FormalPara Key Points

  • The Inala Community Jury for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Research reviews and approves all research conducted by the Southern Queensland Centre of Excellence in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Primary Health Care.

  • Researchers present their research plans to the jury for approval, explaining what the research involves, why it is needed, and how it will benefit the local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community.

  • The Community Jury decides whether the proposed research is responsive to local priorities and respectful of community cultural protocols and processes.

The Inala Community Jury for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Research is Australia’s first research jury. It was established in 2010 to support ethically sound, culturally appropriate, locally relevant health research. It particularly focuses on ensuring that research benefits the local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community. It provides a way of ensuring that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are engaged in and benefit from the health research conducted in their community.

The Inala Community Jury is an important component of the health research conducted by the Southern Queensland Centre of Excellence in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Primary Health Care (SQCoE). It is a Queensland Health service and is based within Metro South Health (a health district covering the area south of Brisbane, which provides health services to more than one million people). SQCoE is located in Inala, 18 km south-west of Brisbane, and the clinic is staffed by GPs, nurses, allied health and Aboriginal health workers, and visiting medical specialists.

The SQCoE research team is dedicated to finding and publishing evidence about how to improve the health of its patients. All research done by or through SQCoE can only proceed if it is approved by both its research committee and the Inala Community Jury.

The Inala Community Jury includes up to 14 members, who are Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people from the local community of Inala and surrounding suburbs. Four of the members are nominated by local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community-controlled organizations. Other members self-nominate by submitting an expression of interest and are then purposefully selected to ensure the final jury is diverse and representative of the local community—with different backgrounds and different levels of research literacy. Jurors are remunerated for their time and expertise.

The Inala Community Jury meets three to five times each year and reviews all research undertaken by SQCoE and its partners. Researchers present their proposals to the jury, explaining what their research involves, why the research should be conducted, and how the research will benefit the community. Jury members then have an opportunity to ask questions and provide their feedback. The Community Jury decides whether the research is responsive to local priorities and respectful of local community cultural protocols and processes. The jury also provides general advice to researchers about the planning and conduct of health research in the district.

The Inala Community Jury is a way of acknowledging the wisdom of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the Inala community. The Jury goes beyond a simple review and approval of research proposals. The Jury process is consultative, with Jury members actively questioning researchers and contributing to research proposals. Research that does not receive Jury endorsement is not rejected; instead, it is returned to the researchers for further development in response to the Jury’s feedback. When the Community Jury approves a research proposal, they provide a letter of approval for researchers to use as part of their ethics/institutional review board application. If a project does not meet the needs or priorities of the community or is not delivered in a culturally appropriate manner, the proposal will be rejected.

The Inala Community Jury emerged from the work of health economist Professor Gavin Mooney, who pioneered the concept of citizens’ juries in Australia and facilitated the first Community Jury conducted in Inala. The Jury processes support respectful communication and relationships between the community and researchers, which positively influence research outcomes and community engagement [1].

All research conducted through SQCoE follows relevant codes for responsible and ethical research.Footnote 1 Researchers are also expected to follow cultural and community protocols and provide in-person updates to the Community Jury. The Jury approves all research results before they are released to the public. The Jury also reviews all submissions to journals, conferences, and other forums for publication. All researchers are expected to provide an easy-to-understand report for the community.

Since its first meeting in March 2011, the Community Jury has approved 75 projects.

We would like to acknowledge past and present Inala Community Jury members who have dedicated their community and cultural knowledges, expertise, and time during the course of their membership. We acknowledge Professor Chelsea Watego, the founder of Inala Community Jury; Professor Noel Hayman, Clinical Director of SQCoE; previous coordinators; and researchers who have presented to the Inala Community Jury.