New Budgeting Tool for Investigator-initiated or Grant-funded Clinical Trials Now Available
Sydney Health Partners has launched a new budgeting tool to support researchers and research support staff in developing more accurate and comprehensive budgets for investigator-led and grant-funded clinical trials.
Published date:
Accessible through Sydney Health Partner’s Knowledge Hub, the resource helps researchers identify, plan and justify the full range of costs associated with delivering a clinical trial, reducing the risk of underestimating expenses and ensuring appropriate reimbursement. Designed for use during protocol development, feasibility assessments, grant applications and contract negotiations, the tool promotes a more consistent approach to budgeting across research projects.
Rather than acting as a prescriptive template, the tool is intended as a flexible starting point that can be adapted to the needs of individual organisations and research teams.
The resource was officially launched during the 2026 Trials Without Tribulations Workshop by working group members Alison Rego, Clinical Trials Project Manager at Sydney Health Partners, and Naomi Strout, Acting Research Governance and Development Manager at Nepean Blue Mountains Local Health District.
Speaking at the launch, Naomi highlighted the value of the resource for researchers embarking on investigator-led studies.
You don’t know what you don’t know, so it’s really good to have these resources available as a fantastic starting point when you’re starting with your own investigator-led research.
Naomi Strout, Acting Research Governance and Development Manager at Nepean Blue Mountains Local Health District
The budgeting tool complements existing local costing tools and draws on a range of resources and best-practice approaches to support accurate financial planning. By helping researchers identify often-overlooked costs, it aims to support the sustainable delivery of high-quality investigator-led and grant-funded clinical trials.
Sydney Health Partners sincerely thanks the working group members who contributed to the development of the resource. The group included representatives from Sydney, Northern Sydney, Western Sydney and Nepean Blue Mountains Local Health Districts, the Sydney Children’s Hospitals Network (at Westmead), and the University of Sydney.