We are pleased to present a comprehensive wrap-up to our community, detailing our progress and outlining our plans for 2025 and beyond.
Our core focus remains the same, supporting UNSW and affiliated clinical researchers at every stage of their project to help shape the future of medicine through transformative research and clinical trials. This year, the UNSW Clinical Research Unit (CRU) has made considerable progress since our launch in 2023.
Our robust service offerings gained recognition. CRU remained dedicated to pre-award support, completing 19 comprehensive project reviews to strengthen grant applications. We've streamlined internal reviews with the UNSW Medicine & Health Research Support team and the Research Strategy Office (RSO) to offer a holistic service during this year’s NHMRC Clinical Trial & Cohort Scheme grant round. Further collaborative efforts with The George Institute for Global Health (TGI), The Kirby Institute, Research Technology, and Research Ethics and Compliance (RECS) have become instrumental in developing and delivering fit-for-purpose offerings that build on existing clinical research excellence at UNSW, without reinventing the wheel.
In 2024, our 'Food for Thought' series, co-hosted with various research support services at UNSW, provided practical tools and encouraged meaningful discussions in clinical research. We ran 10 webinars on operational and academic topics translating complex projects into practical insights. We also focused on up-skilling operational staff by delivering comprehensive resources through our community platform and internal channels. As our community grows, we look forward to offering exclusive access to various resources, including microlearning modules, discussion groups, recordings, and live and on-demand events.
A highlight of 2024 has been the strategic expansion of the CRU team, welcoming expertise across both academic and operations. Our academic services include biostatisticians and health economists. Our operational specialists excel in project, data and quality management as well as legal expertise.
To date, CRU has established diverse academic partnerships with clinical trials in eczema, cancer, diabetes and addiction across The George Institute, School of Clinical Medicine, School of Population Health and St Vincent’s Clinical School. We offer flexible and bespoke partnerships across the UNSW and affiliated network to support every project's needs. Our academic partnership model is complemented with capacity building and staff development through access to CRU Standard Operating Procedures, training and resources.
Looking ahead, we’re working to enhance clinical research infrastructure and operations at UNSW and across our affiliated networks. The CRU team is co-designing a drug storage facility within the Health Translation Hub (HTH), which may save significant costs for researchers. As the development of the HTH continues, the CRU will remain involved in its future use.
The CRU’s support function can be customised into various academic partnership agreements, both internal and external to UNSW including industry. We aim to build on existing UNSW research infrastructure to create a cohesive solution to deliver high-quality and impactful clinical research more efficiently, key to CRU’s mission.
We're excited to engage with and support even more clinical researchers in the coming year!
An exciting new platform to serve as a dynamic hub for clinical researchers and operational teams across the UNSW and affiliate network to connect and collaborate!
UNSW Clinical Research Unit (CRU) is here to partner with you to support project feasibility, design, and budget development to enhance your grant application. If you’re interested, please complete the Expression of Interest form