About Us

Western Alliance is committed to building research in western Victoria and supporting the translation of research findings into healthcare. Central to this commitment is the Western Alliance Supporting Translation of Research in Rural and Regional setting (STaRR) Program, which builds health practitioners’ research and research translation skills, and supports STaRR participants to put their research skills into practice in a translation-focused research project.

Two types of grants were on offer in 2023:

• Emerging Researcher Seed Grants of up to $5,000 for past STaRR participants to conduct a research project to generate new evidence, and
• Emerging Researcher Translation grants of up to $10,000, for past STaRR participants and past Emerging Researcher grant recipients, to translate research evidence into practice

Our congratulations to these emerging Barwon Health researchers.

STaRR Emerging Researcher Seed Grants

• April Chiu, Physiotherapist, Barwon Health: Barriers and Enablers to Prehabilitation prior to Breast Cancer Surgery in a Regional Health Service. 

• Jessica Wynn, Unaccredited Urology Registrar, Barwon Health: Why patients have chosen Botox injections as their preferred treatment for overactive bladder symptoms. 

STaRR Emerging Researcher Translation Grants

• Rhiannon Beggs and Cara Hill, Speech Pathologists, Barwon Health: Improving the provision of prescribed food, fluid, and mealtime supervisions requirements in inpatient aged care settings. 

About Western Alliance

Western Alliance Academic Health Science Centre is comprised of 12 member organisations located across the Barwon/Southwest and Grampians regions of western Victoria. Members include six public health services, three private hospitals, a primary health network and two universities.

The two regions have a combined population of over 660,000 residents or approximately 44% of rural/regional Victoria’s population. Western Alliance supports the development of healthier rural and regional communities, in recognition of the significantly poorer health outcomes experienced by people living in the Barwon/South West and Grampians regions of Victoria compared to their metropolitan-living counterparts.

Through a program of training, education, funding and advocacy, Western Alliance supports its members to improve the health of their communities through research-based and evidence-informed health care.

Find out more at https://www.westernalliance.org.au/

About the STaRR Program

Supported by the Victorian Department of Health, the STaRR (Supporting Translation of Research in Rural and Regional areas) Program is Western Alliance’s centrepiece research capability building program.

The STaRR Emerging Researcher mentored training program provides health practitioners with the foundational research skills needed to develop a research translation-focused project, i.e. a project that will develop evidence that will lead to changes in practice or policy, or use existing evidence to change current practice or policy. STaRR also trains health organisation managers and leaders and research mentors to ensure that emerging researchers are supported at their workplace both during their training and beyond.

Find out more at https://www.westernalliance.org.au/starr/starr-training