EMHS Mental Health Research Fund

East Metropolitan Health Service (EMHS) considers research to be central to advancing healthcare and to realising our vision of Healthy people, amazing care – Koorda moort, moorditj kwabadak.

As one of the largest providers of both inpatient and community mental health services in Western Australia, EMHS has identified mental health as a key priority and has allocated $1 million to fund research into improving the services provided to consumers experiencing mental illness.

EMHS hopes the fund will encourage our staff and partners to develop innovative and ambitious solutions to service delivery challenges by conducting rigorous research and evaluation projects that translate into improved services and better outcomes for our consumers.

Objectives and target areas

The EMHS Mental Health Research Fund supports research and evaluation projects designed to improve our knowledge of mental illness, the effectiveness of the provision of mental health services to the EMHS community, as well as improved consumer outcomes.

EMHS has identified a number of target areas for investigation, relating to:

• improving service delivery models, clinical pathways and care transition
• improving our understanding of the causes, prevention and treatment of mental illness.

The objectives and target areas are fully described in the fund prospectus (PDF 6MB).

Eligibility criteria

1. Projects must relate to the provision of mental health services within EMHS.
    
2. Projects must have the potential to be of value to EMHS and the broader health service and to be translated into meaningful and enduring improvements to mental health services within a 2 year timeframe (1 January 2020 to 31 December 2021).
    
3. There must be a significant contribution to the project by EMHS employees, although the lead researcher can be from a partner organisation.
    
4. The work must be substantially undertaken within the East Metropolitan Health Service (EMHS) (i.e. Royal Perth Hospital, Bentley Hospital, Armadale Health Service, Kalamunda Hospital, St John of God Midland Public Hospital, EMHS Population and Community Health Programs).
    
5. Collaboration between multiple EMHS hospitals, services and departments and partnerships with other health services, primary care networks and universities is strongly encouraged.
    
6. It is expected that partner organisations will match the funding provided by EMHS with in-kind support and/or a monetary contribution.
    
7. Projects that incorporate a research capacity building component and provide a lasting legacy for the EMHS site/s (e.g. an ongoing academic partnership; new internal EMHS collaborations; up-skilled staff; research-specific equipment/infrastructure) are highly desirable.

Available funding

It is anticipated that the fund will provide a maximum of $200,000 per project for periods up to 2 years.

The amount and period of funding will depend on the requirements of each project and other factors, including any monetary or in-kind support provided by partner organisations.

Making a submission

Please read the prospectus (PDF 6MB) before preparing an Expression of Interest.

We also strongly encourage all teams working on a submission to contact the EMHS Research Hub to discuss their project.

Reviews

Applications will be assessed by a Review Panel between the 25 November and 7 December 2019.

The Review Panel may seek further information from applicants and/or request a meeting with applicants before making a final decision.