Research
Progressing an evidence-based rural health research agenda.
At Three Rivers, research is a cross-cutting activity that informs our work streams. We value a collaborative approach and our research seeks to engage a wide range of stakeholders.
Our research activity is guided by the Rural Health Multidisciplinary Training Program's five strategic research areas:
- Rural health workforce development (including increasing rural-origin and Indigenous students studying health professions courses, and workforce recruitment and retention strategies)
- Rural training strategies
- Innovative rural service delivery models to enable the provision of health services to meet community needs
- Health issues directly impacting on rural people, with a focus on benefiting communities within the University’s catchment area through the delivery of better health services
- Improving the health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
Our objectives
- Understand the unique characteristics of communities across the Three Rivers footprint to critically reflect on key assumptions and concepts informing strategies and policies to improve rural health.
- Facilitate processes of research co-design involving our diverse stakeholders in conducting research that addresses complex real-world rural health issues.
- Generate high-quality scholarship that has a regional focus and national and international significance.
Research plan
Research has been identified as being core to the activity of the UDRH to evaluate the outcomes of the UDRH and to pursue activities that can impact positively on the rural health outcomes of rural communities in the Three Rivers footprint.
The Three Rivers UDRH is in a position to become a lead driver of rural health research through our location, funding and networks.
The Three Rivers Research Plan can be downloaded here.
We undertake research to make a difference in the world. Our approach to research is inquiring, collaborative and inventive. We want to be known for research that is rigorous, future-orientated and esteemed.
We use research to explore patterns of association and causation and draw on theoretical insights grounded in careful empirical investigation.