Building research where it matters most: a new opportunity for regional, rural and remote Australia

For the nearly one-third of Australians living in regional, rural and remote (RRR) areas, health outcomes remain poorer than in major cities. Life expectancy is lower, and rates of chronic disease are higher. Access to care continues to be shaped by geography, workforce shortages and the broader social determinants of health.

At the same time, these communities are not short on expertise and sound ideas about how to improve health outcomes. Across RRR Australia there are skilled clinicians, researchers and health services already generating high quality, locally relevant research — and much of this work is grounded in community need and informed by lived experience. Successful translation of this research into tangible outcomes, however, is challenging.

Too often, promising research efforts struggle due to capacity limitations. Early career researchers have to leave their communities to progress their research careers or alternatively need to reduce their research involvement to manage their clinical demands. This weakens local research ecosystems and limits the long-term impact of otherwise valuable work.

To better support this locally led research now and into the future, the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) has launched a new Regional, Rural and Remote Capacity Building grant opportunity.

Investing in existing and emerging leaders 

This new grant opportunity is built on a simple premise. Research is most effective when it is led by those who understand the context it is trying to address. 

The new grant opportunity is designed to strengthen local research capacity by supporting established researchers to mentor early and mid-career colleagues from diverse backgrounds. It also creates pathways for clinicians and non-traditional researchers to build research careers without leaving their communities.

This is particularly important for RRR health services, where developing internal research capability can directly translate into improved care delivery.

Each funded team can receive up to $5 million over seven years. The longer timeframe is intentional, enabling researchers to not only generate high-quality evidence, but to also build partnerships, embed findings into practice, and drive sustainable change within local health systems.

Importantly, eligibility is centred on RRR-based leadership. Chief Investigators must be primarily resident in RRR Australia, shifting the model away from metropolitan-led projects towards genuine place-based research.

The research team may be based within a single organisation or formed across networks, encouraging collaboration between universities, local health services, and community partners. There is also a strong emphasis on including clinician-researchers and individuals from non-traditional research backgrounds, recognising the value people working directly with patients and in communities bring in shaping relevant research questions.

Projects focused on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health are strongly encouraged. Locally-led, culturally-informed approaches are widely recognised as critical to improving community health outcomes and this opportunity seeks to support that leadership where it already exists. 

The initiative also complements existing NHMRC investments that support RRR health equity, including research translation centres and regional health service research collaborations. Together, these efforts reflect a broader shift towards strengthening research capability outside metropolitan centres.

Place-based research for a more equitable future

Health challenges in regional and remote Australia vary significantly between communities. Geography, workforce, infrastructure, and cultural context all shape service delivery and outcomes. As a result, solutions developed in metropolitan settings do not always translate well. 

Place-based research offers a different approach. It is locally grounded, responsive to community priorities, and more likely to be adopted in practice.

By supporting RRR researchers to lead and collaborate, this program shifts the focus from research conducted about communities towards research undertaken with and for them. For clinicians, this creates greater opportunities to contribute to research that reflects their patients, their settings, and their realities in care delivery.

Two streams, one goal

The grant opportunity acknowledges that regional, rural and remote Australia is not a single, uniform setting. To reflect this diversity, funding is split across two streams based on the Modified Monash Model:

• one for MM2–7 regions; and
• a targeted stream for MM3–7 rural and remote areas.

This structure allows for differences in context while maintaining a shared objective: building a sustainable, capable, and connected RRR research workforce.

Flexibility is another key feature of the program. So long as the majority of research activity takes place in RRR settings and delivers clear local benefit, grants can support a program of work rather than a single project.

This approach better reflects how research operates in practice, especially in smaller and regional systems, where projects are interconnected and evolve over time.

Looking ahead

With applications now open, this initiative represents a substantial investment in both people and systems. For clinicians and health services in RRR Australia, it offers an opportunity to shape research from the ground up, build local capacity, and contribute to more equitable health outcomes.

The long-term impact will depend on how well these investments translate into sustained careers, stronger local research networks, and changes to practice on the ground. If that happens, the benefits will extend well beyond individual projects, strengthening the role of research as part of everyday care in the communities where it is needed most.

Emily Phelps is a senior communications professional at the National Health and Medical Research Council whose work centres on making complex health and medical research easy to understand. She is passionate about telling the stories behind Australia’s research achievements and showcasing the people, evidence and discoveries that shape better health outcomes for all Australians.