CRC for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health

The Cooperative Research Centre for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health was established on 1 January 2010, following in the footsteps of its predecessors the CRC for Aboriginal and Tropical Health (1996–2003) and the CRC for Aboriginal Health (2003–09). The Australian Government funded its activities to 30 June 2014 through the CRC Programme, with funds and in-kind support provided by the CRC’s essential participants.

Hosted by the Lowitja Institute, the CRCATSIH was a virtual organisation that brought together the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health sector, government health agencies and research institutions to ensure that research conducted into Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health is controlled by and benefits Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. It had its own Advisory Board made up of representatives from its 14 Essential Participants (listed below).

Through its three research programs – Healthy Start, Healthy Life; Healthy Communities and Settings; Enabling Policy and Systems – the CRCATSIH aimed to:

• promote high-quality research through increased Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander control of the health research agenda and through partnerships with key stakeholders in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health sector, government agencies and research institutions
• undertake strategic research to investigate health conditions, health service delivery systems and the social determinants of health
• ensure the effective transfer of research findings into policy and practice to improve primary healthcare, to build sustainable prevention and to reduce the disease burden on Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
• build capacity in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to allow greater control of health research through increased formal education and training opportunities
• advocate in line with our communications strategy for research-informed changes to the delivery of health services to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

See annual reports.