Mentoring and Support

The MCRI runs a mentoring program that facilitates mentor relationships so that experienced mentors can share advice, knowledge and experiences with Mentees.  The program also aims to link peers across Themes and Groups in peer mentoring relationships where those with similarly identified areas for professional development can network together to share challenges, ideas and learning. Contact  learning@mcri.edu.au For more information.

Each RCH clinical department has a Research Lead whose role is to support clinicians in their department to engage in clinical research by facilitating education activities, information sharing, mentoring and fostering collaborations.

The Research Leads meet monthly as the Research Innovation & Improvement Committee which provides a forum to support collaboration across clinical departments and divisions to engage, innovate and improve the way we do research. Together the Leads help to create a positive research culture that provides the best possible evidence-based care for patients. As part of this forum the Research Leads are provided with information and resources which they can use to support and educate department members. The Research Lead is a contact point for the development of new research ideas and projects and support interested but research ‘naïve’ colleagues. 

Please see a full list of Research Leads below and contact your department lead if you need further support.

MCRI's Research Themes are a collection of groups from clinical, laboratory and public health areas based around common interests and a broad methodology or discipline in areas where MCRI has research strengths. The Themes aim to incorporate groups with similar skill sets to increase the critical mass in that area. Theme & Group Leaders provide support to researchers in these fields:

• Cell Biology
• Clinical Sciences
• Genetics
• Infection and Immunity
• Population Health
• Data Science

You can also find a group or theme leader by consulting the organisational maps of MCRI’s organisational structure, groups and themes and look up the relevant staff member on the intranet.

MCTC provide advice on all things clinical trials including trial design, business management, ethics application assistance, and record management. The MCTC can also provide dedicated space and equipment for conducting a wide range of clinical studies, from observational studies to drug trials of novel therapeutics.

Contact mctc@mcri.edu.au for more information. 

CRDO provides resources, education and advice on how to run human participant research from concept to closure according to Good Clinical Practice (GCP) and regulatory standards. Their team is dedicated to facilitating and increasing the capacity of clinical trials across the Melbourne Children’s Campus.

Contact crdo.info@mcri.edu to get the A-Z on how to run clinical trials.

Statistics can be intimidating – but the CEBU team are anything but. Get in touch for help in clinical and population health research, including conceptualisation, design and statistical analysis.

CEBU provides information, advice and training on:

• Statistical support
• Managing Data (policies, planning, handling data)
• Data Management Software
• Randomisation, database setup and data capture services

Contact cebu.admin@mcri.edu.au to make a time to discuss your research question and statistical requirements.

The Grants Office supports researchers in obtaining competitive grant and fellowship funding through the provision of expert advice and assistance. The Office alerts researchers to funding opportunities, provides advice and training on the preparation of funding applications, and is responsible for meeting the administrative and legal requirements of funding agencies.

Please see Funding for more information.

You can contact the Grants Office directly at grants@mcri.edu.au.

The Scientific Services provides specific expertise and training for researchers:

• BioBanking
• Disease Models
• Flow Cytometry and Microscopy
• Genome Resources
• Laboratory Support
• Sequenom Platform
• ​Shipping laboratory goods and documents
• Tissue Culture.

Many of these services require consultation, training and approval prior to use, and will incur a fee which must be considered when making grant applications. Please ensure you thoroughly read through their information and contact the team when planning your protocol.

The goal of the Nursing Research team is to foster critical inquiry within nursing, leading to identification and investigation of practice based issues, and improved care for children and their families.  They do this through work in the following areas:

• Provision of professional development programs
• Mentorship and career advice
• Leadership in nursing clinical guideline development & evaluation
• Consultation regarding practice issues in nursing
• Identification of research opportunities in and from practice
• Support for clinical research projects
• Higher degree and minor thesis supervision

For more information visit the RCH Nursing Research page, or contact nursing.research@rch.org.au

The Melbourne Children's Campus have a range of peers support networks that you can join. They are an excellent way of meeting your colleagues and finding the different supports specifically available on campus.

The Melbourne Children’s Campus has a Research EMR Officer to assist with the day-to-day tasks of using the Electronic Medical Record (EMR or Epic) for your research. This role is based onsite to make it easier to work through tasks together, whichever organisation on campus you work at.

Areas of support include:

• Requesting EMR access if you need to apply for an Honorary RCH position
• Getting your study setup in EMR, including organising SmartSets
• Keeping the study details up to date, so clinicians can easily contact you if required
• Associating patients with your research study, so you’re notified if they present to RCH
• Setting up basic reports to track your participants
  • For more complex report requests and data extraction, please log a Service Now request under Research -> Reporting
• Documenting your Adverse Events and Concomitant Medications in EMR
• Organising monitor access in preparation for remote monitoring visits

Every research team will use EMR slightly differently, so be sure to contact Grace Gell to get the tips and tricks of how to make EMR work best for you

“The Centre for Health Analytics is a nucleus of data experts brought together to support the Melbourne Children’s Campus. Our job is to help deliver better patient care, operations, education and research using data.  The vision of the Centre for Health Analytics is to unleash the power of data to improve child and adolescent health.

If you would like more information about the Centre for Health Analytics and how we can support you please visit https://www.healthanalytics.org.au/

One of our key goals at the Centre for Health Analytics is to create a data empowered workforce on Campus.  For more information about our Workforce Development program, please see more information on our Learn page and Community of Practice page, and also contact our Workforce Development Lead Elle Cartmill at elle.cartmill2@rch.org.au.