Australia launches fund to assist health projects under FP5
Australian researchers collaborating with EU partners in health and medical research projects under the Quality of Life theme of the Fifth Framework programme (FP5) can now apply for assistance from their own National health and medical research council (NHMRC). The NHMRC recently wrote to Mr Achilleas Mitsos, Director-General of the Commission's Research DG, to announce the new fund, which it hopes will encourage EU-Australian collaboration in this field. The move follows discussions between officials earlier this year, who agreed that some effort must be made to encourage Australian researchers to participate in FP5. The Australian delegation looked carefully at how the other countries with co-operative agreements for FP5 have adjusted administrative procedures to this end, and were particularly impressed by the Swiss approach. In consequence, Australia's NHMRC has decided to accept EU peer assessment for FP5 projects, rather than insisting on peer review in both Canberra and Brussels. However, it will 'maintain some scope to review funding on national interest grounds and allocate funding on the basis of need,' where demand for funds exceeds those available. It will also allow Australian funding decisions to be synchronised with the timetable for FP5. Australian researchers involved in projects selected for funding under the Quality of Life programme's call for proposals with a closing date of 11 October 2000 are now eligible to apply for NHMRC support. This will be a competitive process, taking into account the quality of the project, its relevance and value added to Australian research objectives and the need for funding. The health and medical research areas in this call for proposals include: - control of infectious diseases: development of vaccines, new strategies for treatment and prevention, public health issues; - the cell factory: development of new diagnostics and therapeutic strategies; - chronic, degenerative and rare diseases: common underlying pathogenic mechanisms; - genomes and diseases of genetic origin - genome analysis, functional genomics and proteomics; - neurosciences: cell communication, brain theories; - public health and health services research: health service research health and safety at work, fighting drug related problems; - research relating to persons with disabilities; - bioethics. 'Whilst on one level this may be seen as a modest development, it does set an important precedent for other Australian funding bodies to follow,' according to Jan de Kok, acting head of delegation to the European Commission to Australia and New Zealand. Under the EU's Fourth RTD Framework programme, EU and Australian researchers collaborated on a total of 38 projects. Of these, 13 were in the medical and health field. In the first year of the Fifth Framework programme, ten joint EU-Australia projects have been selected of which four are in the medical and health fields.