Collaborations

Health Economics Update: Foundation laid for the development of a centre in the Hunter to specialise in health economics | Read more
Like other branches of economics , health economists seek ways to use the health sector's resources in the most efficient way. There is a world wide shortage of health economists so the local initiative has the potential to contribute to the Hunter's growing knowledge-based economy.

Hunter Medical Research Institute (HMRI) Collaboration

The Hunter Medical Research Institute (HMRI), the University of Newcastle and the Hunter Valley Research Foundation (HVRF) are working in collaboration with the appointment of HMRI Health Research Economist, Professor Chris Doran.

Professor Doran's role is to make economic evaluations of health interventions, which have arisen from health research. He will also evaluate the economic outcomes of HMRI-affiliated research projects. Health economics is a growing discipline, becoming increasingly relevant in today’s environment of budget cuts and fiscal rationing.

Tools of economic evaluation are already used extensively in Australia in the listing of pharmaceutical and medical products and enable decision-makers to better understand what they receive for investments in health and healthcare interventions. Professor Doran will work with the network of researchers, clinicians and policy makers in the Hunter and New England region to ensure money spent on health care is used in an effective and efficient manner.”

Professor Doran has been awarded more than $20 million in research funding over the past 10 years and has developed and taught several post-graduate health economic programs.

For more information contact  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

University of Newcastle Collaboration

2012 Funding Round Open - $5,000 annual scholarship on offer | More information

Robin Mcdonald Memorial Scholarship - 2011 Scholarship Awarded

The 2011 Scholarship has been awarded to Communications Honours student Ngaio Stobbs. Ngaio thesis will seeks to identify factors to assist sporting organisations in their relationships with players from Melanesian, Micronesian and Polynesian (MMP) backgrounds.

Ngaio, who is a Maori woman born in Huntly, New Zealand, will investigate whether the relational perspective of public relations can inform recruitment, induction and support mechanisms of MMP players, particularly in the National Rugby League (NRL) competition.

“In my culture we rely on extended family for support,” Ngaio explains. “When I got a call from New Zealand last year, asking if I would keep an eye on a family member who had been recruited to play NRL in Australia, I began to think about what support mechanisms are in place for young players like him.”

Ngaio hopes that her honours study will identify and address gaps in knowledge about the effect of cultural understanding on relationship management in sports and result in recommendations for sporting bodies to improve the image and understanding of MMP players. While her study will focus on Polynesian players in the NRL, she believes the findings of her study will encompass difficulties faced by players from a range of different cultural backgrounds and in many sports including soccer and netball.

“My project aims to identify ways of improving relationship management strategies to encourage players from Melanesian, Micronesian and Polynesian backgrounds to be committed members of their club and of the Hunter community.”
She will use her scholarship funding to develop her research project in ways she would otherwise not have been able to consider. “It will allow me to hire premises to conduct my interviews if necessary, as well as visiting other NRL clubs to observe their practices, and to travel to access resources from a range of sources, which would not have been possible without it.”

Ngario has extended her Honours study period into 2012 to complete her thesis.

The HVRF established the Robin Mcdonald Memorial Scholarship at the University of Newcastle to celebrate the legacy of the late Robin Mcdonald, HVRF Co-Director of Research, who died unexpectedly of a heart attack in August 2009, at the age of 54.
 
The scholarship is offered to a student undertaking Honours, Masters or PhD studies through the University’s School of Environmental and Life Sciences or Newcastle Business School in a subject area that will have a direct or indirect impact on people living in the Hunter Region. It commemorates the role Robin played in communicating economic issues to the Hunter Region community and her leadership role at the HVRF.
 
Robin began work at the Foundation 18 years ago following a career at the United Nations in New York and the Reserve Bank of Australia. She was born and raised in a coal mining family in Abermain and attended Kurri Kurri High School. She graduated with First Class Honours in a Bachelor of Commerce (Economics) from the University of Newcastle in 1977 prior to undertaking her Masters at Monash University.

After joining the research team at the Foundation in October 1991, Robin immediately began to make her mark as a key spokesperson on economic issues facing the Hunter Region. As a local girl and resident of Maitland she was able to speak with authority on the many issues facing the Hunter Region from both a local perspective and, because of her international experience, a broad global perspective.

Robin worked on many research projects at the Foundation but she was best known for her delivery of the quarterly economic updates. Not only did she review conditions here in the Hunter but she also oversaw the compiling of economic reviews for the Upper Hunter and the Central Coast. In 2003 Robin was appointed as Director of Research.
 
Newton John Award
Robin Mcdonald’s enormous contribution to the Hunter Region was recognised posthumously by the University of Newcastle alumni organisation Convocation with the 2009 Newton-John Award.

The award, named after former Vice-Principal of the University, Professor Brin Newton-John, was instituted in 1974 and is awarded to the nominee who has displayed innovation or creativity in any field that improved cultural life, particularly in the Newcastle or Hunter Region. Open to all University of Newcastle alumni, the Newton-John Award recognises the nominee’s creative approach to their field with an emphasis on originality, lasting or aesthetic value, or cultural or social benefit to the community.