Research project nodes

Aboriginal nutrition, physical activity and wellbeing

Understanding the substantial changes to dietary intake and participation in physical activity of Australia鈥檚 first peoples since colonisation and informing education programs for local communities.听Project node lead: Dr Josephine Gwynn

Active ageing

Developing solutions to improve the physical, social, and mental wellbeing of older people living at home. From aged care treatment to policies, education for health professionals, and rehabilitation programs in the community.听Project node lead: Professor Lindy Clemson

BABY1000

Identifying and dealing with interactions before and during pregnancy that can contribute to the development of health disorders that impact future generations.听Project node lead: Dr Adrienne Gordon

Bias in research听

Good research has always been about evidence. Reliable evidence. This node aims to ensure that research, and related policy decisions, rest on strong and unbiased pillars of evidence.听Project node lead: Professor Lisa Bero

Biology of ageing

Increasing the understanding of ageing and interventions that delay ageing in order to increase human lifespan and health span.听Project node lead: Professor David Le Couteur

Brain and body

Exploring the connection between body disorders like obesity and diabetes, and brain diseases like Alzheimer's.听Project node lead: Associate Professor Greg Sutherland

Building system wide capacity for complex and big data analysis and storage in T2D

Promoting strong collaboration between clinicians, biologists, mathematicians, engineers and computational scientists.听Project node lead: Professor Jean Yang, Dr Rima Chaudhuri, Professor David James

Businesses, markets and the social context of health

Understanding the interconnected roles of business, social context and consumer behaviour in improving health.听Project node lead: TBA

Cardiac translational imaging

Guiding effective decision-making in cardiac health by using emerging technologies that provide better detection of early stages of disease.听Project node lead: Professor Stuart Grieve

Citizen Science

Citizen science enhances diversity of thought and can accelerate transformative outcomes for health and quality of life. Through this node, we will establish a framework and platform for the enhancement of citizen science.听Project node lead: Professor Yun-Hee Jeon

Climate adaptation and health

Our climate is constantly changing. As increasingly high temperatures accelerate mortality and morbidity rates, this node explores the heightened health risks created by these climate issues. Project node lead: Associate Professor Ollie Jay

Developmental origin of health and disease (DOHaD)

A study on pregnant women in Western Sydney to determine whether disease begins developing in the womb through fetal immune programming.听Project node lead: Professor Ralph Nanan

Digital Health Information Network

Demonstrating how the integration of data in the public and private sector can be used to map individual health journeys, and make our health system more efficient.听Project node lead: Professor Jonathan Morris, Professor Tim Shaw

Digital solutions in cardiovascular disease prevention

Improving preventative care through the development of digital health interventions designed to educate patients and reduce the number of secondary cardiovascular episode.听Project node lead: Professor Clara Chow

Early prevention of obesity in childhood

Making a direct impact on the community through research into lifestyle changes made in the early years and their effect on obesity-related diseases.听Project node lead: Professor Louise Baur

Economics of human development

Why are some people more likely to succeed than others? This node addresses the question of long-term effects of socioeconomic disadvantage on the evolution of human potential.听Project node lead: Professor Stefanie Schurer

Evidence synthesis

Working towards synthesizing all kinds of evidence around obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease, and uniting key researchers to collaborate on solutions.听Project node lead: Professor Lisa Bero

Fibrosis and wound healing

Bringing together researchers from a diverse range of disciplines to prevent, treat and reverse fibrosis across a diversity of diseases.听Project node lead: Professor Stephen Twigg

Food governance

Exploring how governments can use legal strategies to create conditions for people to live healthier lives.听Project node lead: Dr Alexandra Jones, Dr Belinda Reeve

Gut microbiome

Discovering the influence of our gut microorganisms over our metabolism, immune and nervous systems, our food choices and other behaviours.听Project node lead: Associate Professor Andrew Holmes

Health and creativity

Challenging staff and students to create a new vibrancy to explore new approaches to society鈥檚 complex and chronic health problems.听Project node lead: TBA

Health and economics

Using health research and applied economics to influence government decision-making so we can improve cross portfolio policy, and in turn, the health and wellbeing of Australians.听Project node lead: Dr Michelle Cunich

Health and wellness in the air

Working with Qantas to provide integrated health and wellbeing advice, education and research to improve the experience of long-haul flying.听Project node lead: Professor Stephen Simpson

Health humanities

A holistic exploration on how the arts and humanities can promote human health and wellbeing in hospitals, households, and communities.听Project node lead: Dr Olaf Werder

Health literacy chronic disease network

A multidisciplinary, international research network improving the management of chronic disease for adults with lower literacy.听Project node lead: Professor Kirsten McCaffery

Healthy food systems

We look at ways that communities can access nutritional food while ensuring the natural systems their food comes from remain ecologically sustainable.听Project node lead: Dr Sinead Boylan

Immune therapies

Developing new partnerships in clinical medicine, biomedical research, computing and systems biology to apply new immune therapies and diagnostic tools for monitoring patient response.听Project node lead: Professor Barbara Fazekas

Implementation science

Biomedical and health service research often stays in the laboratory longer than it should. This node addresses the urgent need for this new evidence to be put into practice.听Project node lead: Professor Tim Shaw

Judy Harris Writer in Residence Fellowship

The program invites Australian creative writers to apply for a generous University of Sydney fellowship, including a $100,000 grant, to begin a project exploring issues around health.

Kidney health

Identifying and understanding the incidence, prevalence and history of kidney disease at a population level to find solutions and treatments for this disease.听Project node lead: Professor Steven Chadban

Lifespan obesity node

Finding solutions to prevent and manage obesity within individuals, families and communities, in Greater Western Sydney and beyond. Project node lead: Dr Kathryn Williams

Living healthier lives under the Australian sun

Finding novel strategies to block the harmful effects of sunlight and UV, while retaining the beneficial effects so we can all absorb a healthy amount of sunlight.听Project node lead: A/Professor Scott Byrne

Nutritional ecology and human health

Drawing on theory, methods and empirical findings from the field of nutritional ecology to view humans in the broader context of biological diversity, along with the fundamental theoretical frameworks in biology, evolution and ecology, to inform the study of human diet, nutrition and health.听Project node lead: Professor David Raubenheimer

Nutritional immunometabolism

Exploring whether poor diets lead to disease and how a change in diet can help treat or prevent disease.听Project node lead: A/Professor Laurence Macia

One welfare

Improving and better understanding the clinical application of animal welfare and ethics throughout Australasia.听Project node lead: Professor Paul McGreevy

Oral and systemic health

Understanding the complex interplay between oral health and general health including its links with cardiovascular disease, diabetes, dementia, arthritis, and pregnancy outcomes.听Project node lead: Professor Joerg Eberhard

Pharmaceutical policy

We improve the lives of people with chronic conditions by improving pharmaceutical policies to optimise medical treatments, facilitate equal access to medications, and foster transparency.听Project node lead: Professor Lisa Bero, Dr Barbara Mintzes

Placebo research network听

We aim to understand the placebo effect so that we can evaluate new and existing health interventions to improve health outcomes.听Project node lead: Associate Professor Ben Colagiuri

Politics of obesity

Navigating the line between the government鈥檚 responsibility to protect public health and fears of a 鈥榥anny state鈥� by developing and targeting arguments for/against policies in Australia.听Project node lead: Professor Paul Griffiths, Professor Warwick Anderson

Precision Sleep Medicine (PRISM)

Looking at insomnia, obstructive sleep apnoea, and shift work disorder, and their links to chronic diseases such as obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer.听Project node lead: Professor Peter Cistulli, Associate Professor Kristina Kairaitis

How to eat like the animals for good health

From jungle to laboratory and back to our own kitchens, David Raubenheimer and Stephen Simpson's new book explores how and why we eat, how appetites are fed and regulated - and how, in the end, it all comes back to five appetites.

Research project nodes

Meet the team

How to eat like the animals for good health