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Research impact project

PHC RIS is embarking on a research project to assess primary health care research impact. The impact of research is a topical issue in Australia and internationally because of increasing pressures for research funding to be accountable in terms of benefits, and transfer of research findings into practice and policy.

One of the drivers for this PHC RIS project is the impending first cycle of the Australian Research Quality Framework (RQF) in 2007 or 2008. A distinguishing feature of the preferred RQF model, released in March 2006 (Commonwealth of Australia, 2006), is its explicit assessment of both the impact and the quality of university research. The RQF is intended to assess two sorts of impact. The first is recognition of the originality of the research by academic peers and its impact on the development of the same or related discipline areas within the community of peers. The second is the impact or use of original research outside of the peer community. Broader impact or usefulness relates to the recognition by qualified end-users that quality research has been successfully applied to achieve social, cultural economic and /or environmental outcomes.

Identifying the impact of primary health care (PHC) research is a particular challenge for this small and relatively new research sector in Australia. While PHC research is essential to support the growing interest in primary health care approaches to improving population health, it is also challenged to increase its capacity to competitively compete for funding against biomedical sciences and other clinical research. The breadth of the sector is both a strength and a weakness - the range of topics, settings, research methods, and focus makes rapid progress in any single area a challenge.

For further information contact:
Eleanor Jackson-Bowers
Ph: 08 8204 3136
E: eleanor.jackson-bowers@flinders.edu.au

Reference:
Commonwealth of Australia. (2006). Research Quality Framework: Assessing the quality and impact of research in Australia: final advice on the Preferred RQF model. Retrieved April 2006 from http://www.dest.gov.au/sectors/research_sector/policies_issues_reviews/key_issues/research_quality_framework/