Health Research Council of New Zealand

Over the past 2 weeks we've been delighted to honour some outstanding health researchers at the Royal Society Te Apārangi’s Research Honours events in Christchurch, Auckland and Wellington.

HRC 2025 Liley Medal for an outstanding contribution to health and medical sciences: Professor Logan Walker from the University of Otago, Christchurch.

HRC 2025 Beaven Medal (first joint award) for excellence in translational health research: Professor Ben Wheeler, Associate Professor Martin de Bock and team from the University of Otago.

HRC 2025 Catalyst in the Community Award (inaugural) for accelerating translation of research findings to improve health outcomes in partnership with the community: The research team from Te Rūnanga o Ōtākou Taurite Tū.

HRC 2025 Beaven Medal (second joint award) for excellence in translational health research: Professor Alice Theadom and the Brain Injury Screening Tool Development Group from Auckland University of Technology.

HRC 2025 Te Tohu Rapuora Medal for outstanding Māori health leadership, excellence and contribution: Paora Moyle and Te Whāriki Manawāhine o Hauraki (pictured, courtesy of the Royal Society Te Apārangi).

HRC 2025 Te Ata Hāpara Award (inaugural) for contribution to the advancement of Māori health through excellent and impactful research as an emerging researcher: Dr Angelique Reweti from Massey University.

Read more about the amazing research that these researchers have been honoured for in our latest HRC Update e-newsletter: https://tinyurl.com/2s3rcmre

Ones to watch... we are excited to announce today the 9 recipients of our 2024 Māori and Pacific Health Research Emerging Leader Fellowships.

The fellows’ research covers a range of health issues, including developing more personalised innovations in cancer care; enhancing Cook Island mental health practices, knowledge, and research; addressing discrimination in healthcare for Pacific Rainbow+; and exploring system redesign to improve access and ensure equity for the Deaf community.

Read about what motivates these talented future research leaders on our website!

The next generation of Māori and Pacific health research leaders The Health Research Council has today announced more than $5.6 million in funding to help support nine talented Māori and Pacific health researchers to become leaders in their field.

Congratulations to Dr Thomas Hills, MRINZ Senior Clinical Research Fellow, who has received a prestigious 2024 Sir Charles Hercus Fellowship from the Health Research Council of New Zealand. 👏

Influenza and severe pneumonia are major causes of death in Aotearoa, but the best treatments remain unclear. Tom will spend the next five years leading research to improve outcomes for patients hospitalised with severe pneumonia, including influenza, building on what he and his research team have learned about novel clinical trial design during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Read about Tom's 2024 HRC Career Development Award here ⬇️ https://www.mrinz.ac.nz/news/mrinz-led-research-to-improve-outcomes-for-people-with-severe-pneumonia-receives-health-research-council-of-new-zealand-hrc-support

We're excited to announce that our new Māori and Pacific Health Research Emerging Leader Fellowships will open this Thursday 10 August at 1pm! The fellowships are worth up to $650,000 for a maximum of 4 years. Registrations will close on 7 September 2023 (1pm) while applications will close three week's later on 28 September 2023 (1pm).

The fellowships are aimed at supporting mid-to-senior level Māori and Pacific health researchers from a broad range of disciplines who have demonstrated the potential to develop into leaders in their respective fields of research.

Check out our e-newsletter for more information:

New Māori & Pacific Emerging Leader Fellowships

Congratulations to the 17 recipients of our 2023 Explorer Grants! This year several grants are focusing on the digital side of health, including one probing alcohol companies’ use of the metaverse to recruit new young drinkers.

Study to probe alcohol companies’ use of the metaverse to recruit new young drinkers In one of 17 Explorer Grants announced today, researchers will soon be delving into the immersive next-generation version of the internet – the metaverse – to discover how the marketing and engagement practices of alcohol companies could be playing a role in the real-life drinking experiences of...

Today we are thrilled to announce a $78.92M investment for new & innovative research into some of NZ’s most pressing health concerns. Check out the 53 successful recipients of our programme and project grants, including Bronwyn Kivell & team who are developing a safer alternative to addictive opioids for treating pain.

Study to develop safer alternative to opioids part of more than $78M allocated to health research A research team who have developed a suite of non-addictive drug compounds to treat pain have received one of 53 HRC grants in a $78.92 million funding allocation for new and innovative research into some of New Zealand's most pressing health concerns.

See what can be achieved with community-led research. Watch our video about Taurite Tū, a successful falls prevention exercise programme especially designed for Māori aged 50-plus & their whānau, supported by our Ngā Kanohi Kitea grants.

Community-led research funded by the Health Research Council of New Zealand The Health Research Council's Ngā Kanohi Kitea grants helped support this successful falls prevention exercise programme especially designed for Māori aged…

Our Ngā Kanohi Kitea grants support communities to undertake research on issues that matter to them most. Applications for funding are now open.

Funding for Māori health research The HRC has dedicated funding for Māori health research through our Rangahau Hauora Māori research investment stream.

Today we're pleased to announce $38M in funding for independent research organisations doing crucial and nationally significant health research.

Funding has been awarded to:
Malaghan Institute of Medical Research for biomedical research in cancer, asthma, allergy and microbiome research.

Medical Research Institute of New Zealand for improving clinical management, clinical trial translation and implementation.

Te Atawhai o Te Ao for research focused on health, the environment, and intergenerational trauma.

Whakauae Research Services for Māori public health research, evaluation, health services and policy research.

This long-term funding helps independent research organisations retain critical skills capability and carry out high-impact mission-led science.

$38M to support independent research in New Zealand Independent research organisations (IROs) doing crucial health research will receive funding to the value of $38.3 million from the Health Research Council of New Zealand.

There is still time to get your nominations in for our 3 prestigious health research medals: Te Tohu Rapuora, Liley and Beaven medals. Nominations (including self-nominations) close at 1pm on Monday 2 May. The medals will be presented at the Royal Society Te Apārangi's Research Honours ceremony later in the year. See our website for all the info.

Celebrating excellence The Health Research Council celebrates health research excellence by awarding three prestigious medals annually.

Congratulations to our 2021 medal recipients: Dr Amohia Boulton (Te Tohu Rapuora Medal), Dr Sarah Jefferies and team (Liley Medal), and Professor Lesley McCowan and team (Beaven Medal). As we’re not able to gather in person this week to celebrate their outstanding achievements, we extend our greatest thanks for their exceptional leadership and contribution to health research in Aotearoa New Zealand.

COVID-19 has had a huge impact on the research sector, while also demonstrating how critical it is for Aotearoa New Zealand to have health research capability available to respond to health crises. Here and around the world it is early career researchers who have been most vulnerable.

To show our support for research organisations trying to retain their research workforce, and the research leaders of the future, the HRC will contribute approximately $6.8M in additional funding for emerging researchers who currently hold one of 18 HRC award types.

We acknowledge that there is no way to distribute limited funds in a way that adequately reflects the extent, complexity and variability of COVID-19 impacts. Furthermore, no single funder or organisation can compensate for the disruption.

In light of this, in our role as a funder, we have prioritised emerging researcher award types that were created to address pre-existing and longstanding weaknesses in the composition of the research workforce. Our intent is to make a contribution towards this critical need within the health research sector. Our hope is that this contribution will help create a little more flexibility for other parts of the research ecosystem to do what they can towards mitigating COVID-19 effects on health researchers.

For more information about the award types included in this support package, visit the HRC website (https://tinyurl.com/2p8xttw3). Contract holders will be given more information about how to access this financial support before the end of January 2022.

Extra $6.8M for emerging researchers impacted by COVID-19 The Health Research Council of New Zealand will contribute $6.8M in additional funding for the emerging researchers it supports, to help counter the impact of COVID-19 on the research sector.