Collaboration for Enhanced Research (CERI) showcased in special April issue of the ‘Public Health Research and Practice’ journal

A special issue of the peer-reviewed international journal Public Health Research & Practice has been released today (April 4, 2024), featuring the research and expertise of RE-FRESH: Next Generation members.

The issue focuses on collaborative partnerships for prevention (health determinants, systems, and impact) and was commissioned by the Collaboration for Enhanced Research Impact (CERI), a joint initiative between The Australian Prevention Partnership Centre and eleven prevention-focused National Health and Medical Research Council Centres of Research Excellence – which includes RE-FRESH: Next Generation.

This special issue shines a spotlight on key themes in preventive health, including collaborations to address the determinants of health, support research impact, and instigate systems change. These are embedded in the National Preventive Health Strategy 2021-2030 and considered as exemplars arising from the joint initiatives of CERI members.

RE-FRESH, and now RE-FRESH: Next Generation Manager and post-doctoral researcher Dr Shaan Naughton was a guest editor for the special edition.

Three of the nine themed papers featured were co-written by members of our CRE, including:

• ‘Australian healthy retail policies in hospital settings – a policy analysis and scoping review of potential impacts on dietary behaviours’, co-authored by EMCR Huong Tran and Chief Investigator Dr Jaithri Ananthapavan (with an infographic and plain language summary also available);
• ‘How much is invested in obesity prevention in Australia? An analysis of major research and Federal government funding, 2013-2022’, co-authored by EMCR Huong Tran, Moosa Al Subhi (PhD student), EMCR Phuong (Pam) Nguyen and Chief Investigator Dr Jaithri Ananthapavan; and
• ‘Building prevention research science communication and knowledge translation capacity through multidisciplinary collaboration’ co-authored by RE-FRESH: Next Generation Manager and EMCR Dr Shaan Naughton.

Dr Naughton also worked with fellow guest editors and CERI members Dr Briony Hill and A/Prof. Cheryce Harrison, both of Monash University, to produce the issue’s editorial,   which notes the often siloed and disparate landscape of preventive health.

They suggest there is a need to not only identify and address the many risk factors of chronic disease, but also to focus on the collaborations, partnerships and systemic changes required to address them.

“Adoption of, and funding for, this dual approach by policymakers, funding bodies and academia will advance public health research and practice, enable timely translation, effective implementation and ensure impact for better health and wellbeing outcomes for Australians from conception throughout the life course,” they write.

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About Public Health Research & Practice
Public Health Research & Practice is an open-access, peer-reviewed quarterly online journal published by the Sax Institute. It is independently ranked by Scimago as Australia’s leading Health Policy journal.