CRE in Global Adolescent Health — 2020–2025 (archived)
This CRE has been archived.
This Centre of Research Excellence in Global Adolescent Health generated research to drive investment in neglected areas of adolescent health, including for groups experiencing significant discrimination or disadvantage, specifically Indigenous young people and young people in contact with the justice system.
Priority health domains included mental health, non‑communicable disease (NCD) risk, injury and violence, and substance use.
This CRE was a five-year research program 2020–2025 funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC).
This Centre of Research Excellence in Global Adolescent Health generated research to drive investment in neglected areas of adolescent health, including for groups experiencing significant discrimination or disadvantage, specifically Indigenous young...
This Centre of Research Excellence in Global Adolescent Health generated research to drive investment in neglected areas of adolescent health, including for groups experiencing significant discrimination or disadvantage, specifically Indigenous young people and young people in contact with the justice system.
Priority health domains included mental health, non‑communicable disease (NCD) risk, injury and violence, and substance use.
This CRE was a five-year research program 2020–2025 funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC).
About the CRE
Our mission was to provide the evidence base required to support scalable and cost‑effective investments in overlooked areas and priority groups. We improved measurement, identified effective prevention and response strategies, and evaluated their costs to guide policy and financing decisions.
Methodologically, we focused on secondary data: synthesising existing evidence, analysing primary datasets disaggregated by age/sex/place/sub‑group, and applying economic modelling to translate findings into practical investment recommendations.
Our partners & funding
Funded by Australia’s National Health and Medical Research Council from March 2020 to March 2025, the CRE brought together leading Australian research groups: the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (MCRI), the University of Melbourne, the Burnet Institute, the University of New South Wales, the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute, and the University of Queensland.
We also leveraged partnerships from the Lancet Commission on Adolescent Health and Wellbeing and extended collaborations with Peking University (China) and Universitas Gadjah Mada (Indonesia).
Youth partnership
We established a partnership group of young advocates to ensure our work reflected lived experience and aligned with ongoing adolescent health advocacy. The group advised on the CRE workplan, two‑way communications with youth networks, priority setting, usability of outputs for youth advocates, and strategies for meaningful youth engagement.
Research streams
- Stream 1: Better use of data: We analysed under‑used data resources disaggregated by age, sex, geography and sub‑group.
- Stream 2: Better data: Informed by Stream 1, we addressed major gaps in primary data and surveillance systems to support priority‑setting and progress monitoring.
- Stream 3: Best investments: Informed by Streams 1 & 2, we used evidence gap maps, causal inference and predictive economic modelling to guide the most cost‑effective investments in neglected aspects of adolescent health.
Global adolescent health initiatives
To sustain momentum for comprehensive approaches and to take forward recommendations from Our Future: A Lancet Commission on Adolescent Health and Wellbeing (2016), the Lancet established a Standing Commission on Adolescent Health and Wellbeing with objectives that included maintaining visibility on neglected areas and groups, mapping progress and investments, and extending the evidence base for cost‑effective, scalable action.
Next phase of work
Upcoming NHMRC CRE (2025–2030)
Building on this CRE’s foundation, a new MCRI‑led NHMRC CRE led by Professor Pete Azzopardi was awarded to accelerate adolescent health research in the Asia‑Pacific (Australia, Indonesia, Philippines, Fiji, Papua New Guinea), with a strong policy‑action focus. (MCRI news; CAH announcement).
Related information
- Infection, Immunity and Global Health
- Adolescent Health research
- Centre for Adolescent Health
- National Health and Medical Research Council
Contact us
Molly O’Sullivan, Coordinator
Email:
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