Recently the Centre for Remote Health welcomed a large contingent of Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute (FHMRI) researchers to Alice Springs for the inaugural FHMRI Rural and Remote Research Workshop at the Doubletree Hilton Hotel.

Flinders University staff from Adelaide, Renmark, Burra, Victor Harbor, Katherine, Alice Springs and Darwin came together to share knowledge, build relationships and plan for the future. Over two packed days, FHMRI researchers heard from a range of guest speakers, and from a number of FHMRI members discussing their own areas of expertise.

Chips Mackinolty opened the proceedings with an overview of the Central Australia Academic Health Science Network (CAAHSN), followed by an entertaining talk by Central Australian Human Research Ethics Committee (CAHREC) chair, Chris Perry.  Sue Lenthall from the Flinders campus in Katherine gave an interesting talk about the issues and challenges of remote area research that helped to focus the range of group work for the rest of the day.

Because no trip to Alice Springs is complete without experiencing our beautiful country, dinner on the first evening was held outdoors at the Earth Sanctuary. Before dinner, our guests were treated to a fascinating astronomy talk and one of our visiting academics, Dr Sarah Appleton, helped to make some traditional damper to add to our memorable meal under the stars.

The rest of the workshop flew by in a flurry of group discussions and ended with some very informative talks by Josephine McGill from Flinders Library, and Suzanne Atkins and Rebecca Cook from Research Development, outlining how their services can assist researchers with their projects. In no time at all it was time to farewell our colleagues who had planes to catch, sending them on their way with a heightened understanding of rural and remote research and the roles we all can play to improve rural and remote health.