As part of our ten year anniversary, MS Research Australia has taken a detailed look at all research outcomes arising from our funding since 2004. This research audit provides an extremely important report card against the original strategic goals set out at our inception.
Since 2004, MS Research Australia has awarded over $14 million in funding for investigator-led research via 154 grants, in addition to over $8 million dedicated to collaborative research platforms.
The research audit took the form of an internal evaluation as well as a survey completed by grant recipients. The results have been brought together in a comprehensive Research Audit Report highlighting the achievements of the past ten years. Supported by a grant from the Macquarie Group Foundation, this document is a key benchmark for MS Research Australia to evaluate our progress, and will be a crucial guide to future areas for development.
The report reveals that we have been extremely successful in achieving our original strategic goals. Since 2004, MS Research Australia has increased the nationwide research investment into MS research projects by more than five times the original spend.
In this time, we have built a fully peer-reviewed portfolio of research funding with Government category one accreditation for competitive funding schemes. We found that for every $1 invested in MS research, recipient researchers were able to obtain around five times this amount in subsequent external funding, such as from the National Health and Medical Research council to continue their research.
MS Research Australia grants have contributed to many exciting breakthroughs and achievements in the MS field. With over 200 publications, four patents and many biomarkers, clinical assessment tools, and novel research methodologies, developed and in use. MS Research Australia-funded researchers are clearly making tangible progress in the effort to solve MS.
The audit also identified that MS Research Australia grants help build capacity in the MS research field. Around 94% of MS Research Australia-funded researchers continue in the MS research field, establishing extensive collaborations both nationally and internationally, and training, on average, a further four researchers.
‘Tracking the outcomes of our research funding is an important part of what we do at MS Research Australia,’ said Dr Matthew Miles, Chief Executive Officer. ‘Due to the long term nature of a lot of research, outcomes from funding ten years ago are still ongoing as initial findings are built upon. We feel that the results of the audit confirm MS Research Australia is funding the best and most valuable research for people with MS in Australia.’
The research audit document was launched at the tenth anniversary event in November 2014, and is available to view using the flipbook viewing platform link below or click here.
The next step in our planning is to develop a national resource map. This document will be interactive and updatable to ensure it retains relevance year upon year.
