International leadership and capacity building program
The ARCCIM International Naturopathy Research Leadership and Capacity Building Program (the Program herein) will provide essential mentoring/career development and research capacity building for international naturopathy. The Program has been made possible via generous financial support from the Jacka Foundation of Natural Therapies, Australia. It is based upon two other established and successful leadership programs in primary health care and complementary medicine.
Distinguished Professor Jon Adams, Director of ARCCIM, has been a Senior Fellow on the Oxford International Primary Health Care Research Leadership Program run by the University of Oxford, UK since 2010. Drawing upon his personal experience and insights from being a participant in the Oxford Leadership Program, Professor Adams (alongside the wider ARCCIM research team) then established the world-first International Complementary Medicine Research Leadership and Capacity Building Program in 2014 – which has already produced over 30 peer-reviewed publications in the first 12 months.
The ultimate goal of the program is to identify, nurture and support future naturopathy leaders and to help develop and lead a sustainable research culture able to contribute to the evidence needed by patients, practitioners and policymakers. The program will enable early-career and mid-career researchers to mix with others interested in naturopathy research, to reflect and strategize in the context of not only their own career but the bigger picture of naturopathy research and the challenges/opportunities facing the national and international field. As such, the program will provide a unique opportunity for the naturopathy field to lend essential ‘critical mass’ to the planning and development of a broad evidence-base for naturopathy use and practice.
The program takes a broad approach to developing an ‘evidence-base’ and draws upon rigorous, established methods and disciplinary perspectives from across public health, health services research and clinical science. Within this, the focus is on the international scene, encouraging research collaboration across a range of countries.
Program details
Who is running the program?
The program is a core initiative of the Australian Research Centre in Complementary and Integrative Medicine (ARCCIM), in the Faculty of Health, University of Technology Sydney, Australia.
ARCCIM is the leading research-intensive centre in the critical examination of complementary and integrative medicine (CIM) in Australia bringing together world-renowned, multidisciplinary researchers and methodologists working in close partnership with practitioners and other stakeholders to produce findings of relevance to practice, practitioners, patients and policymakers. ARCCIM is the only Australian centre to house senior academic staff with prestigious government Fellowships (NHMRC, ARC, PHCRED) focused upon CIM. ARCCIM researchers have attracted the largest program of government competitive grant funding in Australia to date (>$11M) and are conducting over $3.5M in industry/ professional/ community-funded research collaborations. The wider ARCCIM research program focuses upon a range of products/practices/therapists including naturopathy/naturopaths amongst others and the centre is currently leading over 20 national/international research projects.
ARCCIM has produced over 700 peer-reviewed journal articles to date and has close links with the Public Health Association of Australia, American Public Health Association, Brazilian Collective Health Association, Indonesian Public Health Association, Public Health Association of South Africa as well as researchers in the UK, US, Canada, Indonesia, Brazil, Sweden, Hong Kong, China and Germany amongst many others.
The program will draw upon the experience and expertise of senior ARCCIM academics, alongside invited guest speakers, presenters and facilitators (national and international), who will affiliate with the program.
Program activities and features
The ARCCIM Leadership program will run over a number of years and initially include a cohort of 10 early to mid-career naturopathy researchers. Those chosen for the program through competitive application will be known as the ‘Fellows’ of the program. The Fellows will attract Honorary Appointment as Visiting Research Scholars/Fellows with ARCCIM over the period of the program in line with UTS policy. Fellows will be required to make a 4-day visit to University Technology Sydney (UTS) per annum. The program will cover accommodation (4 nights) while attending the residential, up to AUD$2,000 reimbursement for direct economy flights and an invited program dinner while in Sydney. All other expenses will be the responsibility of the Fellow.
During each annual 4-day visit, Fellows will be joined by guest speakers and senior academics from ARCCIM and engage in sessions on specific topics of expertise such as but not confined to: research skills training; networking; the art of getting published and cited; writing a successful grant application for external competitive funding; and other research development and career advancement issues. In addition, the cohort will also be encouraged to run self-sufficient sessions where they support and help each other to work through the challenges/opportunities they face/identify, as well as develop collaborative projects with appropriate design guidance and facilitation. Throughout the rest of the year, the Fellows will be provided with online, distance mentoring and coaching from senior researchers at ARCCIM where necessary.
Each Fellow will be expected to co-author and submit a minimum of 1 peer-reviewed journal article with at least one other program Fellow and/or associated program academic per annum. Active research collaboration across the cohort and ARCCIM academics will be facilitated and strongly encouraged.
Eligibility and recruitment for the program
To be eligible for the program, applicants must have been awarded their Masters or PhD and be within no more than 10 years of last qualification (Masters or PhD) award at date of application deadline and hold a position at a research institution/university or equivalent research-appropriate organisation. Candidates with equivalent experience and skills may also be considered at the discretion of the selection panel. Candidates must complete the official application template and accompanying documentation as outlined to be considered.
Candidates must also show:
- an emerging track record in naturopathy-focused scholarship and research output;
- the potential and commitment to further develop and make a substantial contribution to the national and international field of critical naturopathy research.
All applications will be peer-reviewed by a selection panel of senior ARCCIM academics and any decision of the panel will be final. The selection panel will also consider the geographical mix/spread of candidates in their deliberations.
Enquiries
For program enquiries, please contact Jon.Adams@uts.edu.au.
