Opportunities for health consumers and community members
Working together with consumers and community members helps the Institute achieve high-quality research that has the greatest impact on the health and wellbeing of Australian people.
The Institute is guided by the work of peak bodies such as the National Health and Medical Research Council and Consumers Health Forum of Australia. When using the term ‘consumer’, we are referring to patients and potential patients, people who use health care services, and their carers or family members.
When we use the term ‘community members’ we refer to those who share an interest in our research – including sub-groups of the Australian population, and healthy members of our community who want to prevent ill-health. Below are key ways that consumers are involved in health research.
Consumer and Community Advisory CommitteeThe CCAC oversees consumer involvement at the Institute. The committee works with key staff, including the Executive team and research program leads
Our communities
At The George Institute, we are committed to improving our research by making it more relevant, responsive, translatable, and accountable to our communities, including patients, consumers, people with lived experiences, carers, civil society groups, and the public. These groups have a right to have a say in what is researched and how, and our aim is to ensure their involvement is a fundamental aspect of all our projects, wherever applicable and feasible.
Meaningful involvement ensures that research questions are aligned with community needs, improves the relevance and usefulness of findings, and promotes a sense of ownership and understanding among community members. Additionally, it provides a platform for advocacy and increases the likelihood of research findings being used by policy makers. Ultimately, it empowers communities, fosters equitable partnerships, and drives positive social change.
Our Framework for Community Engagement and Involvement was developed to establish a common
What are clinical and community trials
What are clinical trials?
Clinical trials are research studies with humans, designed to test new treatments to find better ways to prevent, detect or treat disease1. Clinical trials are also sometimes referred to as interventional trials. The sorts of treatments being investigated include medicines or drugs, cells and other biological products, surgical procedures, radiologic procedures, devices, behavioural treatments, process-of-care changes, preventive care, and other items.2 Clinical trials rely on having members of the general public agree to take part.
What happens in a clinical trial?
In a clinical trial, participants meet with researchers who go through what the clinical trial will involve. All participants must be advised about the objectives of the research, what is expected of them, as well as any risks that may be experienced during and after the trial.
Trials must follow a carefully controlled protocol, which is a plan that describes what researchers will do in the stu
Innovative clinical trials
Researchers at The George Institute for Global Health, UK, led by Executive Director Professor Otavio Berwanger, are spearheading a programme of work to transform that way we deliver large-scale clinical trials.
This programme is borne out of a recognition of the limitations of the ‘traditional’ clinical trial model – and the health gains (social, environmental and economic) – to be had in investigating pragmatic, innovative and efficient approaches.
In both the so-called ‘traditional’ and innovative trial models, the gold standard of randomisation controls for both known and unknown confounding factors that could influence trials outcomes, and represents the optimal method to work out whether a healthcare intervention reduces the risk of patient-important outcomes and so inform clinical practice.
Where the two models differ is that the traditional approach requires participants be screened and recruited in a trial site by a team of investigators, and so demands both a