"Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) affects learning, social participation and daily function across the lifespan. Approximately 35,000 school-aged Australian children live with ASD; 95% of these experience educational restrictions. ASD has no known cure, and its causes are poorly understood due to the variability in how the disorder emerges and presents. Further, available treatments are only moderately successful and are not effective for all children with ASD. Knowledge about what (intervention) is likely to work for whom is missing from the field.

The Resilient Brain Initiative through HMRI and the University of Newcastle aims to identify new treatments to slow, stop or reverse declines in brain function caused by stress.

There has been considerable research into the use of exercise for the treatment of depression in adults, however the majority of research in adolescent major depressive disorder (MDD) over the past decade has focused on the efficacy of medications and cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT), with these methods only achieving rates of remission of 30% to 40% and high rates of relapse among those responding positively (Kennard et al., 2006).  

Asthma prevelance has increased in many western countries over recent decades. Currently, 1 in 6 children in Australia are affected by the disease. Over this time, obesity rates have also increased, and obesity now effects around 10% of Australian children.