The Health Research Council’s new Connecting for Impact Fund is designed to invest in areas of critical and significant research need. The fund is guided by our strategic priorities, including health equity, and the goals of the New Zealand Health Research Strategy and Prioritisation Framework. It replaces the HRC’s previous Partnership Programme and contributes to a strategic and proactive approach to the HRC’s investment portfolio. The HRC will have an active role to foster connections across the health research system and, where possible, it will bring together partners to leverage funds and create funding opportunities of higher value and greater benefit.
Identifying health research priorities
There are two ways of identifying health priorities for research investment through the Connecting for Impact Fund: either the HRC identifies research priorities or external organisations can. For HRC-initiated health research priorities, we will develop a portfolio of research investment that is guided by our goals and strategy, and our existing knowledge of areas of critical and significant need. For external partner-initiated health research priorities, organisations and community groups can approach us about a health priority where they need HRC expertise and/or help funding research.
We will introduce the pathway for external organisations to identify research priorities, consistent with the goals of the new fund, later in 2023.
2023 Climate Change and Health and Wellbeing Initiative
The first research priority for 2023 will focus on climate change and its impacts on health and wellbeing. This priority was identified through an analysis of research and workforce gaps in the HRC’s investment portfolio.
Climate change is an urgent threat to health and wellbeing. It has greater impacts on people who already experience disadvantage and poorer health, including Māori and Pacific people. The climate change and health and wellbeing initiative will focus on an equity-driven funding opportunity that will support achieving health equity for Māori and Pacific people.
Currently, the HRC is seeking input from experts, key stakeholders, and communities of interest to understand the urgent research questions and evidence needs in climate change and health and wellbeing. This input will help the HRC identify potential partners and shape the direction and scope of a research funding opportunity.
For more information, please contact:
Lea Narciso, Senior Research Investment Manager
Scott Aitken, Senior Research Investment Manager