Emergency Research

Improving emergency care for children through research and national and international collaboration.

On average, children visit Emergency Departments (EDs) for acute medical care once a year, representing a large interaction with our health system.

Emergency Department presentations are often critical, with some children being at risk of death or substantial disability if not managed appropriately. Therefore, providing evidence-based care for emergency management is essential.

Our research focuses on areas where there is a lack of evidence, incomplete translation of existing evidence to practice, and limited policy development and dissemination, such as:

  • High-volume conditions that are of daily importance, including head and cervical spine injuries and medical conditions like bronchiolitis
  • Infrequent but life-threatening conditions in which optimum care is yet to be established, such as convulsive status epilepticus and severe asthma
  • Defining the most suitable methodology for disseminating and implementing practice change in both tertiary and non-tertiary EDs in Australia and New Zealand

We conduct our research at the Emergency Department of The Royal Children's Hospital, which provides urgent medical care to children and adolescents up to 18 years of age. The department treats 90,000 children a year and is a paediatric tertiary referral. It is also the designated paediatric trauma centre for Victoria.

While we also conduct some single centre studies, most of our projects are multicentre and conducted through the Paediatric Research in Emergency Departments International Collaborative (PREDICT) network of Australia and New Zealand.

The research group is also part of the international Paediatric Emergency Research Networks (PERN), which combines the efforts of research networks on several continents to investigate global acute care questions.

Research is often conducted across all three Melbourne Children’s Campus partners, The Royal Children’s Hospital, Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (MCRI) and the University of Melbourne Departments of Paediatrics and Critical Care.

Join our research efforts

Research fellows and visiting international researchers can conduct research with the Emergency Research group, either as trainee clinicians or at consultant level in paediatrics, emergency, paediatric emergency medicine or nursing. Researchers can also complete projects alongside their clinical training, work at the emergency department of The Royal Children’s Hospital or spend time on campus specifically to conduct emergency-related research projects.

Visiting researchers or research fellows have come from many centres across Australia and the world, such as New Zealand, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Thailand, Switzerland, the United States, Costa Rica, Germany, Indonesia and Singapore.

While often based on campus, research can also be conducted with the clinician researcher based at their home institutions, with affiliations with one of the campus partners (MCRI or the University of Melbourne).

Short research education courses (ethics, biostatistics, epidemiology, health economics) are available through the Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics Unit (CEBU), the Clinical Research Development Office (CRDO), and other departments of Murdoch Children's Research Institute and the University of Melbourne.

Melbourne Children’s Campus research pathways

Clinical appointment as a junior trainee at the Emergency Department (ED) of The Royal Children’s Hospital

In this scenario, the major experience is clinical and research is a smaller part of the training experience. Clinical work as a full time trainee is reasonably intense, and it can be difficult to conduct meaningful research.

Trainees are encouraged to take part in research projects conducted in the emergency department. Clinical appointments can also be part time when it is possible to have increased exposure to research and research education.

Overseas fellows can come self-funded (or funded by their home institution) or they can apply for a paid hospital appointment via the ED of The Royal Children’s Hospital. 

Research appointment at Murdoch Children’s Research Institute

This requires an appointment for at least six months and a well-developed plan for a project to complete. For shorter research appointments, the visits need to be planned well ahead of time to ensure protocols and ethics applications are prepared and submitted prior to arrival.

Higher degree appointment with the University of Melbourne

The focus is on the completion of a PhD or MD degree (called DMedSc – Doctor of Medical Science at the University of Melbourne) or a Masters degree (MPhil). On average we have about five PhD/MD students in the department at any one time. For non-resident students, higher degrees in Australia can be costly.

More information

Contact us

For further information, prospective clinicians and researchers wanting to conduct research within our group, please contact: 

Marian Chandler
Administrative Assistant
Email: