HEALTH RESEARCH HUB

The home for practical, high-quality tools and real-world examples that support meaningful consumer and community involvement in health and medical research, as well as healthcare improvement. Whether you are a researcher, healthcare professional, or consumer or community member, this hub is designed to help you build effective partnerships that lead to impactful outcomes

Working in partnership with the Australian Health Research Alliance (AHRA), the creation and management of the Health Research Hub is led by Monash Partners and the Monash Centre for Health Research and Implementation, Monash University. For more information about the background and development of the Hub, click here.

Visit our Resources page to discover practical tools, guides, and examples that help you implement consumer and community involvement in your research and healthcare improvement projects.

Join the Conversation on LinkedIn

Be part of a growing community dedicated to open dialogue and knowledge sharing on consumer and community involvement in healthcare, research, and beyond. The LinkedIn group is a supportive and inclusive space where members can:

• Share personal experiences related to consumer involvement
• Discuss best practices and challenges in community involvement
• Ask questions or provide guidance to those seeking advice

Consumer and community involvement is the active partnership with patients, carers, and members of the public that helps shape health research and healthcare delivery. Rather than being passive recipients of care or subjects of research, consumers are valued for their lived experience and actively contribute to setting research priorities, designing studies, interpreting findings, and guiding how results are shared. Their insights ensure that healthcare solutions are grounded in real-world needs and values. These collaborations foster more relevant, inclusive, and impactful outcomes—ultimately leading to healthcare that better serves the communities it aims to support.

We acknowledge that the terminology used to describe consumer and community involvement in health research varies widely across Australia and internationally. Terms such as consultation, participation, engagement, partnership, co-production, and collaboration are often used interchangeably with consumer involvement—sometimes leading to confusion or inconsistency. For a list of definitions used throughout the Health Research Hub, click here.

A helpful way to think about consumer involvement is as decision making with or by consumers, rather than decisions made to, about, or for them.

Consumer and community involvement brings a vital and unique perspective to all aspects of health research and healthcare improvement—including planning, policy development, funding decisions, evaluation, and reporting. Extensive research conducted both in Australia and internationally provides compelling evidence that engaging consumers in health research delivers significant benefits.

These benefits are widely recognised by governments, research institutions, and healthcare organisations around the world. Many are actively promoting consumer involvement through legislation, policy frameworks, and targeted financial investment.

Key Benefits of Consumer Involvement:

• Enhances relevance and responsiveness of research to real-world health needs.
• Improves research quality and strengthens its impact on health outcomes.
• Facilitates effective translation of research findings into policy and practice.
• Builds public trust and confidence in health and medical research.
• Expands opportunities for securing research funding.

As both funders and beneficiaries of the healthcare system and medical research, consumers have an inherent right to be involved in shaping the priorities, approaches, and outcomes of research. Their involvement should be actively encouraged, supported, and facilitated.

Consumers and community members contribute lived experience and deep insights into health conditions and the healthcare system. They bring diverse perspectives—across culture, language, sex, gender, and more—that enrich the relevance and direction of research. Their participation ensures that research projects are aligned with community needs and priorities.

Involving consumers from the outset allows researchers to view their projects through a new lens, often leading to more meaningful and impactful research questions. It also fosters trust, strengthens community engagement, and supports the translation of findings into improved healthcare services and outcomes.

Hear directly from consumers, researchers and health professionals about why consumer and community involvement matters.