21 November 2014
I am often asked how we prioritise our research. The nature of science is that research begets research, with new questions thrown up regularly, each of which may be worthy of exploration.
Funding plays a big part in that decision-making and the $28 million of research grants we were awarded by the Health Research Council in June effectively shores up our cancer and allergic diseases research for the next seven years. It also enables us to progress these discoveries through clinical trials to see health benefits for the community realised.
However, this core funding is targeted for our mainstream programmes only and does not give us the opportunity to delve into more risky but potentially much more rewarding areas. Immunology is a new science and although we have many pieces of the jigsaw in place, we are still learning just how large and complex the picture actually is.
Our community support is as important as ever, providing us with the opportunity to explore new science and accelerate our research. With your partnership, we will grow the innovative, world-class science programmes that are beating our most challenging diseases.