3rd Rural and Remote Health Scientific Symposium
Building collaboration and excellence in rural and remote health research

The 3rd Rural and Remote Health Scientific Symposium provided the opportunity for invited rural and remote health researchers to collaborate with community, industry and government leaders in the development of quality research proposals. The collaborative research was to contribute to developing and implementing health policy responses to meet the current and emerging challenges for rural and remote health and wellbeing.

The purpose of the Symposium was to contribute to excellence in rural and remote health research that would inform strategic health and related policy and health service challenges in rural and remote Australia.

At the Symposium rural and remote health researchers and key collaborators considered evidence on three strategic topics.

Knowledge gaps and the priorities for future research were identified and interest groups in all three areas developed collaborative research proposals to draw on the strengths and experiences of rural communities and health services. Progress was made towards a better understanding of excellence in rural health research and the groundwork was laid for the development of well-informed and effective policies.

The Symposium resulted in a small number of research proposals that, if funded, will help address some critical challenges for rural health and wellbeing. Each of the proposals can be related to other contemporary health research issues, such as those relating to rural health service design, workforce distribution, and data and information systems.

Individuals and agencies that were not able to be at the Symposium are encouraged to throw their support behind the research proposals, details of which can be found on the Next Steps page of this Symposium website.