The Shake It Up Australia Movement Disorder Capacity Building Program
Shake It Up Australia’s Movement Disorder Capacity Building Program aims to grow the number of movement disorder specialists in Australia, by training movement disorder clinician-researchers who can provide expert care, have an interest in research and the capacity to lead clinical trials.
As the demand for movement disorder specialists increases, not enough neurologists are receiving vital training in Parkinson’s and related conditions. Shake It Up wants to ensure equity and early access to a Movement Disorder Specialist for every Australian diagnosed with Parkinson’s, regardless of their geographical location, and also ensure they have access to new treatments, therapies and the opportunity to participate in clinical trials.
The Movement Disorder Capacity Building Program will fund academic institutions to train a new movement disorder clinician-researcher over a three-year period.
Who is eligible?
The Shake It Up Australia Foundation Movement Disorder Capacity Building Program is open to established movement disorder centres in Australia and seeks to support the training of promising MD or MD/PhD fellowship applicants.
Each Fellowship grant will be for $270,000, to cover a 0.5 FTE position to support either a three year fellowship or to support three one year fellowships.
These funds may cover:
- stipend, benefits and travel allowance
- coursework
- conferences
- other relevant educational and training opportunities
Shake It Up will award funding directly to qualified institutions, which will then identify the most competitive fellowship candidates. Institutions must nominate their prospective fellow, with submission of the fellow’s CV and a letter of recommendation, for final review by the Shake It Up Australia Foundation.
Funding cannot be used to support a fellow already enrolled in or selected for the Institution’s fellowship program. Individual fellows are not eligible for this funding but are encouraged to inform institutions about this opportunity.
Current Fellowships
- In September 2024, Shake It Up was delighted to announce Dr. Gerard Tao as the first recipient of the Shake It Up Australia Movement Disorder Fellowship, with this first fellowship funded by the Trawalla Foundation.
What is the evaluation process?
Applications from movement disorder institutions will be evaluated on the following criteria:
- Previous experience training fellows for productive research and clinical care careers
- Research environment and research training program
- Clinical care centre and clinical learning opportunities
- Departmental support for the fellow
- Leadership in building an equitable and diverse environment for clinical care, research and education through training opportunities and scholarly pursuit for the fellow
- Biographical sketches of five faculty members, including the fellowship director, who will be active in the training program
Get in Touch
To get in touch with us for more information about the program, or to express interest in funding a fellowship or applying as a research institution, please fill out the below form.