Australian Dental Research Foundation pausing grants to review process

Dentistry as a profession is committed to delivering on the commitment of the providing the best possible oral healthcare to all Australians.

A key part of making this happen is the work of the Australian Dental Research Foundation (ADRF), a joint initiative of the ADA and the Australian Dental Industry Association (ADIA) which plays a critical role in funding dental and oral health research in Australia.

To date, the ADRF has funded well over 1,800 annual grants and scholarships totaling $3.5 million since its founding in 1970 and currently, the organisation offers a range of grants that allow researchers to undertake projects in areas such as oral medicine research, community oral health or minimum intervention dentistry, among other fields.

While this commitment to furthering dental research remains undiminished, it’s been recognised that in order for the ADRF to deliver effectively on its important mandate that there needs to be constant reevaluation about how the organisation is meetings its goals.

Such a review was conducted recently which made the hard but necessary decision to pause the grants program for a year in order for a comprehensive review of the grants strategy and process to be undertaken.

This means that while the grants program would normally open around this time in the new year, this will not take place in 2023 with the allocation of grants commencing once again in 2024.

Pausing of business as usual is driven by the ADRF leadership working to make the organisation as future fit as possible, driven in part by the COVID-19 pandemic which underscored both how quickly the status quo can be upset, and the need for flexible responses to such sudden changes, but also the critical role research plays in responding to the provision of items like patient safety.

Mindful of the fact that the pandemic has ushered in a “new normal”, one in which dental caries, periodontal disease and oral cancers continue to be major causes of poor oral health, the ADRF believes its temporary cessation of grant disbursement will mean it will be better equipped to continue funding dental research which is vital in addressing these issues for the benefit of the individual, families, community and the economy. 

The ADRF’s ambitious vision - “Driving excellence in Australian dental research that enhances oral and total health” - will, it believes, only be strengthened by taking this time to evaluate what has been done to date, and what might be needed in the future, fashioning in the process a future-ready organisation which will keep supporting and building the number and quality of dental researchers in Australia, now and into the future.