Over a number of years, ASMR has observed, with deep concern, the erosion of Australia’s health and medical research workforce. A large proportion of this workforce is supported by the National Health & Medical Research Council (NHMRC), the peak funding body for Australian health and medical research. However, five years of static investment into the NHMRC has resulted in falling grant funding rates and a decline in the NHMRC-funded workforce; this trend endangers the capacity of NHMRC investment to continue producing exceptional health and economic returns [Access Economics 2008b] and will equate to major negative impacts on the ability of the workforce to respond to the escalating and unsustainable healthcare crisis Australia now faces.

This report sought to describe the dynamics and quantify the value of the NHMRC-funded health and medical research workforce in Australia. Furthermore, the report calculates the health and economic gains attributable to the NHMRC-funded workforce under various contrasting scenarios, including changes to workforce size and investment models. The methodology used within the report has been described and validated elsewhere [Access Economics 2008b], with slight adjustments.