About Mater Research
Mater Research is a recognised leader in innovative and impactful medical research delivering on Mater's mission to meet the unmet needs of Queenslanders, through a bench-to-bedside philosophy. Founded by the Sisters of Mercy in 1998, the opening of Mater Research recognised the Sisters' century-long commitment to scientific inquiry and formalised the integral role research plays in the delivery of excellence in care at Mater.
We are closely linked with The University of Queensland, forming the Mater Research Institute - The University of Queensland (MRI-UQ) alliance in 2013, bringing with it, strategic benefits for all. Mater Research provides extensive clinical collaboration opportunities and the University of Queensland shares expertise as a research, education, and teaching institution. Mater Research employees, through the affiliation to MRI-UQ have access to world-class research infrastructure and systems.
Mater Research is proud to be a founding partner of the world-class Translational Research Institute (TRI). Our commitment to growing our network of partners, enables our teams to collaborate with other world-leading researchers and partners in state-of-the-art facilities to turn scientific discovery into the best possible treatment.
Discover, Translate, Integrate
At Mater Research we ask the questions so we can find the answers that save lives. Our Mater Researchers are focused on improving health across all of life’s stages with five research arms - mother and baby health; healthcare delivery and innovation; cancer; neuroscience; and chronic and integrated care.
Our programs work collaboratively to find, translate and integrate better diagnoses, treatments and models of care to help members of our community and to shape policy and health service delivery nationally and internationally.
Our strong track record of successful grant applications and fellowship recipients is underpinned by the significant financial support of Mater Foundation. Millions of dollars are contributed each year funding pilot trials and projects, vital infrastructure and resources, backfilling clinical time to enable more clinician-lead research, fellowships for our senior researchers and flexibility to sustain research beyond short-term grants.
With expertise across all facets of medical research-study design, ethics and governance, data collection, biobank management, analysis, and implementation science-we are responsible for robust management of all research and clinical trials at Mater. We also maintain a broad external focus, scanning national and international high quality research to reduce duplication of effort and wasted resources, working alongside Mater Education and Mater Health to support prompt and efficient translation of research into clinical care.
Our research focus
From an initial focus on the immune response to cancer, Mater Research has expanded to five core research programs of Cancer, Mother and Baby Health, Chronic and Integrated Care, Neurosciences and Healthcare Delivery and Innovation, integrating closely with Mater hospital clinical services to drive the very best healthcare outcomes.
