Engagement with our partners, supporters and the wider community is fundamental to the success of the Centre for Adolescent Health in achieving our key goal (and vision) of making the difference to young people’s health and wellbeing by advancing knowledge, practice  and policy. 

To help enact our vision, the CAH run a series of networking events, Catalysing Connections for Adolescent Health and Wellbeing  with interested stakeholders. These events provide researchers, practitioners, policy makers and implementers the opportunity to discuss topics of mutual interest. Please visit the webpage for further information and to watch past events.    

WHO Collaborating Centre for Adolescent Health

The Centre for Adolescent Health, in collaboration between the University of Melbourne Department of Paediatrics, the Royal Children’s Hospital and the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, became the World Health Organization’s first non-European Collaborating Centre in Adolescent Health.

Provision of technical advice on adolescent health to WHO, including headquarters, regions and countries.

• Provide technical assistance in support of technical advocacy materials related to the health sector role on adolescent health
• Provide technical assistance on the establishment of a WHO short list of health indicators on adolescent health and development of new indicators
• Contribute to the strengthening of systems that support global data collection and analysis (at global and national levels)
• Contribute to the development by the Department of MCA of WHO guidelines on improving health services for adolescents
• Contribute to the development by the Department of MCA of an adolescent health research agenda

Chair of the 2013 WHO committee on global indicators for adolescent health

Member – Helping Adolescents Thrive (HAT) initiative

Member – Advisory group for the Accelerating Action for Adolescent Health, the Global AA-HA!

Over the past two years, the Centre for Adolescent Health, as a World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Centre for Adolescent Health, has led a body of work for WHO and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) that recently culminated in the launch of the first ever Global Standards and Indicators for Health Promoting Schools and Systems and an accompanying Implementation Guidance. Visit the Health Promoting Schools webpage for further information.

Centre of Research Excellence for Driving Global Investment in Adolescent Health

An Australian Centre of Research Excellence (CRE) for “Driving Global Investment in Adolescent Health” has been funded by Australia’s National Health and Medical Research Council from March 2020 through to March 2025. The CRE brings together leading Australian research groups including the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, the University of Melbourne, the Burnet Institute, University of New South Wales, South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute and the University of Queensland. It brings existing partnerships globally, generated through work with the Lancet Commission on Adolescent Health and Wellbeing and will extend partnerships with Peking University, China and Universitas Gadjah Mada, Indonesia.

Its purpose is to generate research that will drive investment in neglected areas of adolescent health including groups facing discrimination or disadvantage. Neglected areas include mental health, non-communicable disease risk, injury and violence and substance abuse. A focus of this initiative are groups experiencing significant discrimination or disadvantage specifically, Indigenous young people and young people in contact with the justice system.

The CRE will provide the evidence needed for investments in these overlooked areas and priority groups. This includes how we might measure adolescent health better and what works for preventing and responding to adolescent health challenges and what the cost of those actions might be. There is not only an emphasis on what the investments might be in adolescent health but also the extent to which such investments might be taken to scale. There is a recognition that that evidence-grounded advocacy will be essential to support the evidence and investment cases, as they alone will not bring change. This the projects website for further information. 

Department of Adolescent Medicine, The Royal Children’s Hospital

We work closely with The Royal Children’s Hospital’s Department of Adolescent Medicine including its specialist services in eating disorders, gender identity and chronic illness. Please visit the Department of Adolescent Medicine website for more information.

Department of Paediatrics, The University of Melbourne

The Centre for Adolescent Health, through the Department of Paediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences at the University of Melbourne, offers online postgraduate courses that integrate knowledge from a range of disciplines (including medicine, psychology, sociology, social work, youth work, public health and health promotion), and examines the different theoretical frameworks and professional approaches these disciplines bring to working with young people. 

The courses are:

• Master of Adolescent Health and Wellbeing
• Graduate Diploma in Adolescent Health and Wellbeing
• Graduate Certificate in Adolescent Health and Wellbeing - Health Promotion stream
• Graduate Certificate in Adolescent Health and Wellbeing - Oncology stream

As well as university-accredited post graduate programs, the Centre for Adolescent Health has also developed a number of innovative online professional development programs. These are free to any-one interested.

• Global Adolescent Health
• Cancer Care for Adolescents and Young Adults
• Community Access Program (CAP)