Congratulations to successful recipients of the IHT Research Accelerator and Impact grants
We are delighted to congratulate the recipients of the Institute’s Research Accelerator and Impact Grants. We commend all recipients for their achievement and thank everyone who applied for the high standard of submissions received. We look forward to following the progress of these projects and celebrating the impact they will make in the future.
Impact Grant:
- Impact assessment of seven years of the Centre for Research Excellence in Food Retail Environments for Health
Team: Shaan Naughton, Adrian Cameron
Research Accelerator Grants:
- Consensus-based standards for co-design practice (CaSCoP)
Team: Carmen Vargas, Cindy Needham, Rebecca Bennett, Alison Coughlan, Jo Szczepanska, Sarah Mune, Steve Allender - Adaptation of an Artificial Intelligence-enabled system to detect digital unhealthy food marketing in Sri Lanka
Team: Navoda Liyana Pathirana, Florentine Martino, Seema Khadka, Asim Bhatti, Kathryn Backholer - Health-Related Quality of Life in Bangladeshi Children: Establishing Population Norms and Socioeconomic Inequality Analysis
Team: Marufa Sultana, Lisa Gold, Mimmi Åström, Sayem Ahmed, Jahangir Khan, Rumana Huque - Small Business, Big Tech: Understanding Restaurant–Delivery Platform Relationships through a Commercial Determinants of Health Lens
Team: Rebecca Bennett, Carmen Vargas, Adyya Gupta, Cindy Needham, Katherine Sievert, Benjamin Wood, Kathryn Backholer - ‘Local’ is in the eye of the beholder: A review and definition development of short supply chains for fresh fruit and vegetables
Team: Cherie Russell, Katherine Sievert, Erica Reeve, Oscar Ruiz Fonseca, Colin Bell - Expanding findings around the mental and physical health of Victorian children: A data linkage approach with BLOOM and GenV
Team: Melanie Lum, Sze Lin Yoong, Amy Walsh. Gloria Leung, Huong (MIchelle) Tran - Demonstrating the validatity and reliability of digital tools to measure the healthiness of in-store retail food environments
Team: Tailane Scapin, Adrian Cameron, Miranda Blake, Betina Backman - Safer antipsychotic use in delirium management: targeting behavioural drivers for change
Team: Emily Tomlinson, Penelope Casey, Amy Montgomery, Anita Nitchingham, Paul Wembridge, Rochelle Wynne - Expressed Emotion of Carers of People with Dementia from Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Backgrounds: Toward a Co-designed Communication Enhancement Program
Team: Daphne Cheung, Stephanie Chappel, Ken Ho, Diana Lam, Vicky Yuan, Eva Yuen, Tracey Bucknall - How to measure the extent and impact of research-related distress and trauma in researchers
Team: Renee Fiolet, Jessamy Gleeson, Monica Schoch, Jacqui Cameron, Alison Hutchinson - Early Childhood Education and Care Experiences of Australian Families Living with Type 1 Diabetes: A Community-Driven Study
Team: Jo Jordan, Elizabeth Holmes-Truscott, Kate Bolam, Lia Goodwin, Keely Bebbington, Eloise Litterbach, Tim Skinner, Jane Speight
Funding to support the involvement of partners and consumers in your research
Do you need funding to undertake work with non-academic partners, community and consumers that will set you up for your next big grant?
IHT is again offering Partner and Consumer Involvement Grants to IHT members.
Up to $5000 is available for activities that support involvement of partners, communities and consumers in your research, build partnerships and lay the groundwork for future funding success.
Examples of activities that have been funded in past years include:
- workshops with partners and community to identify shared research priorities and explore new partnership project ideas
- workshops with partners and consumers to explore long term implementation and scale opportunities for existing research programs
- payments to consumers for their involvement in engagement activities, project and grant application development
Applications are open all year, but get in quick before all the funds are used!
Contact IHT’s Strategic Programs Manager, Amy Brown, for more information or to discuss your idea, and check out information on the IHT Members Portal.
Read about a recent successful Partner and Consumer Involvement Grants outcome in the Events section of the newsletter titled: Building Connections: Scaling Rural Cancer Research Impact
Responding to Government Inquiries and other Consultation Opportunities – IHT procedure & supports
Influencing the development of government policy is a powerful way of translating your research into impact.
Providing evidence-based recommendations to inform government decisions can help ensure that policy reflects best practice and current research.
This is often done by making a submission to government inquiries and other consultation processes, or contributing to another group’s submission.
IHT procedure
- Approval may be required: If you are advocating on behalf of IHT, the faculty or the University (as opposed to advocating on behalf of yourself or a small group), contact IHT’s Strategic Programs Manager, Amy Brown, at least 4 business days before the deadline for review and approval.
- Inform IHT: For all advocacy, let IHT’s Strategic Programs Manager, Amy Brown, know what you did, said or wrote so we can track and promote your efforts.
- See the IHT procedure for responding to external consultation processes for further information
New supports from IHT
IHT offers support during the preparation of submissions to inquiries and other consultation processes which can boost the impact of your submission. These include:
- Review and feedback on your draft submission
- One-page summary template
- Policy brief templates
- The Conversation or Croaky article pitch template
- Guidance and advice around working with a coalition of partners who share your agenda
- See the Policy Influence page on the IHT member’s portal for more tips, tools and resources
March is Move to Masterbrand month
At Deakin, our strength comes from the collective impact of everything we deliver and moving to a Deakin Masterbrand helps make that strength unmistakable. When our programs, initiatives and research all look and feel like Deakin, people recognise us instantly, understand what we offer more easily, and see the full scale of the incredible work happening across the university. A unified brand amplifies our visibility, sharpens our reputation, and creates a clearer, more consistent experience for everyone who engages with us. It’s a smart, strategic shift that ensures the Deakin story is seen, heard and understood — wherever it appears.
Watch this quick video for a clear and concise overview of the Masterbrand change.
At the Institute, we will be launching our new website in March 2026 branded with the new Masterbrand – initiating our move to the Masterbrand across all our communications. Please keep a look out for communications providing resources, support and the steps we will need to undertake to make this change. A number of lunch and learn sessions will be made available to support everyone through the simple and easy to make changes.
Here is a first look at our new logo to be changed over in March:
Any questions please contact Michelle Jeavons, IHT Communications Coordinator, on michelle.jeavons@deakin.edu.au.
Go back to the February 2026 Newsletter
