Recent Grants

Deakin Population Health has received several grants to fund its research work. Detailed below are some examples of grants received.

1. Australian Research Council (ARC) and National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Grants
2. Government and industry research grants

1. Australian Research Council (ARC) and National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Grants

Mothers After Gestational Diabetes in Australia (MAGDA) Study:

Funding agency	Amount of grant	Year awarded	Duration	Chief investigators
NHMRC	$1,292,000	2009	Five years	Professor James Dunbar Professor Rob Carter Professor Timoty Skinner Professor James Best* Professor Edward Janus* Professor Jeremy Oats Professor Paddy Phillips* Dr Michael Ackland* Dr John Carnie*

The greatest predictor of the likelihood of developing diabetes is having diabetes during pregnancy. This project invites women who have developed diabetes during pregnancy to be registered for recall every two years, whereby they go to their general practitioner to be tested for diabetes and risk factors for diabetes. This project will also develop a lifestyle modification program for these women so that their risk of progressing to diabetes is reduced.


Melbourne Diabetes Prevention Study (MDPS): 

Funding agency	Amount of grant	Year awarded	Duration	Chief investigators
NHMRC	$833,125	2009	Four years	Professor James Dunbar Professor Rob Carter Professor Catherine Bennett Dr Sharleen O'Reilly Edward Janus* Erkki Vartiainen*

The dramatic increase in the prevalence of type 2 diabetes mellitus is posing a major health problem worldwide in just about all countries. This project evaluates the effectiveness of a structured primary-care based prevention program (Life!) implemented in Victoria for people over 50 years of age who are at risk of type 2 diabetes.  It also conducts an economic assessment of the program and evaluates ‘usual care’ in the management of individuals at high risk of progression to type 2 diabetes.


Epidemiology of Staphylococcus aureus and Antibiotic Resistance
 

Funding agency	Amount of grant	Year awarded	Duration	Chief investigators
NHMRC	$77,223	2009		Professor Catherine Bennett Associate Professor Paul Johnson* Dr Gillian Wood* Geoff Coombes*

NHMRC-funded national research collaboration focussed on the epidemiology of Staphylococcus aureus (Staph, or ‘super-bugs’) in the community. The project is lead by Professor Catherine Bennett, Director of Deakin Epidemiology and Head of the School of Health and Social Development. Professor Bennett and her team (Austin Health, PathWest, Dorevitch Pathology) are also collaborating with the Sanger Institute, Cambridge.

African Youth and Obesity – Intergenerational Gap

Funding agency	Amount of grant	Year awarded	Duration	Chief investigators
ARC	$294,000	2008	Four years	Dr Andre Renzaho Professor Boyd Swinburn Associate Professor David Mellor Julie Green*

African migrant children gain weight at an alarming rate following migration and have an obesity prevalence greater than their Australian counterparts within an average of six years of arriving. This research evaluates a model based on family processes and acculturation factors that lead to these changes. This will inform the development and evaluation of programs aimed at slowing rapid weight gain and maintaining healthy lifestyles in this sub-population. Ultimately, the data will inform obesity prevention policy and the development of models that are inclusive for migrant communities within large-scale obesity prevention programs at the population level.


Obesity Prevention Among Low-Income Families

Funding agency	Amount of grant	Year awarded	Duration	Chief investigators
ARC (VicHealth funding)	$144,344	2008	Three years	Dr Cate Burns Ms Lisa Gold Associate Professor Mark Lawrence

In Australia, there is a strong overlap between disadvantage and obesity. Those with fewer socio-economic resources are more likely to be overweight or obese and bear the greatest burden of diet-related diseases including obesity. This link is poorly understood but may in part be explained by unhealthy food choices. This project examines the economic and socio-cultural factors that determine food purchase in disadvantaged families and identifies interventions, in particular economic and or social policies, to support disadvantaged families in making healthy food choices easy choices.

Note: * Not a member of Deakin University at time of output.
 
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2. Government and industry research grants

Monitoring and Evaluating Policy and Environmental Interventions to Halt and Reverse the Childhood Obesity Epidemic in the United States

Funding agency	Amount of grant	Year awarded	Duration	Chief investigators
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation	$US204,456	2010	Two years	Professor Steven Gortmaker* (Harvard) Professor Boyd Swinburn Professor Rob Carter Dr Marj Moodie

This multi-faceted study, jointly carried out by Harvard University, includes a series of monitoring and evaluating activities that examines policy and environmental interventions designed to halt and eventually reverse the obesity epidemic among children and youth in the United States. The Deakin team has been asked to translate the Assessing Cost Effectiveness (ACE)-Obesity study experience in Victoria to identify cost-effective interventions. This will build on Australian work and provide an illustration of the utility of applying this approach to the US. Examples of interventions which might be included are reducing sugar-sweetened beverage intake, increasing physical activity in schools and limiting marketing to children.


An Innovative e-Self Management Support System for People with Depression and Anxiety and Co-morbidities

Funding agency	Amount of grant	Year awarded	Duration	Chief investigators
beyondblue	$140,000	2010	One year	Professor Richard Osborne Professor Stanton Newman* Professor Rachelle Buchbinder* Professor Marita McCabe Dr John Furler* Dr Sharon Haymes Jenni Livingston

The primary aims of this project are to:

• adapt and tailor a previously developed effective self-management program to the needs of people with depression or anxiety and chronic physical illness (musculoskeletal disease)
• refine and pilot the intervention to optimise impact and consumer and health service uptake  
• undertake a randomized controlled trial with 240 people to explore the program’s effectiveness  
• in consultation with consumers, health professionals, health services and policymakers, develop a system-wide implementation plan.

Establishment of a Victorian Food Policy Colaition (Food Alliance)

Funding agency	Amount of grant	Year awarded	Duration	Chief investigators
VicHealth	$390,000	2009	Three years	Associate Professor  Mark Lawrence Professor Boyd Swinburn Professor Danuta Mendelson Dr Cate Burns

The Food Alliance focuses on promoting policies and regulatory reform to help support health eating and access to healthy foods by identifying the drivers of demand for nutritious foods. The role of the Food Alliance is to identify, analyse and advocate for policy and regulatory reform to enable food security and healthy eating in the Victorian population by focusing on demand-related issues for nutritious foods. Building this capacity to identify, analyse and advocate for evidence-based policy and regulatory initiatives at both state and federal government levels is critical to effect cultural changes that support the consumption of healthy foods.

Translation Research for Obesity Prevention in Communities (TROPIC)

Funding agency	Amount of grant	Year awarded	Duration	Chief investigators
AusAID	$731,712	2009	Three Years	Professor Boyd Swinburn Dr Graham Roberts* Professor Marita McCabe Dr Paula Vivili* Dr Marj Moodie Dr Helen Mavoa Dr Jisheng Cui Dr Viliami Puloka*

The Translation Research for Obesity Prevention in Communities (TROPIC) project uses valuable data collected during the Pacific Obesity Prevention in Communities (OPIC) project in four countries. More than 17,000 adolescents were measured at baseline and after three years of interventions to reduce unhealthy weight gain. Extensive socio-cultural data across eight cultural groups, as well as cost data on the interventions and policy analyses, add to the richness of data available to answer the key question: ‘What worked for whom, how and why and for what cost?’


Provision of evaluation for the 'Go For Your Life' Health Promoting Communities: Being Active and Eating Well demonstration initiatives

Funding agency	Amount of grant	Year awarded	Duration	Chief investigators
Department of Human Services, Victoria	$549,085	2009	Five years	Professor Boyd Swinburn Dr Andrea Sanigorski Dr Peter Kremer Dr Lisa Gibbs* Professor Elizabeth Waters*

Be Active Eat Well was an initiative of, and supported by, the Department of Human Services (DHS), Victoria. The project was based in a small rural town of about 11,000 people in Victoria and was been funded for a period of three years commencing in June 2002. The initial brief from DHS outlined a broad framework to "improve health and wellbeing of individuals and strengthen communities through a coordinated set of initiatives based on healthy eating and physical activity promotion".


Collaboration of Community-based Obesity Prevention (CO-OPS Collaboration)

Funding agency	Amount of grant	Year awarded	Duration	Chief investigators
Department of Health and Ageing	$1,690,000	2008	Three years	Professor Boyd Swinburn

A Collaboration of Community Obesity Prevention Sites (the CO-OPS Collaboration) will achieve the following synergistic outcomes:

• a set of Best Practice Principles for community-based initiatives to prevent obesity
• a collaboration network that accelerates learning and capacity for prevention (including linked primary care management)
• an Evidence Quality and Analysis System for drawing together quality data for sub-group analyses, meta-analyses and population monitoring
• a set of Knowledge Translation and Dissemination Services (including training) for the translation and dissemination on the evidence, experience and best practice principles.

 
Health Technology Assessments

Funding agency	Amount of grant	Year awarded	Duration	Chief investigators
Department of Health and Ageing		2008	Ongoing	Professor Rob Carter Sandra Younie Patti Whyte Liliana Bulfone

This project conducts evidence-based evaluation of health services through health technology assessment, literature reviews and economic evaluation.


* Not a member of Deakin University at time of output.

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