Video

Implementing the National Statement on Consumer and Community Involvement in Research

This webinar takes a closer look at the new National Statement on Consumer and Community Involvement in Health and Medical Research and what it means for researchers and research-active organisations (including universities, medical research institutes, and health services).

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Key takeaways

  • The National Statement provides a clear vision and expectation for consumer involvement in all health and medical research that should be enabled by support from consumer and research organisations as well as major research funding organisations
  • There is a recognition that research and consumer communities will need to work together towards this vision over coming years; not all of the necessary elements are yet in place
  • There needs to be a focus on building capacity across all stakeholder groups, and identifying and allocating new resources to support this vision
  • Stakeholders are being encouraged to engage in achieving this vision, noting that different stakeholders are starting at different points of ‘maturity’; some are well advanced and have well-established structures to support consumer-researcher partnerships while others are starting with smaller and more modest efforts that are genuine and meaningful
  • Researchers need to be mindful of the varying capacities of consumer groups and individual consumers
  • Researchers are encouraged to start the process of consumer involvement as early as possible to build trusting and strong relationships with consumer partners

Who is this for?

Researchers, Clinician Researchers and Consumers who want to partner in health research; Consumer Network Managers and Research support staff who assist consumers and researchers to connect.

About the Presenters

  • Professor Meredith Makeham is Associate Dean for Community and Primary Health Care at the University of Sydney and a Sydney-based GP. She leads the Faculty’s community and consumer engagement initiatives, as well as primary health care research and education strategies. Her research focuses on patient safety, quality of care, and service innovation in primary and aged care.
  • Ms Ainslie Cahill AM has been a health consumer advocate – both voluntarily and professionally – for 24 years. Currently, she is Consumer Lead for Monash Partners, UNSW Health Systems Research Theme and the Australian Research Centre for Cancer Survivorship and is a member of the NHMRC Council and Chair, NHMRC-MRFF Consumer Advisory Group.
  • Dr Anthony Brown is the Chief Executive Officer of Health Consumers NSW (HCNSW), the peak advocacy group for people who use health services in the state of New South Wales. HCNSW works to increase the participation of health consumers in the design, delivery and governance of health services, health policy, and health and medical research.
  • Sharon Lee is the Manager for Research Strategy & Partnerships at Northern Sydney Local Health District. She has over 25 years of research experience working on both Investigator Initiated Trials and Pharmaceutical sponsored trials. She is a registered nurse and currently about to complete her PhD on “Enablers and Barriers of conducting research in the public health system for nurses/midwives, allied health and medical professionals”.

Watch the Webinar

This webinar was recorded on 22 July 2026