The Australian Catholic University, the University of Notre Dame Australia and Bond University will receive $19.6 million in federal funds to improve research capacity and drive stronger performance outcomes.
The funding, announced on 26 July, is part of the Collaborative Research Networks programme.
The objective of the initiative is to foster partnerships between regional universities and organisations with stronger research capacity.
The Australian Catholic University will receive AU$7.9m for cardiovascular research projects in collaboration with the University of Melbourne, St Vincent’s Hospital and the O’Brien Institute.
Bond University will use its AU$5.75m to team up with the University of Queensland, the University of Sydney and the Australian Institute of Sport in order to boost expertise in sports science, human genetics, and treatment of bone, joint and other diseases.
The University of Notre Dame Australia will bring AU$5.96m to collaborative projects that involve the Australian National University, the University of Western Australia, Curtin University, the Garvan Institute of Medical Research and the Kimberly Institute. The focus will be to build Notre Dame Australia’s research capacity in Indigenous health and wellbeing, healthy ageing, and chronic disease management.
“This Government is absolutely committed to raising the quality of education in all our universities in this period of expansion, whether you’re a student in a regional campus or in a capital city,” said the minister for tertiary education, skills, science and research, Chris Evans.