title: Funding for cerebral palsy research in Australia, 2000-2015: an observational study.
abstract: To examine the funding for cerebral palsy (CP) research in Australia, as compared with the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
  
  
  
  Observational study.
  
  
  
  For Australia, philanthropic funding from Cerebral Palsy Alliance Research Foundation (CPARF) (2005-2015) was compared with National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC, 2000-2015) and Australian Research Council (ARC, 2004-2015) and CPARF and NHMRC funding were compared with NIH funding (USA).
  
  
  
  Cerebral Palsy researchers funded by CPARF, NHMRC or NIH.
  
  
  
  Over 10 years, total CPARF philanthropic funding was $21.9 million, including people, infrastructure, strategic and project support. As competitive grants, CPARF funded $11.1 million, NHMRC funded $53.5 million and Australian Research Council funded $1.5 million. CPARF, NHMRC and NIH funding has increased in real terms, but only the NIH statistically significantly increased in real terms (mean annual increase US$4.9 million per year, 95% CI 3.6 to 6.2, p<0.001). The NHMRC budget allocated to CP research remained steady over time at 0.5%. A network analysis indicated the relatively small number of CP researchers in Australia is mostly connected through CPARF or NHMRC funding.
  
  
  
  Funding for CP research from the Australian government schemes has stabilised and CP researchers rely on philanthropic funding to fill this gap. In comparison, the NIH is funding a larger number of CP researchers and their funding pattern is consistently increasing.
authors: Cerebral Palsy Alliance Research Institute, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
authors: D L
authors: 0000-0001-5133-9731
authors: DL
authors: Herbert
authors: School of Public Health & Social Work, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
authors: A G
authors: 0000-0001-6339-0374
authors: AG
authors: Barnett
authors: Cerebral Palsy Alliance, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
authors: R
authors: R
authors: White
authors: Cerebral Palsy Alliance Research Institute, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
authors: I
authors: I
authors: Novak
authors: Cerebral Palsy Alliance Research Institute, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.|Grace Centre for Newborn Care, Children's Hospital at Westmead, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
authors: N
authors: N
authors: Badawi
mesh_terms: D001315:Australia; D035843:Biomedical Research / Q000191:economics*; D002547:Cerebral Palsy; D005381:Financing, Organized / Q000639:trends; D006801:Humans; D012109:Research Support as Topic / Q000639:trends; D014481:United States
keywords: STATISTICS & RESEARCH METHODS; cerebral palsy; philanthropy; research collaborations; research funding