The District Health Board Research Fund is a partnership between the Health Research Council of New Zealand and the 21 District Health Boards, effective from July 2005 to June 2008. The objective of this initiative is to commission research that addresses key knowledge gaps for DHBs and supports and promotes the translation of research into clinical practice. The research undertaken may include research on primary, secondary and tertiary services, as well as community and disability support services. The fund is worth a total of $6.2M over the three year duration of the contract and up to ten Request for Proposals (RFPs) will be released during this time.

Governance Group
A governance group has been established to make strategic and policy decisions concerning the DHBRF. The governance group is involved in setting the research priorities for the fund, determining the content of the RFPs and making the final funding decisions.

Priority Areas
A process of consultation with DHBs has been undertaken to determine the priority areas for the research to be commissioned. Each priority area will have a steering committee appointed with particular expertise in that area to make recommendations to the governance group regarding the development of the research priority, the RFP and the associated assessment process.

Click here for more information on the DHBRF.

The Health Research Council of New Zealand (HRC) is the Crown agency responsible for the management of the Government's investment in public good health research. Ownership of the HRC resides with the Minister of Health, with funding being primarily provided from Vote Research, Science and Technology. A Memorandum of Understanding between the two Ministers sets out this relationship.
Our statutory functions include:

• advising the Minister and administering funds in relation to national health research policy
• fostering the recruitment, education, training, and retention of those engaged in health research in New Zealand
• initiating and supporting health research
• undertaking consultation to establish priorities in health research
• promoting and disseminating the results of health research to encourage their contribution to health science, policy and delivery
• ensuring the development and application of appropriate assessment standards by committees or subcommittees that assess health research proposals.