For the Community
The Diabetes CCRE has a strong commitment to the wider community, and makes every effort to engage with the community to inform its research. We are doing this through links and collaborations that have and are being set up with Diabetes Australia and Diabetes Australia Victoria, which are the national and Victorian peak bodies advocating for and providing various forms of support for people living with diabetes.
In addition, researchers at the Diabetes CCRE are involved in consultations with community and advocacy groups through the efforts of AI Christine Walker, an expert on consumer representation and advocacy in chronic illness. Focus groups are being set up for several CCRE-funded research projects, and there are also plans to set up a clinical registry through which people can register to participate in various studies. AI James Dunbar is active in diabetes research in rural Victoria, and is helping lead the Diabetes CCRE's outreach in rural Victoria. CI Alicia Jenkins is very active in the diabetes community through her work with the Type 1 Opinion Leaders, a group of consumer representatives formed through the Type 1 Diabetes network, a volunteer-run health promotion charity and Insulin for Life Australia, a not-for-profit organisation that collects and internationally distributes insulin and other diabetes supplies that would otherwise be wasted.