National Research Priorities

Australia's national research priorities were announced by the Prime Minister in late 2002 and were enhanced and refined in 2003 to take greater account of the contributions of the social sciences and humanities research.

Link to the National Research Priorities web site.
http://www.dest.gov.au/priorities

Research Priorities

The national research priorities are thematic and are underpinned by 'priority goals'. There are four national research priorities and their associated priority goals:

1. An Environmentally Sustainable Australia.
2. Promoting and Maintaining Good Health and Wellbeing.
3. Frontier Technologies for Building and Transforming Australian Industries, and,
4. Safeguarding Australia.

The priority goals for Promoting and Maintaining Good Health and Well being for all Australians are:

• A healthy start to life.
• Ageing well, ageing productively.
  Developing better social, medical and population health strategies to improve the mental and physical capacities of ageing people.
  Australia's population is ageing, with a significant projected increase in the number of people aged over 65 and over 85. While Australia is relatively well placed compared with many OECD nations, major shifts in cultural expectations and attitudes about ageing are necessary to respond constructively, at both an individual and population level. A healthy aged population will contribute actively to the life of the nation through participation in the labour market or through voluntary work. This goal supports the Government's National Strategy for an Ageing Australia.
• Preventive healthcare.
• Strengthening Australia's social and economic fabric.