We conduct research that is relevant and appropriate for policy and for informing public health. The PRC has a reputation for co-creating knowledge with health practitioners and policy-makers, developing innovative evaluation research methods, and providing evidence with practical application to public health policy.

Prevention Research Support Program (PRSP)

The Prevention Research Collaboration is a recipient of NSW Health’s Prevention Research Support Program – Round 7 (2026-2030). This program has been provided to support prevention and early intervention research within the research stream of

• Embedding a population health and preventive care approach to obesity and diabetes prevention and management.
• Primary and secondary prevention approaches for adults and children to increase physical activity.

• Supporting the evaluation of a community based diabetes prevention initiative 
• Evaluation of a commissioning partnership between a rural Local Health District, primary health network, and other service providers to prevent diabetes 
• Research regarding hospital-based pre-diabetes and diabetes screening programs
• Research and clinical audit regarding discharge summaries across a number of Local Health Districts
• Support for the evaluation of school based physical activity program for adolescents

Academic leaders: Professor Philayrath Phongsavan, Professor Ben Smith, Dr Bythe O'Hara

SunSmart

The Prevention Research Collaboration has partnered with Cancer Council NSW and Sydney Health Partners to undertake two research projects to support implementation of SunSmart in secondary schools:

• Development and evaluation of a SunSmart Rubic: This will be a self-assessment tool designed to help school leaders evaluate and strengthen their capacity to implement sun safety practices specific to their schools. It will help schools to evaluate and enhance their capacity to implement the sun safety program with the provision of results assisting in the formation of tailored actions relevant to their organizational readiness.

• Development and evaluation of the Implementation Toolkit. This toolkit will provide practical resources, templates, decision-making support, and tailored pathways for implementation of SunSmart initiatives.

The Australian Systems Approach to Physical Activity (ASAPa+)

Progress to date has involved engagement with policymakers nationwide to help map and understand physical activity related policies, programs and prevalence measures, to identify gaps and opportunities for strengthening action.

Academic leaders: Professor Melody Ding, Professor Ben Smith, Emeritus Professor Adrian Bauman, Tracy Nau

Determining if an intervention worked, why it worked, for whom and in what conditions, are critical for advancing the evidence base and for informing public health policy and practice. The PRC has distinctive skills in evaluating complex interventions (eg scaled-up programs, natural experiments), population- and system-level prevention and health promotion programs.  This includes conducting evaluation research of major policy changes and new initiatives, such as the NSW Get Healthy Information & Coaching Service, NSW Quitline, Make Healthy Normal, and Get Healthy @ Work amongst others.

We have led research to systematically investigate elements of practitioner, organisational and systemic capacity that influence evaluation practice and use within Australian prevention agencies. This has informed the development of the Evaluation Practice Analysis Survey, which is a tool for assessing evaluation capacity and practice.

Academic leaders:  Professor Ben Smith, Professor Philayrath Phongsavan, Emeritus Professor Adrian Bauman, Dr Melanie Crane, Dr Blythe O’Hara

We are at the forefront of developing innovative public health methods around implementation and delivery research, and frameworks for scalability of interventions to maximise impact and public health reach. This body of work has been embedded into practical research guides and tools for health professionals embarking in translational research activities.

The Prevention Research Collaboration is currently involved in a number of research programs focusing on:

• implementation and scaling up of prevention programs;
• developing a systems approach to promote physical activity at the population level; and 
• evaluation of scaled up interventions.

Academic leaders: Dr Karen Lee, Professor Andrew Milat, Emeritus Professor Adrian Bauman

Our work focuses on improving population health through high quality epidemiological, measurement and surveillance research. We ask epidemiological questions of large cross-sectional and complex longitudinal data linked to routinely-collected medical records data, biobanks, and non-health data (e.g. GPS, transport data, social media) to examine trends and changes in the relationships between chronic disease, health status, and behavioural risk factors.

Academic leaders: Professor Melody Ding, Professor Philayrath Phongsavan, Emeritus Professor Adrian Bauman