In 2009, physiotherapy researcher Professor Paul Hodges published an editorial in the Journal of Physiotherapy, ‘Growth of physiotherapy research funding in Australia’, looking at funding from 2000 to 2008 (Hodges 2009). 

Paul noted that funding had increased from $0.3 million in 2000 to $9.2 million in 2008. 

He concluded that while the amount of funding support for physiotherapy research was growing, it was not sufficient to fund all projects. 

Fast-forward 16 years and funding for physiotherapy-related research is averaging about $14 million a year from the major health and medical research funding organisations in Australia—the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) and the Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF). 

In real terms, however, the amount of spending on health and medical research in Australia is dropping. 

Australia’s government spending on research and development as a percentage of gross domestic product decreased to 1.7 per cent in 2023–24 compared to almost 1.9 percent in 2015–16 and the OECD’s average of 2.7 per cent (Australian Bureau of Statistics 2023–24). 

NHMRC spending has stalled at around $900 million to $1 billion in the years since 2019 (National Health and Medical Research Council n.d.)—with inflation rising in Australia by about 20 per cent in that time (Reserve Bank of Australia n.d.)—and MRFF funding has been capped at $650 million annually until 2033–34 (Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing 2024). 

The recent turmoil in health and medical research funding in the United States may also affect Australia, particularly Australian researchers who collaborate with researchers there. 

Physiotherapy researchers in Australia have a variety of competitive funding sources to apply to, including the three main funding bodies of the Australian Government—the NHMRC, the MRFF and the Australian Research Council, which funds a small amount of health and medical-related research. 

Researchers can also apply for funding through philanthropic and non-profit organisations such as Arthritis Australia or Lung Foundation Australia. 

The Physiotherapy Research Foundation (PRF) and a selection of small grants managed by the APA are another important source of funding, particularly for early career researchers. 

In fact, a study commissioned by the PRF in 2020 showed that the foundation’s grants—awarded annually since 1990—enabled researchers to go on and apply for further funding amounting to $47.5 million, of which $8.6 million would not have been available without the support of the PRF (Australian Physiotherapy Association 2021). 

This suggests that for every dollar invested by the PRF, an additional $6.35 of funding has been generated. 

Government funding 

Since 2013, the NHMRC has granted at least $127 million to Australian researchers for physiotherapy research (see Table 1). 

Note that the search term used to identify grants was ‘physiotherapy’ and results were further edited to ensure that chief investigators were physiotherapists and that grants with the field of research ‘rehabilitation excluding physiotherapy’ were checked and removed from the list as required. 

Some research led by other researchers that involved physiotherapy input may also have been omitted. 

Grants awarded spanned the range of different types available during the period 2013–2025, including project grants, investigator grants, ideas grants, partnership grants and targeted grants as well as grants for centres of excellence, clinical trials, translating research into clinical outcomes and international collaborations, and fellowships including research fellowships, early career fellowships, career development grants and postgraduate fellowships. 

The NHMRC also administers the MRFF and physiotherapy researchers have been the beneficiaries of more than $44 million in MRFF funding across 33 grants since the fund was established in 2017 (funding started in 2019). 

The MRFF grants are targeted and have included grants awarded for physiotherapy clinical trials, clinical research, public health research and applied research in health and for research into chronic musculoskeletal conditions, cancer, cardiovascular disease, dementia and ageing. 

Table 1. NHMRC and MRFF grants since 2103.

*Data not complete for 2025. 

Sources: National Health and Medical Research Council (n.d.) and Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing (2025). 

The Australian Research Council also offers grants for some health and medical research, but few if any research grants have been given to physiotherapists in recent years. 

A search using the term ‘physiotherapy’ identified only ten grants worth a total of $4 million going to physiotherapy researchers between 2005 and 2010. 

This doesn’t mean that no physiotherapy or physiotherapy-adjacent research was awarded Australian Research Council funding between 2010 and 2025; it simply wasn’t identified by the narrow parameters of our search. 

The NHMRC has also recognised two physiotherapy researchers through its annual Research Excellence Awards. 

Professor Carol Hodgson from Monash University and Alfred Health was recently awarded the 2024 NHMRC Elizabeth Blackburn Investigator Grant Award—Clinical Medicine and Science (Leadership) for improving the quality of survival after critical illness, while in 2021, Professor Julie Redfern from the University of Sydney was awarded the NHMRC Elizabeth Blackburn Investigator Grant Award—Health Services (Leadership) for modernising cardiac rehabilitation and secondary prevention of heart disease. 

Clinical trials 

Another metric of research success in Australia is the ability of the physiotherapy research sector to conduct clinical trials, providing key evidence for interventions and approaches to physiotherapy treatments. 

Since 2005, Australia has had a searchable clinical trials database—the Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry. 

Using the condition category ‘physical medicine/rehabilitation’ and the subcategory ‘physiotherapy’ and limiting trial location to Australia, we identified 601 clinical trials within the database, of which 315 are completed trials and a further 46 were withdrawn, suspended or stopped early. 

Of the remainder, 113 are not yet recruiting participants, while 109 are currently recruiting and a further 18 have completed recruitment and are active. 

Since 2020, 163 trials have been registered and 52 of these are listed as completed. 

The vast majority of physiotherapy sector clinical trials in the registry are interventional trials—560 out of the 601 trials in the registry—while 427 of them are randomised controlled trials. 

These clinical trials have generally been sponsored by a university (258 trials), a hospital (113) or an individual (172), although a small number of trials are funded by the government (24), charities, societies or foundations (10) or the commercial sector or industry (nine). 

The majority of trials are funded through hospitals (120 trials), the government (151), universities (174) or charities, societies or foundations (139). 

Several recent clinical trials led by physiotherapists have been recognised by the Australian Clinical Trials Alliance (ACTA) in recent years—a big achievement considering that these physiotherapy trials are competing with clinical trials across the spectrum of health and medicine. 

They include: 

• PEAK trial: runner-up for ACTA Trial of the Year Award 2025 The PEAK non-inferiority randomised controlled trial compared telerehabilitation consultations with a physiotherapist to in-person consultations for chronic knee pain. Led by Professor Rana Hinman at the University of Melbourne, the trial showed that online physiotherapy was as safe and effective as face-to-face consultations for treating chronic knee pain.
• WalkBack trial: runner-up for ACTA Trial of the Year Award 2025 The WalkBack trial was a randomised controlled trial that tested the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of an individualised, progressive walking and education intervention for the prevention of low back pain recurrence in Australia. Led by Professor Mark Hancock at the University of Sydney, the study demonstrated that an individualised walking and education program delivered by a physiotherapist improved low back pain and costeffectively reduced the risk of needing to seek care for future low back pain.
• TEAM trial: winner of ACTA Trial of the Year Award 2023 The TEAM (Trial of Early Activity and Mobilisation) trial was a randomised, multicentre, multinational and multidisciplinary randomised controlled trial, funded by the NHMRC and the Health Research Council of New Zealand. Led by Professor Carol Hodgson from Monash University and Alfred Health, the trial provided evidence for the provision of rehabilitation and mobilisation of critically ill, mechanically ventilated patients.
• AVERT stroke study: finalist for ACTA Trial of the Year Award 2016 AVERT (A Very Early Rehabilitation Trial) was a phase 3, multicentre, randomised controlled trial of very early rehabilitation after stroke conducted by Professor Julie Bernhardt at the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health. It showed that contrary to popular belief, very early rehabilitation after stroke was not beneficial to patients.
• Better Knee, Better Me trial: winner of the ACTA Industry Partnership Award 2022 The Better Knee, Better Me trial looked at the effectiveness of two scalable healthcare interventions supporting self-management for knee osteoarthritis. It was a partnership between the University of Melbourne and insurance company Medibank and was led by Professor Kim Bennell. 

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