Burnet Institute has joined the Wellcome Leap Breakthrough Network, a pioneering global network of leading research organisations that aims to reduce barriers to the discovery of breakthroughs in human health.
Burnet is only the second Australian organisation to become part of the network.
Network membership will strengthen Burnet’s capacity to accelerate its research and translation to solutions through faster access to funding and by harnessing global expertise.
It will support Burnet to test and measure a research discovery at scale and demonstrate its success through Wellcome Leap’s unique model.
Founded by the Wellcome Trust, Wellcome Leap offers the potential to shave months off standard research development timelines and pursue promising projects at full throttle.
It is the largest research network comprising more than 70 world-class institutions across six contents, and more than 650,000 researchers.
Director and CEO of Burnet Institute, Professor Brendan Crabb AC said Burnet is proud to join Wellcome Leap and be part of its unique innovation strategy to tackling urgent health problems.
“Wellcome Leap and Burnet share the same passion for changing lives, equity in health, diversity of ideas, and the race to address significant opportunities to improve lives, while upholding rigour in research,” Professor Crabb said.
“It supports our commitment to solve health challenges such as malaria and tuberculosis that continue to impact vulnerable communities particularly in the Asia Pacific region.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the role of speed and cross-discipline collaboration that are needed to save lives.
“Being part of this network will expand our capacity to take that experience to the next level, leveraging Wellcome Leap’s bold and forward-looking approach for propelling research breakthroughs, he said."