MRINZ receives Independent Research Funding from HRC

Core Independent Research Organisation (IRO) funding has been granted to the Medical Research Institute of New Zealand (MRINZ) by the Health Research Council of New Zealand (HRC).

HRC IRO Funding is awarded through a negotiated process, based on the quality, expected impact, and proposed plans for future research, aligned with national health research priorities.

Spread over a seven-year timeframe, this significant financial resource is to be used to build research and innovation capability which contributes to equitable health outcomes that meet both the government’s and HRC’s research priorities. Alongside the MRINZ, Te Atawhai o te Ao, Whakauae Research Services, and the Malaghan Institute of Medical Research also received HRC IRO support in this funding round.

As an independent research institution, the MRINZ exists outside of the Crown Research Institute and university sector, recognised by the government for ongoing work/mahi that is nationally significant and deserving of stable funding.

MRINZ harnesses the power of randomised controlled trials to provide the highest level of scientific evidence on which to base clinical practice, and thereby improve public health outcomes in Aotearoa New Zealand, as well as globally.

HRC IRO funding will directly support the MRINZ to continue to grow and expand significant national and international collaborations, consolidate emerging programmes in the fields of Māori health, anaesthesia, public health, and paediatrics, and underpin further development of established primary care and pharmacy networks to enhance recruitment of Māori and Pacific peoples.

Professor Richard Beasley, MRINZ director and founder, says the MRINZ has been extraordinarily fortunate to have received such strong funding support from the HRC over their twenty-one years of operation, enabling them to make major advances in knowledge and clinical practice across multiple areas of research interest. "We’re grateful for this current core funding to underpin our dedicated mahi over the coming years, and the generous recognition of our contribution to the Aotearoa New Zealand and global research landscape.”

This funding will allow the MRINZ to extend current practices through strengthening workforce training with expansion of Māori medical student internships and career development programmes to other non-medical specialties relevant to clinical research.

“The HRC support will also allow us to extend our capacity to undertake robust clinical trials for the NZ biotechnology and therapeutics sectors, leading to better informed health consumers,” says Deputy Director, Complementary and Alternative Medicine Programme lead and Education Programme co-lead, Adjunct Professor Alex Semprini.

“Ngā mihi nui to the HRC for their support as we continue to embed Te Ao Māori and uphold Te Tiriti o Waitangi within our clinical research environment,” says Deputy Director and Māori and Pacific Peoples programme lead Associate Professor Matire Harwood.

“As we advance medical knowledge and disseminate research across Aotearoa based on our strong historic record, we are also looking forward, and ensuring inclusive diverse community participation at all stages of the research pathway.”

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