There’s a webinar today on “improving alignment and coordination” of the two peak agencies

It’s for comments on a well thought-through discussion paper on how the National Health and Medical Research Council and the Medical Research Future Fund can better work together in awarding their combined $1.5bn annual grants.

The paper sets out three options;

* separate management of the two bodies funds but with “an overarching coordination mechanism”

“While better coordination of funding decisions, policies and administrative processes would create efficiencies for grant recipients, it does retain parallel organisational structures. This model has low implementation complexity”

* NHMRC manages both funds

“The NHMRC CEO would be expected to oversee coordination of policy and processes to address stakeholder concerns about duplication, administrative burden and confusion between processes”

* merge the funds into one grant programme managed by the NHMRC

“A national strategy would be developed to articulate a vision for the future of health and medical research, informed by the health needs of the Australian community, and to outline an investment strategy for a flexible merged grant programme/s”

From the start of the MRFF, there were concerns about funding decisions being made separate to the NHMRC. IN 2015 a minority report from Labor senators on a MRFF creation bill argued that its funds should be disbursed by a new committee, added to the existing NHMRC structure.

“ Labor Senators believe that establishing a new process entirely independent from the NHMRC has the potential to undermine the NHMRC as the preeminent, independent, independent institution from which governments takes advice about health and medical research and health and medical research grants funding is administered.  Duplicating this process is also likely to be costly and inefficient,” they said.