Despite strong evidence demonstrating the remarkable health and environmental benefits of trees and greenspaces, current urban planning decision-making processes do not adequately incorporate the true economic value of these benefits. Instead, the existing system disproportionately relies on financial models that undervalue trees and greenspaces, mischaracterising them as liabilities and facilitating their removal. This has led to an alarming decline in greenspace coverage across Australian cities.

To address this gap between knowledge and implementation, CHiAPRT is partnering with local councils across SA and Victoria to lead a research program of work with the aim to strengthen the economic arguments of retaining trees and urban greenspace.

CHiAPRT and its partners was awarded funding through the University of Adelaide FAME Sustainability Accelerate Grants Scheme to undertake a pilot research project entitled: From Cost to Value: Novel Decision-Making Tools for Harnessing Sustainable Economic Benefits of Trees and Greenspaces in Urban Planning).

Incorporating the outputs from this pilot project and leveraging the proven track record of collaborating with local councils, CHiAPRT is actively working to secure research funding and upscale this initiative.

The Women’s Health Research, Translation and Impact Network (WHRTN) was formed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic to address physical and mental health priority areas for women and girls and support career advancement for female health and medical researchers.

Led by the University of South Australia in association with Health Translation SA and the University of Adelaide, a Woman’s Health Research Translation Network Grant was awarded as part of this effort and will focus on loneliness and social connections. CHiAPRT will act in an advisory role.

Communities across the globe are facing unprecedented challenges with the changing world, with many Indigenous communities being significantly (and disproportionately) impacted by these changes. The repercussions of this are complex and multifaceted, requiring concerted collaborative effort across all societal aspects to address.

Designed to deliver positive and meaningful change, Health in All Policies (HiAP) is a multisectoral approach that utilises existing frameworks and systems to promote change. However, an Indigenous lens has not yet been applied to the HiAP approach, with this new viewpoint potentially leading to a wealth of new insights.

CHiAPRT is leading one part of a five-year research project funded by NHMRC synergy grant aiming to adapt, test and evaluate the Health in All Policies approach and its alignment to First Nations context, philosophies of relationality, respect, responsibility and reciprocity. The ultimate goal is a more holistic and resilient framework that is tailored to Indigenous contexts and cultures and is able to effectively shape structural and societal reform.

HEAL vision: 'to catalyse research, knowledge exchange and translation into policy and practice that will bring measurable improvements to our health, the Australian system, and the environment’

The Heal Network is a joint collective of 100 investigators and over 30 organisations from across Australia. This collective includes government, health, and environmental authorities, health sector organisations, Indigenous organisations, and data providers.

The HEAL Network focuses on bridging the gap between knowledge and action by integrating Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander wisdom, sustainable development, epidemiology, and data science to address environmental and climate change impacts on health.

HEAL emphasizes participatory solutions-driven research and aims to provide robust scientific evidence for policy and practice changes.

Click here for the HEAL Website.

Building upon previous research into the attitudes and experiences of those in the research and policy spheres (see Survey of Researchers and Policy Actors, below), a survey to explore the knowledge, skills, and experience of the HEAL Network members is proposed.

This survey aims to also identify the key impressions and experiences of collaboration from the perspective of the Network's policy and practitioner partners.

This will identify opportunities to build upon existing strategies, strengths, and collaborative partnerships across the HEAL Network to promote effective translation of research findings into policy and practice, which will support real-world research impact. The survey can also be used to identify opportunities to strengthen existing mechanisms and build capacity for research translation and implementation across the HEAL Network.

A key factor in achieving HEAL’s vision and objectives lies in the strength of relationships between HEAL researchers and policy actors, as well as the collaboration among researchers from various disciplines.

 To ensure the continued success and sustainability of the HEAL Network, a network analysis is proposed. This project aims to analyse the key connections among HEAL researchers from multiple disciplines as well as between HEAL researchers and policy actors to identify opportunities that can enhance research translation and foster interdisciplinary collaboration within the network.

This analysis will enhance the Network's credibility by showcasing the strength of HEAL's collaborative nature and providing a visual representation of its structure, relationships, and efforts. It will also identify any issues or gaps in the Network, uncover opportunities for capacity building and improvement, and develop objective indicators of success that can be used to evaluate HEAL's impact.

Facilitated by CHiAPRT, the HEAL Network made a call for case studies that exemplify best practice of Research-Policy-Practice Translation.

This will allow HEAL members to showcase the impactful work that is occurring across the Network in addition to displaying the effectiveness of policy-practice outcomes.

The case studies will also:

• Amplify the impact of research by sharing success stories and innovative solutions to a broad audience.
• Help the HEAL member(s) gain recognition, as select examples will be featured across the HEAL Network platform.
• Improve the standards for Research-Policy-Practice Translation and ensure that the work of researchers has effective on the ground impact and application.
• Strengthen the Heal Network community through sharing research and methods of Research-Policy-Practice Translation.

To improve the current understanding of what works (and doesn't work) in collaboration, CHiAPRT conducted a survey designed to understand the challenges and opportunities when working with researchers and policy actors.

The survey explored the skills, knowledge, experience, and attitudes relevant to research translation and implementation and sought to understand the experiences of the researchers and policy actors when working together.

A Working Paper on Working Together in the Wellbeing Economy | Survey Report.

Experiences of research-policy engagement in policy-making processes.