Three regional universities will receive $19.6 million in federal government funding to improve their research capacity and drive stronger performance outcomes.

 

Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills, Science and Research Senator Chris Evans announced the funding as part of the Collaborative Research Networks (CRN) program, which fosters partnerships between regional universities and larger organisations with more established research capacity.

 

The Australian Catholic University will receive total funding of $7.9 million to partner with the University of Melbourne, St Vincent's Hospital (Melbourne) and the O'Brien Institute to develop and implement a suite of cardiovascular research projects.

 

Bond University will receive total funding of $5.75 million to partner with the University of Queensland, the University of Sydney and the Australian Institute of Sport to develop its expertise in research disciplines such as sports science, human genetics, and the treatment of bone, joint and other diseases.

 

The University of Notre Dame Australia will receive total funding of $5.96 million to partner with the Australian National University, the University of Western Australia, Curtin University, the Garvan Institute of Medical Research and the Kimberly Institute, to enhance its research strength in the areas of Indigenous health and wellbeing, healthy ageing, and chronic disease management.

 

This funding is in addition to the $61.5 million for 12 projects which were announced under the CRN program in May 2011, bringing the Australian Government's total funding to date to $81.1 million.