Population Sciences Program Grant

The Population Sciences Program Grant is designed to enable the continuation of a significant program of work within the Division of Population Sciences of the Institute.

This program comprises five overlapping themes of research planned around these unique population databases. The five themes are:

1. Social, economic and psychological influences in child health and development. Many paths to poor health are linked to social disadvantage, examining these issues may explain why some childhood conditions are worsening or not improving;

2. Pathways to wellbeing, resilience and developmental disorders, including intellectual disability, autism, birth defects and cerebral palsy;

3. Nutrition and growth, particularly as it relates to low birth weight, childhood obesity and mental health;

4. Infectious disease, its causes and its influences on lifelong health problems and disabilities; and

5. Aboriginal health – whilst spanning each of the other themes, presents its own unique challenges and requires its own unique solutions.

The Population Sciences Program Grant is funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) with some supplementation by the University of Western Australia.

Increasingly, Kulunga is leading the discussion about what research should be pursued in each of the other Program grant themes in terms of how such research might address the Headline Indicators agreed to by the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) and the Key Indicators in the Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage Framework.