CREST - Meta Research and Evidence Synthesis
Our specialised researchers have deep expertise in conducting systematic reviews, evidence synthesis, and meta-analyses to support high-quality, evidence-based decisions in health systems and policies locally and globally.
Our services include:
Rapid reviews for funding priorities, health policies, and programs
Evidence briefs for senior policymakers
Meta-analyses and systematic reviews
Qualitative evidence synthesis
Who we work with:
Local, state and national governments
Global health agencies, multilaterals and foundations
Industry and private organisations
Academic and medical research institutions
NGOs and community organisations
Contact us to find out more
Learn more about our Meta Research and Evidence Synthesis unit
Our Researchers
CREST - Statistics & Data Science
Our global team of biostatisticians, statisticians and data scientists conduct complex statistical analyses to support health and medical research, ensuring its quality, validity, and reliability. Our data experts can provide the quantitative, qualitative, and statistical analyses needed to answer your complex research questions and support data driven decision-making.
Our services include:
Study Design: Developing robust research plans and complex trial designs.
Data Collection: Gathering data through surveys, administrative records, web scraping, or other means.
Data Management & Governance: Ensuring data quality, validity, and long-term accessibility.
Statistical & Data Analysis: Applying complex statistical models, machine learning, and bioinformatics techniques to analyse data and draw insights.
Predictive analytics: for research and program outcomes
Data Visualization: Creating interactive displays to explore and communicate findings.
CREST - Research training
Our globally recognised Research Training Programs blend academic rigour with practical, real-world application to build research capacity and drive evidence-based healthcare. Developed and delivered by experts at The George Institute for Global Health, these programs empower early career researchers, clinicians, public health professionals, clinical trial staff, and policymakers to lead impactful research across diverse health systems. Offered face-to-face, online, or in blended formats, each course is designed to be globally informed while tailored with regional context to ensure practical relevance. Whether undertaken individually or as part of a broader training pathway, these programs foster innovation, strengthen expertise, and support meaningful collaborations that advance global health outcomes.
Our programs are ideal for:
Clinicians and allied health professionals new to research
Research managers and coordinators
Policy makers and public health practitioners
CREST - First Nations Research and Consulting
Specialising in First Nations research and engagement, The George Institute’s Guuna-maana (Heal) team supports culturally safe, Indigenous-led and co-designed research grounded in Indigenous knowledges, values and priorities.
We work in partnership with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and organisations to ensure respectful, inclusive research design and methodology, as well as equity-centred program development and implementation.
Our services include:
Community-led research centered in Indigenous methodologies
Translational research, data analysis and program evaluation
Equity-centred policy and program design, recommendations and implementation
Training and capacity building, including in Indigenous research methodologies, cultural safety and community engagement
Who we work with:
Local, state and national governments
Public health agencies and networks
Policy planners and senior program managers
CREST - Stakeholder Engagement and Advocacy
Our Impact and engagement team excels at facilitating meaningful advocacy, consultations and stakeholder engagement with decision-makers and the communities they serve. We bring key stakeholders together to co-create impactful, context-driven policy recommendations and solutions that drive real changes to healthcare.
Our approach supports both retrospective and prospective policy consultations on priority issues including chronic disease, health equity and access. We develop comprehensive policy briefs and foster inclusive dialogue, turning evidence and research into actionable outcomes for health policies and programs.
Our services include:
Stakeholder consultation and strategic engagement
Organisation, convening and facilitation of dialogues and meetings
Policy briefs
Community engagement and involvement strategies
Advocacy support for evidence-informed policies
Who we work with:
Local, state and national governments
Public
Turning the tide short2
A mother collecting her child from a KAVACH child-care creche.
300,000 deaths per year
Almost a quarter of all drowning deaths can be prevented by protecting children under 5 years of age
Find out how our work is making a difference
Swimming and water safety skills training are an effective intervention in reducing child deaths from drowning
Find out about our SwimSafe initiative
Over 90% of rescues in West Bengal are done by members of the community
Mangala, who works at the KAVACH centre participating in a self-help group, discussing strategies to improve community awareness around drowning prevention.
Read Mangala's story
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Childhood drowning prevention
Read more about our lifesaving work to prevent childhood drowning
Learn more
Our survey of 18 million people in West Bengal between March and December 2024, funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies, uncovered a crisis in plain sight: 25 p
Food is Medicine Program
Program overview
The Nutrition Science Team at The George Institute for Global Health are leading an innovative research initiative centred on food-based interventions, known as ‘Food is Medicine’.
‘Food is Medicine’ programs aim to treat diet-related diseases and reduce food insecurity by providing people with the nutritious foods they need – prescribed just like medicine. These programs often include nutrition education and are subsidised by healthcare systems as part of treatment.
Depending on a person’s medical needs and preferences, they may receive:
Medically tailored meals, or
Produce prescriptions (e.g., fresh fruits and vegetables)
Australians do not eat enough fruits and vegetables with only 5% eating the recommended amount. And access to nutritious foods is a challenge faced by up to one in four low income Australian households who experience food insecurity. These challenges are major contributors to Australia’s growing burden of
CREST - Research Training Facilitators
Our course facilitators
Turning the tide on drowning
Where there’s water there’s risk
Drowning is one of the world’s biggest health challenges claiming around 300,000 lives each year. Over two-thirds of deaths occur in Southeast Asia and the Western Pacific region. As the climate changes, extreme weather events are on the rise and drowning accounts for three-quarters of all deaths in flood disasters.
Turning the tide on the drowning epidemic requires urgent action. But the right action requires accurate data – our comprehensive survey across vulnerable communities in coastal wetland regions of India has revealed that the burden is three times higher than previous estimates, and its hitting the young hardest.
“If we trained 17 years ago, then I could have saved my own child.By: MangalaMother who lost her child through drowning
Read Mangala's story
The drowning trap: children and vulnerable communities
Drowning is sometimes referred to as a silent epidemic - unseen, unheard and unaccounte
Nutrition implementation research
Program overview
High blood pressure is the biggest cause of premature death and disability worldwide, and excess sodium intake in the form of salt, is a major contributor. Despite global commitments to reduce population sodium intake, most countries remain off track to meet these targets, highlighting the need for new approaches that can improve cardiovascular health at scale.
Our major focus of the Nutrition Implementation Research team is switching the world’s salt supply to potassium-enriched salt. Replacing regular salt with potassium-enriched salt has the potential to prevent an estimated 3 million deaths and 10 million strokes and heart attacks globally each year. Through research, stakeholder engagement and implementation strategies, the team is leading efforts to support the global transition to potassium-enriched salt and accelerate progress towards population sodium reduction.
Expected outcomes
Our research aims to support policies and programs that reduce sodium intake,
Climate-proofing care
Climate change is one of the greatest threats to global health. Extreme weather events, rising temperatures and sea levels are worsening non-communicable diseases (NCDs), threatening food and water security, and cutting people off from healthcare when they need it most. Since the start of the 21st century, heat alone has killed around half a million people every year, on average.
But the climate crisis does not affect everyone equally. The risks are different if you are pregnant, manage a chronic condition, or live in a region vulnerable to climate change. Our research seeks to improve our understanding of these different risks. Working with communities, we develop practical solutions to protect people across some of the geographies most affected by climate change, including the Pacific region, Indian subcontinent, and beyond.
In doing so, we aim to help create a climate-resilient future where where health and wellbeing is prioritised and strengthened for generations to come.
Helping create healthier beginnings through Food is Medicine
Novo Nordisk Foundation is supporting research that could transform how nutritious food is integrated into pregnancy care.