The Healthy Housing CRE is a 5-year project funded by the NHMRC from 2020-2025. It involves over 20 researchers from across Australia and the world.
16 November 2020
Rowan Arundel and Richard Ronald from the Department of Human Geography, Planning and International Development joined the NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence on Healthy Housing.
A quarter of Australia’s disease burden is comprised of cardiovascular disease, COPD, anxiety, depression, asthma, falls and injury. All such health issues have been at least partly attributed to housing. While other high-income countries have actively and successfully used housing to reduce their burden of disease, Australian policy and research has failed to bridge disciplinary silos.
Furthermore, housing interventions in Australia have only inadvertently improved health, missing the opportunity for evidenced based housing improvement for efficient health gain. Across the disciplinary boundaries, this innovative Centre of Research Excellence brings together the leaders capable of addressing these issues. It will be the first and only health-focussed Centre internationally to span healthy housing for Indigenous Australians, people in need and the growing population of rental housing tenants.
Rowan will contribute to research streams 1 ‘Life Course’ and 3 ‘Capturing Complexity’, and Richard will contribute to stream 3 ‘Capturing Complexity’. They will both also continue their work at the University of Amsterdam.