Our research programs
Our research comprises four research groups:
Urban Indigenous Health
In partnership with our foundational partner, the Institute for Urban Indigenous Health (IUIH), and more recently the Inala Indigenous Health Centre of Excellence, our research focuses on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples living in the greater Brisbane metropolitan area. With a mandate to respond to challenges in urban Indigenous health, we undertake and facilitate a broad range of transdisciplinary research activities targeted at improving health outcomes and reducing health inequities and injustices in urban settings. We will be expanding our research focus to establish ourselves as a national centre of excellence in urban Indigenous health, to lead and transform urban Indigenous health research across Australia.
Rural and Remote Health Equity
With a focus on public health and infectious diseases, our national research program focuses on enhancing health and well-being and eliminating health inequities across the diverse Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in remote and regional settings in Australia. Our research is co-led by community coalitions, and draws on expertise across disciplines, including Indigenous epidemiology, social and behavioural research, modelling, geographical information science and health promotion, to address public health issues for specific populations in impactful and transformative ways.
The Research Alliance for Urban Goori Health
The Research Alliance for Urban Goori Health (‘the Alliance’) was established in 2021 to accelerate and transform Australia’s progress towards closing the gap in life expectancy for urban First Peoples in greater north Brisbane by ensuring the whole-of-health care system is responsive to the health and wellbeing needs of First Peoples. The Alliance is a partnership between the Institute for Urban Indigenous Health (IUIH), Metro North Hospital and Health Service and UQ Poche for Indigenous Health, and will lead world-class research and evaluation, and knowledge translation pursuits, alongside a focus on building research capabilities and capacity within the health care system.
Through these activities, the Alliance will enable a health care system to deliver high value, person-centred healthcare and quality of life for First Peoples who access health care, and who live within the region. It will support MNHHS and IUIH to provide evidence-based outcomes to enable integrated and culturally appropriate health care to First Peoples of Queensland across the primary, secondary and tertiary health care systems. Concurrently, the Alliance will contribute to evidence to inform urban-based health systems reforms for First Peoples nationally and internationally.
Global Health
Our research group works with Indigenous and other peoples in diverse international settings, and adopts decolonising approaches in international public health research to transform the social and political structures that create health injustices and inequities. Over the next five years, we will collaborate with and learn from Indigenous researchers and organisations around the world, undertaking research that contributes to Indigenous peoples’ demands for self-determination, health equity and social justice.