NeuRA researchers will develop a culturally safe, community-led ​“Deadly Brains” model of research after receiving a $200,000 grant from the Newcastle Permanent Charitable Foundation.

Senior Research Fellow, Dr Louise Lavrencic, in the Aboriginal Health and Ageing team welcomed the funding for the project ​“Deadly Brains: Family and community brain health, now and for the future”, which will work with First Nations people in the NSW Central West and Mid North Coast.

“This grant from Newcastle Permanent Charitable Foundation supports our Deadly Brains project, to develop a model that addresses intergenerational brain health inequity for First Nations people,” Dr Lavrencic said.

“Through this project, we will work with partnering communities in the Central West and Mid North Coast to develop a culturally safe, community-led model of research to address community brain health.”

Researchers will consult extensively in Orange, Dubbo, Coffs Harbour and Kempsey, including with Elders, health workers, partnering Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations and communities.

The Deadly Brains project will allow researchers to invest time into talking to community members, to ensure that community needs and preferences are prioritised. The end result will be genuine co-design of a research model to investigate brain health in First Nations communities.

“We want to refine current research practices and create a model where healing-centered ways of collecting relevant brain health information is prioritised. We also want to identify ways to build workforce capacity and communicate brain health information and risk in the right way” Dr Lavrencic said.

“To do this, we will first work with communities to map out community contexts, helping to highlight brain health strengths, challenges and opportunities. This will help support future strategies,” Dr Lavrencic said.

The funding from Newcastle Permanent Charitable Foundation will fund the first year of the project.