Measuring the impact of the investment in health research workshop

The Health Research Council of New Zealand (HRC) is convening a two-day workshop in Auckland 10 to 11 November 2005: Measuring the impact of the investment in health research.

The workshop will explore how the impact and outcomes of health research can be measured, and the pathways to knowledge transfer and research uptake identified. The workshop will provide an opportunity to bring together international experts working in this area, including speakers from the National Institutes of Health and other overseas health research funding organisations.

The HRC has confirmed the interest of guest speakers in the area of bibliometrics, including Dr Linda Butler, the Director of the Research Evaluation and Policy Project at the Australian National University. Dr Butler is a recognised expert in this field of study, and has recently completed projects commissioned by the Australian Research Council and the National Health & Medical Research Council. The HRC has also confirmed the participation of Dr Jonathan Grant, Director of RAND Europe, in Cambridge, and Associated Professor John Lavis, Canada Research Chair in Knowledge Transfer and Uptake.

Most recently, Dr Grant collaborated with the Health Economics Research Group at Brunel University, to evaluate the impact of the research funded by the Arthritis Research Campaign in the UK. This study employed the 'payback model', developed by the co-authors of the report (Professor Martin Buxton and Dr Stephen Hanney), which provided a framework to conceptualise the relationship between research inputs, process, outputs and outcomes. Associate professor John Lavis has studied in the area of knowledge transfer and uptake in public policy-making environments, including researching knowledge transfer activities undertaken by Canadian health research organisations.

The HRC is inviting those who would like to attend this workshop to register early, as there are only 200 places available. To register interest, pleasse email: workshop@hrc.govt.nz, including the names of participants for the workshop.