All education, clinical and research staff and students are invited to join the School of Rural Health Journal Club, this month held on Wednesday 10 April.

Participants can join from Bendigo, Gippsland, and Mildura in person or by tele/videoconference link.

This month’s  facilitator is Rachel Tham and the topic is “the impact of socioeconomic status on accessibility to primary care services”.  Contact Rachel  for the article and further information.

Time is from 12 noon- 1pm. Those taking part can access the Club from Meeting Room 3 (Level 2), School of Rural Health, 26 Mercy St Bendigo or by videoconference (IP 130.194.213.113) or teleconference (9903 5988) from other sites.

The audience was attentive to every word delivered by Associate Professor Darryl Maybery.

Associate Professor Darryl Maybery,  Director of MUDRIH, has delivered the first of Mildura’s 2013 lecture series to a wide audience of medical and local community members.

Darryl’s topic was ’Breaking the generational cycle of mental illness’, and coincided with the launch and promotion of a new DVD titled Family Focus.

One in five children has a parent with a mental illness; the aim of the Family Focus program is to empower families to start a conversation about the problems, with the intended outcome to reduce the risk of children getting the same illness as their parent.  The chance to talk about these illnesses helps children realise that the depression and anxiety they see in their parents is not their fault.

Information about the event was circulated through flyers to health organisations and individuals, radio announcements, and advertisements in local newspapers.  Consequently 70 registrations were received from a mixture of health clinicians and public, which packed the lecture room to capacity. (more…)

Research staff at the NVivo workshop

Research staff have enjoyed a two day workshop learning about NVivo, a program that assists researchers in organising and analysing qualitative research data such as interviews, literature reviews and focus groups.

The workshop in Bendigo bought together 14 staff from the Office of Research, Centre for Research Excellence in Rural and Remote Primary Health Care, the Education Unit and PhD students.

The attendees really enjoyed having the training provided locally and have gone away with lots of ideas on how to use the program for their research projects.

Scholarship recipients, from left Fiona Tipping (Sunraysia Community Health Service, Mildura), Diane Roberts (Kyabram and District Health Service, Kyabram) and Carole Meade (Brooke Street Medical Centre, Woodend) during their research workshop at Bendigo.

The recipients of scholarships accessed through a capacity building program spent several days in Bendigo recently working on their research projects.

The Centre of Research Excellence in Rural and Remote Primary Health Care Research Capacity Building Program aims to build both individual and organisational capacity to undertake research that will benefit primary health care services in rural and remote Australia.

As part of the program, two-year scholarships were awarded to eight health services across the country. Three from Victoria were awarded through the School of Rural Health, to Carole Meade (Brooke Street Medical Centre, Woodend), Diane Roberts (Kyabram & District Health Service, Kyabram) and Fiona Tipping (Sunraysia Community Health Service, Mildura).

Carole, Diane and Fiona spent several days in Bendigo working closely with Dr Bernadette Ward, the Victorian Research Capacity Building Program Coordinator, on their research projects.  They attended a workshop aimed specifically at developing research skills, including academic writing for publication, quantitative analysis and data collection. They also participated in NVIVO training organised by the Office of Research in Bendigo.

The workshops will assist them as they plan the next stages of their research project.

Their visit to Bendigo also provided an opportunity for them to learn more about the CRE and the Office of Research and to be part of a rural health research environment.

‘How fair is Medicare?’ will be the item for discussion at the next Journal Club, scheduled for Wednesday 13 March.

All education, clinical, research staff and students are invited to join the discussion on the article ‘How fair is Medicare? The income-related distribution of Medicare benefits with special focus on chronic care items.’

Participants can be assured of a lively discussion on this integral aspect of the Australian health system, particularly primary health care. The article investigates the income-related distribution of Medicare benefits for chronic disease management items.

Facilitator is Deb Russell and it will run from 12 noon to 1pm on Wednesday 13 March.

It is in the Meeting Room 3 (Level 2), School of Rural Health, 26 Mercy St Bendigo or by videoconference (IP 130.194.213.113) or teleconference (9903 5988) from other sites.

Please inform Rachel Tham if you are able to attend.

Monash University has purchased a licence for Research Professional, an exciting online, searchable database that provides information about national and international funding opportunities for researchers based in Australia, including grants, fellowships and prizes, plus a compendium of worldwide research news.

All Monash University staff can access the tool, while researchers have had accounts automatically created. Users can customise and save searches and set up email alerts.

To get started, please visit the webpage Research Professional where you can activate your account and have immediate access to online help.

See Helen Chambers at MUDRIH and Cathy Ward at Bendigo for assistance in creating your own search for funding.

Following are examples of the current funding opportunities from bodies, other than ARC and NHMRC, that might be of interest within the School of Rural Health and identified from the system using the search term “Rural Health”.

NSW metropolitan allied health clinical placement grants

NSW Ministry of Health
Closing date: 29 March 2013
Award type: Directed grants for individual investigators, Travel for research purposes, Personal development, Financial aid for postgraduate students
Award amount max: $750

Clinical placement scholarships

Australian Department of Health and Ageing
Closing date: 9 April 13
Award type: Directed grants for individual investigators, Financial aid for postgraduate students.
Award amount max: $11,000

Chris Silagy research scholarship

Royal Australian College of General Practitioners
Closing date: 30 April 13
Award type: Young investigator awards, Mid-Career fellowships, Predoctoral fellowships
Award amount max: $20,000

APHCRI indigenous health award

Royal Australian College of General Practitioners
Closing date: 30 April 13
Award type: Young investigator awards, Directed grants for individual investigators
Award amount maximum: $4,500
Award budget total: $9,000

Family medical care, education and research grants

Royal Australian College of General Practitioners
Closing date: 30 April 13
Award type: Postdoctoral training fellowships, Personal development, Directed grants for individual investigators, Young investigator awards
Award amount max: $15,000

RACGP/Osteoporosis Australia bone health research grant

Royal Australian College of General Practitioners
Closing date: 30 April 13
Award type: Directed grants for individual investigators, Directed grants to institutions, research groups
Award amount max: $30,000

Congratulations go to Marita Chisholm for her successful application to the Alzheimer’s Australia Dementia Research Foundation PhD Top Up Scholarships.

Based in Bendigo, Marita is a PhD student with the Centre of Research Excellence in Rural and Remote Primary Health Care. Her application was entitled ‘Access to dementia care and support services in rural Victorian communities.’

Well done, Marita!

Congratulations to Rachel Tham who has been awarded a three-year National Health and Medical Research Council postgraduate scholarship to commence her full-time PhD studies this year.

Her research topic is in environmental epidemiology. She will focus on the combined role of outdoor fungal spores, air pollution and respiratory viruses on child asthma hospitalisations.

The School of Rural Health Research Committee has updated the guidelines for the Conference Support Fund, so as to allow applications to be received throughout the year.

A summary of the support available as well as full guidelines and application form can be found on the school’s intranet.

Please email Cathy Ward if you have any questions.

Participants at the Rural Health Research Retreat

Over two days in mid-January, 41 staff gathered in Melbourne to determine the future research direction for the School of Rural Health, with recommendations from the retreat to provide a key platform for the future research program.

Professor Ian Smith, Pro Vice-Chancellor Research and Research Infrastructure, and Professor Ross Coppel, Deputy Dean Research – Faculty, joined Professor Judi Walker and Leigh Kinsman in presenting the current research direction and activities at the University, Faculty and School levels.

Working groups then considered various topics related to the School’s strategic plan and developed recommendations for the way forward.

A report will be presented to the School’s Executive meeting this month (February) with an implementation plan for recommendations and actions identified by the attendees.

Attendees commented that the retreat had provided plenty of opportunities to present thoughts on the School’s research plan with the atmosphere allowing in-depth and interactive discussions.