Australian Government Neurotrauma Programs
Victorian Neurotrauma Initiatives
5 Feb 2009
The Minister for the Transport Accident Commission, Tim Holding, announced $19M in funding for brain and spinal cord injury research following the conclusion of the VNI Program Grants funding round. This funding round was highly competitive with significant interest and participation from the Victorian neurotrauma research community and their interstate and international partners.
Four teams of researchers from 30 different research departments of universities and hospitals in Victoria, across Australia, and in New Zealand, the United Kingdom and Canada will be involved in this exciting collaborative research.
The research teams are headed by the following Lead Chief Investigators:
- Professor John Furness, The University of Melbourne, $4.9M
Autonomic dysfunction in spinal cord injury: a strategy for improved treatment and understanding of bowel, blood pressure and bladder disorders
- Associate Professor Russell Gruen, The University of Melbourne, $4.4M
Improving evidence-based care and the outcomes of patients with traumatic brain injury through a program to facilitate knowledge transfer and exchange
- Professor Mary Galea, The University of Melbourne, $4.7M
SCIPA (Spinal Cord Injury and Physical Activity): Intensive exercise from acute care to the community
- Professor Robert Pierce, Institute for Breathing and Sleep, Austin Health, $4.9M
Optimising Sleep in quadriplegia: mechanisms and management
For further information please see:
VNI Collaborates with NHMRC on 2010 Project Grant Funding Round
The Victorian Neurotrauma Initiative (VNI) is pleased to announce that it will be offering project funding in conjunction with the 2010 NHMRC Project Grant funding round.
Researchers applying to NHMRC will be able to pre-select if they would like their application to be automatically considered by the VNI if they are unsuccessful in receiving funding from NHMRC.
To be eligible for consideration for VNI funding, applicants must be ranked as fundable (Category 4 or 5) and meet the following criteria:
1. The application is in a research area relevant to the objectives of the VNI including brain injury, neurotrauma, neuronal injury, spinal cord injury and traumatic brain injury.
2. The application includes Victorian involvement: at least one CI must be based in Victoria
3. The applicant is not seeking funding from other partner agencies named in the Project Grants Funding Policy.
Eligible applications will then be assessed by the Victorian Neurotrauma Initiative against the VNI strategic goals and research priorities.
This is an exciting step in the next phase of VNI project funding. It allows applications from Victorian neurotrauma researchers to be considered simultaneously by Australia's peak health research body and by the VNI.
Cooperation with NHMRC will allow the VNI to take advantage of NHMRC's considerable expertise. Moreover, one application process will minimise the amount of time researchers spend completing applications and maximise their time completing valuable neurotrauma research.
The VNI looks forward to the next phase of this process.
See the NHMRC Project Grant Funding Policy for funding commencing in 2011.
WA Neurotrauma Research Program
WA Neurotrauma Research Program (NRP)
SpinalCure Australia pioneered the first Neurotrauma program in WA which funded neurological research through road safety initiatives. The concept has been developed and is now used in Victoria and Sydney.
The WA Road Safety Council recognised the importance of research aimed at minimising and reversing the disabilities associated with neurotrauma, providing vital funding to the NRP since the Program’s inception in 1999.
The NRP has helped facilitate an unprecedented degree of collaboration within the WA neuroscience community.
It has also helped put together key pieces of the central nervous system injury puzzle, earning the NRP an international reputation as an innovative and productive leader in neurotrauma research.
Examples of NRP breakthroughs include the discovery that:
Tissue death following brain injury is greatly reduced when magnesium chloride and mild hypothermia are applied in combination, and
- Training is essential whilst regeneration is taking place following brain injury to ensure nerve fibres re-grow and re-connect appropriately, allowing return of function.
NSW Spinal Cord Injury and Related Neurological Conditions Research Grant Program
The NSW Office for Science and Medical Research Spinal Cord Injury and Conditions Fund
In 2003, the former Premier of NSW, The Hon Bob Carr, announced the State Government would spend $35.9 million over the next four years (ie. 2003-2007) on research and extra services for people with physical disabilities. This includes:
$10.9 million over four years to establish the Spinal Cord Injury and Conditions Fund to promote biomedical research into spinal injury, disorders and neurological conditions (administered by the Office for Science and Medical Research)
$23 million over four years for an extra 100 attendant care places within a year to help people with physical disability do everyday tasks such as get out of bed, shower and get dressed (administered by the Department of Ageing, Disability and Home Care)
$2 million for a two year pilot program to improve coordination of services for people who have suffered catastrophic injuries that would concentrate on the move from rehabilitation centres back into the community (administered by the Motor Accidents Authority)
In 2007, a further $11 million was committed over the four year period from 2007-2011, bringing the NSW Government's total commitment to research in spinal cord injury and neurological conditions to $22 million.
The Spinal Cord Injury and Conditions Fund is made up of the following components:
Research Grants Program
Spinal Exchange Program
The Spinal Cord Injury Network
The Spinal Cord Injury Network is an alliance of leading researchers, clinicians, people with spinal cord injury and key stakeholders committed to fast-tracking safe treatments for spinal cord injury and disease.
- Do you have a spinal cord injury and want to know more about the latest basic and clinical research in simple language?
- Have your say about the direction of future research into spinal cord injury?
- At no cost to you?
The Spinal Cord Injury Network (formerly ANZSCIN) is a newly established network trying to help individuals make the best possible recovery from a spinal cord injury.
Its goals are to provide leadership for spinal cord injury research and treatment strategies, facilitate more effective clinical trials into spinal cord injury, and improve the translation of basic and clinical research into evidence-based practice.
It is FREE for individuals with a spinal cord injury and their carers to subscribe on the website click here.
By subscribing to the website you will have access to the Network’s stimulating and informative newsletter.
Information in its quarterly newsletters include the current events the network is involved in, general interest stories, the latest basic research stories that have been published on the web, information about the latest worldwide clinical trials, and what conferences and workshops are happening around the world. The website is also a fantastic resource with information on research, clinical trials (including databases of the current trials), evidence-based practice and the SCI community.