Curtin Consumer-led Research Education and Support Training (CREST) Program 2026 intake
The Curtin Consumer-led Research Education and Support Training (CREST) Program is an online training program funded by the Western Australian Future Health Research and Innovation (FHRI) Fund and developed by Curtin Involve and Curtin’s Consumer Research Lab.
CREST aims to educate and upskill consumers and community members with the fundamental principles of research, and to gain the skills to co-design and lead health projects in partnership with researchers and stakeholders.
The program
The program will commence in May 2026 and takes about 8 to 10 months to complete.
The total commitment of the program is approximately 145 hours within an 8 to 10-month period (circa 5 hours per week). The program includes a training component and a practical research component. The training component includes 13 self-paced modules, available online. Each module takes about 3 hours to complete. The training component also includes an assessment.
The practical research component includes ~80 hours of online or face-to-face research supervision. This includes ~1 hour of research supervision plus 4 hours working on practical research per week for 16 weeks.
There is also an optional fortnightly drop-in session, which can be attended online or in-person.
Upon completion of the course, participants will:
- Receive a certification of completion
- Join the Curtin CREST alumni community
- Access unit content for up to 18 months (starting from the program commencement date)
- Receive 25 credit points (equivalent to one unit) for selected graduate certificate qualifications at Curtin University (each graduate certificate consists of 4 units with 100 credits in total)
Pre-requisite
This course is for consumers and community members in Western Australia only.
Experience as a Consumer Representative is advantageous but not a requirement.
Other information
This course is offered free of charge. Please note that no honorarium payment is offered.
In your statement of interest, please include why you are interested in the program as well as:
- Your lived experience
- Any consumer and community involvement (CCI) activities you have been involved in
- Any relevant training you have undertaken
- Your availability relative to the program’s estimated time commitment over an 8-10 month period
Applications close 13 April 2026.