Professor Wesselingh (FRACP FAHMS) took up the position of the Chief Executive Officer at the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) in August 2023. Professor Wesselingh is an infectious diseases physician and researcher. He undertook his undergraduate and doctoral training at Flinders University and his post-doctoral training at Johns Hopkins in the United States.
Until July 2023, Professor Wesselingh was the inaugural Executive Director of the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI). He was also a member of NHMRC Council, Chair of Research Committee, and the President of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences (AAHMS).
Between 2007-2011, he was Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences at Monash University.
ABSTRACT:
How Can Funding Bodies Foster Research Integrity?
Research funding agencies play a critical role in fostering research integrity through setting standards, holding researchers and research institutions to account, and providing leadership to the sector. At a time when trust in both science and public institutions is being undermined, these roles have never been more important. However, funding agencies play just one part in Australia’s research integrity framework, alongside research institutions, researchers, and other sector bodies. As such, funding agencies’ roles must go beyond policy and oversight, and instead undertake a holistic and collaborative approach to build the capacity and culture of institutions and researchers. Funding agencies can set the standards for research excellence through the codes and guidelines that establish research ethics, integrity, and good institutional practice, and by setting grant guidelines to incentivise quality and impact in research. The National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) is working with our research community to look at how we can use data to better understand and define the scope of research integrity issues in Australia; develop supports for institutions and researchers; and ensure institutions are able to meet their own responsibilities.