Health Research Accelerator

The Program of Research and Innovation involves 9 UQ facilities and institutes and over 115 researchers – making this a truly multi-disciplinary collaboration initiative.

UQ committed $50 million to the HERA Programs of Research and Innovation to recruit outstanding researchers with the knowledge, skills and expertise to augment the health and medical capabilities of UQ and its partners to deliver collaborative solutions that amplify the impact on human health.

Of the 28 positions earmarked as part of this funding, 33 outstanding researchers have now joined the HERA team.  

EvolveHealth Workforce Optimisation

Dr Lynda Cardiff

Dr Belinda Gavaghan

Aimee Johnston

Associate Professor Jean Spinks

Dr Elcin Tuzel

GROWTH

Mr Callyn Farrell

Dr Crystal La Rue

Dr Vanessa Wergin

Development of mRNA vaccines

Dr Sahra Bashiri

Dr Seth Cheetham

Dr Zhian Chen

Dr Brian Forde

Dr David Muller

Operational Research and Decision Support for Prevention, Control and Elimination of Infectious Diseases

Dr Adam Craig

Dr Behzad Kiani

Dr Helen Mayfield

Associate Professor Benn Sartorius

Dr Eloise Skinner

Queensland Digital Health Centre

Dr Sebastiano Barbieri

Dr Steffen Bollmann

Dr Rebekah Eden

Dr Riddhi Gupta

Associate Professor Bevan Koopman

Dr Teerapong Leelanupab

Dr Kerstin Pannek

Dr Lee Woods

Professor Guido Zuccon

The University of Queensland’s cLinical TRials cApability

Dr Nathalia Costa

Associate Professor Ingrid Hickman

Dr Bec Jenkinson

Dr Mark Liu

Dr Ding Ma

Patrick Maher

Professor Andrew Martin

360-Kids Network

Associate Professor Jennifer Koplin

Dr Enda Byrne

Dr Matthew Bourke

Dr Martin O'Flaherty

Professor Simon Smith

Professor Stewart Trost

The inaugural Through Our Eyes event took place at Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre on 8 - 9 October 2025. This inspirational gathering brought together diverse voices driving meaningful change for healthy communities across Queensland and beyond.

What made this event particularly special was the genuine collaboration visible among the 150+ attendees present each day. The event drew together community members, researchers, health service providers, and industry partners, all committed to co-designing initiatives that address real community needs.

Day One featured three panel discussions: Partner Voice, Provider Voice, and Community Voice, bringing together perspectives from industry partners, health service providers, and community members with lived experience. The afternoon showcased rapid-fire research presentations across HERA's seven programs, followed by a thought-provoking debate on AI's role in society.

Day Two opened with a keynote from Dr Nicholas Johnson, Executive Director of Research Partnerships at the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC). Participants then moved into action-focused workshops on Infectious Disease Control and Prevention, Disability, Early Years, Future Workforce, and Partnering with Community. These intensive sessions moved beyond discussion into concrete planning, identifying priorities and developing frameworks for future collaboration.

The poster presentation session showcased innovative research from across the UQ research community. Three outstanding contributions were recognised:

• 1st Place: Ingrid Hickman – 'Bridging the Gap: Has Implementation Science reached the Clinical Trial Workforce? A National Needs Assessment of Training and Practice'
• 2nd Place: Quita Olsen – 'Worldwide willingness to share health data high but privacy, consent and transparency paramount, a meta-analysis'
• 3rd Place: Samantha Robertson – 'Selection and validation of a tool to measure digital health competence of clinicians'

The event would not have been possible without the community members who generously shared their wisdom and lived experience. Their voices are essential to creating lasting, meaningful change through research.

The inaugural Through Our Eyes has laid a strong foundation for ongoing collaboration and community-led change. The connections forged, ideas exchanged, and commitments made during these two days will continue to ripple outward, influencing research priorities, funding decisions, and partnership models.

We are grateful to every attendee who contributed their time, expertise, and lived experience to making Through Our Eyes 2025 a success. We look forward to continuing this important work together and welcoming you to future events where we will build on this momentum.

#PartneringForChange

Community-Driven Rural, Regional and Remote Health Research: Showcasing Projects and Collaboration event

On Tuesday 1^st October, as part of Research and Innovation Week 2024, we held our annual showcase, with a focus on Rural, Regional and Remote (RRR) Health Research. The event spotlighted the inspirational health research taking place in RRR, with many of the presenting projects supported by the RRR HERA Grant Funding scheme.

We were privileged to hear from three exceptional research projects: Viable Rural Healthcare Models, led by Professor Bruce A Chater, LinkWell, led by Professor Lauren Ball, and developing a long-term research partnership between UQ’s Poche Centre for Indigenous Health and Goondir Health Service, led by Professor Anthony Shakeshaft.

The presentations sparked vibrant discussions among our diverse audience of HERA researchers, RRR partners and consumers, and UQ community members. As part of the event in an interactive session, attendees imagined future newspaper headlines for these projects, bringing to life their potential impact on RRR communities.

We were honoured to have Professor Karen Moritz, Associate Dean (Research) from the Faculty of Medicine, facilitate the event alongside Jessica Taylor, CEO of the Endometriosis Association Qld (QENDO). Jessica shared valuable insights from February's Dalby Consumer Roundtable, bringing a key community perspective to the discussions.

The afternoon proved to be both enriching and inspiring. We're grateful to everyone who contributed to its success and look forward to welcoming you to more exciting HERA events in 2025!

Toowoomba Event - Rural, Regional and Remote Health Research 

On Friday 12th July, over 80 regional and rural community groups, health care providers, researchers and industry representatives met with select University of Queensland (UQ) researchers at the Rural, Regional and Remote (RRR) Health Research Showcase in Toowoomba.

Attendees were presented with a suite of customised research projects, designed using feedback gathered from rural community roundtable meetings and consultations that, if accepted, are set to have lasting impacts on the health and wellbeing of not only Queensland communities, but of those living in similar situations and circumstances.

Driven by The University of Queensland through the Health Research Accelerator (HERA) initiative, the RRR Health Research Showcase invited attendees to hear more about and potentially support, partner and collaborate on the 24 research projects, all of which included a focus on the health of rural populations.
Attendees heard from several guest speakers, including the outgoing National Rural Health Commissioner Ruth Stewart and took part in panel discussions, sharing of ideas and world café conversations.

“It was heartwarming to be in a room full of people who are united in their desire to better the health and wellbeing of our communities and I look forward to seeing what their collaborative efforts can achieve,” Professor Moritz said.

This event launched the opening of the UQ Accelerator Grant Scheme seed funding, which is hoped to lead to greater investment in research specifically targeting improved rural health outcomes.

HERA Studio - Rural, Regional and Remote Health Research

On Wednesday 15th May we held the first of our new HERA Studio session aimed to nurture existing collaborative relationships/networks, provide opportunities for transdisciplinary collaboration to mature collaborative projects positioning for research funding opportunities. The Studio took an intentional design approach to overlap all HERA Programs, the strategic funding landscape, and the broader UQ research priorities. Building upon the success of the Regional and Rural Health Research Dalby Roundtable in 2024, this HERA Studio focused on Rural, Regional and Remote Health Research and the identified community research priorities. 

The Studio was a big success, demonstrated by strong level of engagement and collaboration in the room. With over 40 attendees representing various HERA programs and researchers from different faculties—including FOM, HABS, Science, and HASS—we saw new connections, an exchange of ideas and the formation of project groups that willl endeavour to catalyse UQ's capability in the Rural, Regional and Remote Health Research space. 

Annual HERA Showcase 

For more information, please contact the HERA team via hera@research.uq.edu.au.

See our research news

UQ to establish world-leading mRNA labQCIF and UQ head to iAwards national finalUQ health project making a difference to First Nations mums and bubsQDHeC leading a ‘digital health revolution’ to tackle chronic diseasesEVOLVE - Landmark report on how to unleash the potential of our health professionsUQ secures global partnership to create homegrown lifesaving vaccinesA patch of protection against Zika virusFunding injection for Strep A vaccine research at UQDemand booms for experimental mRNA from UQ BASEUQ researchers and educators awarded three Eureka Prizes

Forging global partnerships and connectivity is at the heart of UQ’s vision to deliver knowledge leadership for a better world.

HERA provides the scale and intensity needed to make real breakthroughs by connecting people and capabilities from across the UQ with partners in industry, government and other organisations who interact with the health and medical needs of the community. 

For more information about any of the HERA programs and potential partnering opportunities, email hera@research.uq.edu.au.

Forming and established partnerships

Over 110 local, national, and international partners are involved in one or more of our HeRA programs. Our partners and stakeholders play a crucial role in ensuring new capabilities enable transformative outcomes and impacts.

Our partners include:

• Australian Clinical Trials Alliance (ACTA)
• Australian Defence Force Malaria and Infectious Diseases Institute (ADFMIDI)
• Australian National University (ANU)
• ACT Education Directorate
• Ballycara
• Bionet-Asia 
• Bolton Clarke
• Children’s Health Queensland (CHQ)
• Clinical Excellence Queensland (CEQ)
• Clinical Research & Evidence Synthesis at Travel Medicine Alliance (CRESTMA)
• Coalition for Operational Research on NTDs (COR-NTD), Task Force for Global Health, USA
• CSIRO Australian e-Health Research Centre
• Harvard Humanitarian Initiative (Program on Infectious Diseases and Epidemics 
• Health and Wellbeing Queensland (HWQld)
• Health Translation Queensland (HTQ)
• Immunisation Coalition
• James Cook University (JCU) - WHO Collaborating Centre for Vector-borne and Neglected Tropical Diseases
• Lives Lived Well
• Mater Health
• Metro North Health (MNH)
• Metro South Health (MSH)
• Moderna
• National Centre for Immunisation Research & Surveillance (NCIRS)
• QIMR Berghofer
• Queensland Health
• Queensland Office of the Chief Allied Health Officer (OCAHO)
• Queensland Office of the Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officer (OCNMO)
• Queensland Office of the Chief Dental Officer (OCDO)
• Queensland University of Technology (QUT) - Centre for Data Science
• Relationships Australia
• Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP)
• Southern Queensland Rural Health (SQRH)
• Stryker
• Technovalia
• The Queensland Cyber Infrastructure Foundation (QCIF) 
• The Salvation Army
• Vaxxas

2025 successful applications

• 'Early childhood inclusion in focus: Engaging educators in foundational supports to improve health and developmental outcomes for children with disability' led by Dr Laetitia Coles
• 'What Mosquito Saliva Reveals About Disease Transmission: Aedes Mosquito Salivary Biomarkers as an Approach to Dengue and Other Arboviral Disease Risk Monitoring' led by Dr Adam Craig
• 'Developing the Social Footprint: A tool to monitor social connectedness' led by Associate Professor Chelsea Dobbins 
• Project led by Dr Rebekah Eden
• 'Identifying digital mental health information needs of women in the perinatal period' led by Dr Glenda Hawley
• 'Bringing the James Lind Alliance Priority Setting Partnership approach to UQ to push the pace on consumer and community-led clinical trials in Australia (JLA-Australia)' led by Dr Bec Jenkinson 
• 'Healthy Equity in Randomised Controlled Trials' led by Dr Mark Liu
• 'Self-Optimising saRNA: CRISPR-Based Discovery of Host Restriction Factors in Muscle and Liver Models' led by Dr Rhys Parry 
• 'Advancing equitable access to neurodevelopmental services' led by Dr Natasha Reid 
• 'Modulating interleukin-21 signalling in B cells for safer Group A Streptococcus vaccines' led by Dr Ismail Sebina 

Overview

HERA Collaborate offers a valuable opportunity to advance research collaborations. Successful awardees will receive up to $20,000 to spend in support of activities driving knowledge exchange, consumer involvement, partner engagement, and collaboration building over a 12-month period.

For any queries relating to HERA Collaborate or for further information on HERA, please contact hera@research.uq.edu.au.

Supported activity

HERA Collaborate ensures a broad spectrum of engagement opportunities and fosters impactful collaborations with various stakeholders.

Example activity types include:

• Networking events with partners, national and international collaborators
• Knowledge exchange workshops
• Collaborative activity to co-produce evidence, and/or mechanisms to ensure the uptake of that evidence
• Hosting a seminar/showcase where researchers from different disciplines exchange ideas and collaborate
• Workshops to establish cross disciplinary research partnerships
• Research strategy/planning days

Eligibility criteria

• The project must be in connection to a HERA Program research focus area.
• The project team must include at least one HERA researcher (funded by HERA.)
• The project team must include at least one new UQ collaborator(s) not currently working in the HERA Program team.
• The application must contain a planned approach to submit for a large-scale programmatic grant within 12-months of receipt of funds.
• The project must have the endorsement of the affiliated HERA Program Lead and Head of School/Centre Director.

How to apply

Applications are currently closed, the 2026 round of funding will be announced shortly.

Key Documents

Application Form

Guidelines

Conditions of Award