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Our Vision

Contribute to an effective and sustainable rural and remote health system

Research Capacity Building

The Rural Research Capacity Building Program aims to increase the number of rural and remote health workers with knowledge and skills in evaluation and research methods. It also aims to contribute to the literature on both innovation and evidence-based practice around rural and remote health care.

The NSW Institute of Rural Clinical Services and Teaching has invested significant funding to support selected health workers across rural and remote NSW to undertake a formal research project over the next two years.

Program Description

Staff from all rural Area Health Services in NSW are invited to participate and are awarded a place in the program based on their readiness to undertake a research project, the relevance of the research to advancing rural health and support from their health service.

September 2006 heralded the first intake for the program, with 26 candidates participating in a research methods short course conducted in Sydney by the NSW PHC Collaboration. Candidates learned about quantitative and qualitative research methods and had assistance to develop their research ideas further. Candidates have been linked with mentors who have an interest or experience in the topic or methods required for the completion of their research. Intakes in 2007 and 2008 have accepted 24 and 15 candidates respectively.

Additional support to candidates includes a paid backfill day weekly and funding for incidentals related to the research over the two year period. A Rural Research Support Officer is also employed to coordinate the overall program, facilitate capacity building and networking strategies and provide technical advice to candidates.

For a more detailed overview of the program content and timelines for RRCBP please click here PDF File

Key Partners

There are many organisations and individuals working together to support the Rural Research Capacity Building Program by providing tutoring, mentoring, training or advocacy.

These include, but are not limited to:

  • The PHC Collaboration – a Commonwealth funded program that includes the University of Sydney, University of New South Wales, Newcastle University, Australian National University Departments of General Practice, and the Broken Hill, Lismore (USYD) and Tamworth (Newcastle Uni) University Departments of Rural Health
  • Australian Rural Health Research Collaboration
  • The University of Sydney School of Rural Health (Dubbo and Orange)
Evaluation

There are two aspects to the evaluation of the Rural Research Capacity Building Program. The first is the routine collection of information for all intakes on factors such as financial investment, attendances at face to face workshops or teleconferences and progress to timelines for candidates. It also captures self assessed competence on selected research skills using the ‘Research Spider’. This is collected in terms of inputs, outputs and outcomes and is based on a program logic model. Information is added to this continually to keep it up to date. The current evaluation using the program logic model can be downloaded here PDF File 

Interested in applying?

Applications for the 2009 intake are now closed. 

Applications for 2010 are expected to open in April 2010.  If you're interested in applying, please find below the 2009 application guidelines for relevant information, please use as a guide only as the structure may change.

Application Guidelines and Information 2009 PDF File

To view current research participants and their project topics, click below:

2006 intake

2007 intake

2008 intake

2009 intake

Click here to view completed projects

Please contact us for additional information.

Contact Details

Emma Webster
Rural Research Support Officer
NSW Institute of Rural Clinical Services and Teaching
C/- Greater Western Area Health Service
PO Box 4061
DUBBO NSW 2830
Phone: (02) 6841 2652, Fax: (02) 6841 2655

emma.webster@gwahs.health.nsw.gov.au