Centre > Health Equity in Regional and Remote Communities

The Centre > Health Equity in Regional and Remote Communities (C>HERRC) began operation on 20 January 2025 with the commencement of the Centre Director. 

A key initial priority for the Centre has been to engage and connect with CQU researchers. It is imperative that the new Centre, from the earliest beginnings, be informed and shaped by the perspectives and insights of CQU researchers. It is also recognised that genuine and meaningful relationships with external partners are critical, but by beginning with seeding an engaged and supportive CQU network, connecting with appropriate and relevant external partners will be organised, systematic, and targetted. Indeed, one of CQU’s strengths is its priority of working with, and being guided by, external organisations. This strength is reflected in the initial documentation for C>HERRC, with a stated priority of being “community-led”. 

The earliest days of C>HERRC were focussed on information gathering from the CQU community. An early discovery was that, generally, CQU researchers were interested in having a focus that was broader than health equity. A broader focus also seemed to be consistent with a priority of being “community-led”. These ideas were amplified in an editorial published in the Australian Journal of Rural Health titled “Why Settle for Equity?”. If equity could be considered a “bottom line”, there was no reason why regional, rural, remote, and very remote communities (RRRvR) could not have ambitions for more than equity. 

A slight change to the name of the centre was proposed. It was suggested that this emerging centre could be called the Centre > Health Equity in Regional and Remote Communities (C>HERRC).

Professor Timothy (Tim) Carey is a senior Australian academic and Fulbright Scholar who has combined clinical practice with academic work throughout his career. He has a background in education, clinical psychology, and statistics. Tim has experience in a range of research methodologies including quantitative methods, qualitative methods, systematic reviews, and realist evaluation. He has over 175 publications including the books "Patient-Perspective Care" and "Deconstructing Health Inequity". Tim also enjoys making information engaging and accessible for the general public and has a blog on Psychology Today called “In Control” which has more than 1.62 million views. 

Tim is strongly committed to advancing the way in which social sciences can help to improve community wellbeing. He is passionate about contributing usefully to initiatives that seek to understand and improve the extent to which people are able to live the life they want.