The Independent Review of Aid Effectiveness had as the 23rd of its 39 recommendations that ‘There should be more aid funding for research by Australian and international institutions, particularly in agriculture and medicine.’ In its July 2011 response to the Review, the Government accepted this recommendation.

Australia has long been a leading source of funding of international agricultural research, but it has been much less active in global health research, though individual researchers and institutions have sometimes played a prominent role. In its latest annual report on global health R&D investment, Policy Cures estimated that Australia provided only $25 million (0.8%) out of a global total of $3 billion.

Is the recommendation that Australia support global health Ramp;D sound? How should Australia provide funding to global health R&D? Should the focus be on Australian or international researchers? Should we finance research costs or provide rewards for outputs or outcomes? Should we emphasise basic research or product development? Asia-Pacific or global? What tools do policy-makers need to answer these questions?

There questions will be addressed at this Development Policy Centre Forum in a chaired panel discussion followed by Q&A. Participants as follows:
Chair:
Annemaree O’Keeffe, formerly Australian Ambassador for HIV/AIDS, and now Research Associate, Development Policy Centre and Research Fellow, Lowy Institute.

Panelists:
- Dr Rob Don, Discovery & Preclinical Director, Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative (DNDi)
- Professor Stephen Howes, Director, Development Policy Centre, Crawford School, ANU
- Dr Mary Moran, Executive Director, Policy Cures
- Graeme Woodrow, Head of Strategy and Implementation for CSIRO’s Preventative Health Flagship, and joint leader of the Health Initiative of the Global Research Alliance (GRA)

Registration essential by Friday March 16.

This seminar is supported by the Australian National Institute of Public Policy with funding from the AustralianGovernment under the ‘Enhancing Public Policy Initiative’.

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