Bond University has made an international name for itself in the arena of acute respiratory research, having recently been awarded two prestigious grants from the British National Health Service (NHS).
Competition for the 15 NHS grants – valued at £5000 each – was strong, with over 57 nominations from 29 Cochrane Review Groups globally. Bond University says that by winning two of the strongly contested incentive payments (over $11,000 AUD worth) it will be able to enhance its work in the vital clinical area of acute respiratory infections.
“This represents half of all grants awarded to Australian applicants, and is a tribute to the vision and international relevance of the work being done by the Cochrane Acute Respiratory Infections Group here at Bond University,” said Professor Chris Del Mar, Dean, Faculty of Health Sciences and Medicine and Head of the research group.
The grants are part of the NHS’s mandate to update Cochrane systematic reviews, relating to evidence-based medicine. Cochrane Review Groups from Canada, the United Kingdom, Italy and Norway were also recipients of the incentive payments.
Professor Chris Del Mar, said the grants would assist the group’s research on antibiotics for a sore throat and methods for preventing and treating influenza A in adults.
“Our research capability here at Bond is now being recognised on a world-stage, and we are proud to be representing Australia as recipients of such a prestigious research grant,” he said.
News of the NHS grant comes in addition to the recent awarding of a £3000 grant ($6,700 AUD) to Bond’s Acute Respiratory Infections (ARI) Group from the international Cochrane Collaboration’s Discretionary Fund, with the aim of ensuring the Collaboration is well positioned to respond to a possible avian influenza or ‘bird flu’ outbreak.
The £3000 grant was the maximum possible award per single application and put Bond University in the company of the likes of Oxford University and The University of Liverpool.
The work of the Bond University Cochrane ARI Group is currently funded with the support of a grant from the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing.