TRANSLATING EVIDENCE INTO ACTION AGEING RESEARCH IN AUSTRALIA

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TRANSLATING EVIDENCE INTO ACTION AGEING
RESEARCH IN AUSTRALIA

• Ms Mary Murnane
• Deputy Secretary
• Australian Government Department of Health and
  Ageing

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This paper outlines what Australia has been
doing to build research on ageing since 2002,
and some of the lessons we are learning from
that process.
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CONTEXT

• Ageing research is crucial to maintaining older
  peoples health and wellbeing economic and
  social participation
• International Research Agenda on Ageing for the
  21st Century (Valencia, 2002)
• National Strategy for an Ageing Australia (2002)
  identified the importance of an ageing research
  agenda in Australia

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THE ISSUE

• Ageing is a cross-disciplinary issue
• How do we build evidence on ageing?
• How do we translate evidence into action?

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AUSTRALIAS RESEARCH ENVIRONMENT

• Australian cross-disciplinary research
  organisations relevant to ageing

• Australian Research Council (ARC)
• National Health and Medical Research Council
  (NHMRC)
• Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research
  Organisation (CSIRO)

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• These research organisations support quality and
  excellence in research.
• There is a new move towards a stronger focus on
  relevance and
• applicability.

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RESEARCH PRIORITIES

• National Research Priorities were announced in
  December 2002.
• Ageing Well, Ageing Productively was
  identified as a research priority goal in the
  National Research Priority Promoting and
  Maintaining Good Health.

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BUILDING AGEING RESEARCH CAPACITY

• Research networks and collaboration
• Information sources and dissemination
• Translating evidence into policy and practice

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RESEARCH NETWORKS AND COLLABORATION

• ARC Research Network in Ageing Well
• Joint NHMRC/ARC work on Ageing Well, Ageing
  Productively
• Australian Association of Gerontology

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INFORMATION SOURCES AND DISSEMINATION

• Ageing Research On-Line (www.aro.gov.au)
• National conferences on ageing research
• Longitudinal studies

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TRANSLATING EVIDENCE INTO POLICY PRACTICE

• The next big challenge.
• Initiatives we can build on are

• Burden of Disease studies
• National Institute of Clinical Studies (NICS)
• Health Insite and Seniors Portal
• National Seniors Productive Ageing Centre
• National responses to emerging issues such as
  obesity

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FUTURE CHALLENGES

• Aligning research activity with emerging issues
• Using evaluation to identify priorities
• Engaging older people in setting research
  priorities
• Maximising availability and uptake of evidence