge. It was found that no adverse event occurred when clinical pathways were correctly followed.
The study also found patients reduced their hospital stay by a median of 2.9 hours.
That means, after implementation of clinical pathways across all the acute care hospitals in New Zealand, patients would spend a total of 165,000 hours less in hospital per annum, says Dr Pickering.
It’s a win for both patients and hospitals. "For New Zealanders, it means you're being assessed with some of the best evidence-based tools available, and if you're low-risk, you're much less likely to be hospitalised unnecessarily,” he says.
"There are thousands of patients being reassured a lot earlier that they're not having a heart attack. This is an accelerated process, different to anything else that's been done before. All the work is being done in ED and the decision about risk and discharge is being made nice and early.”
The HRC’s Chief Executive, Professor Kath McPherson, says early and accurate diagnosis is crucial for patients, and the health system.
“It means more rapid and appropriate treatment for those who need it and earlier reassurance for those who have not had a heart attack. It is also really pleasing to see this New Zealand health research leading the world.”
Dr Pickering says it's due to HRC funding that this evaluation could be done. "I'm thrilled we were able to monitor this change. If you don't get grant funding, you don't get to do these things.
"It feels fantastic to be involved with something you actually see makes a difference. I'm privileged to be at the pointy end of the pyramid, to actually see things implemented.”
Some hospitals around the world have implemented a similar pathway, but the study’s authors hope we're getting close to the situation where all countries are going to mandate some kind of diagnostic protocol.
"The point is that people have accepted and recognised that there needs to be a systematic approach to assessing patients for heart attacks. And, everywhere a clinical pathway is being used, it's getting patients home efficiently and safely,” says Dr Pickering.
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