Cancer Australia, through the Support for Cancer Clinical Trials (SCCT) program, funds the 14 Multi-site Collaborative Cancer Clinical Trial Groups (CTGs) across Australia. This funding supports CTGs to develop investigator-initiated and industry-independent cancer clinical trial protocols and build sector capacity to address important questions in patient treatment and care that may not be of commercial interest to industry.

There is an identified need for technical services to provide coordinated and consistent advice to CTGs on engaging with Aboriginal and Torres Strait people, embedding cultural safety and co-design principles in clinical trial concept and protocol development activities. The aim is to improve access and increase participation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in clinical trials across Australia.

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander National Technical Service (NTS) will be required to provide – but not be limited to – the following minimum services:

• Direct engagement with each CTG through a minimum of one face-to-face/teleconference/videoconference meeting/s per annum to discuss related needs and/or to plan for submissions of concepts and protocols for review.
• Direct expert advice to support the CTGs to embed cultural safety, where appropriate, into patient materials and industry-independent cancer clinical trial concepts and protocols up to the stage when grant funding has been secured for the conduct of the clinical trial.
• Review concepts and protocols written by CTGs that relate to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander participation. This may include providing recommendations for common exclusion criteria, models of care or Indigenous Data Sovereignty implementation principles. Advice to CTGs should be provided early and be tailored to the clinical trial concept and protocol, particularly to identify and mitigate complex barriers for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander clinical trial participation.
• Provide input and/or authorship into grant applications or publications from each CTG, when applicable.
• Provide cultural safety training to build and improve the capacity of CTG staff and members to embed culturally safe and respectful practices in clinical trial concepts and protocols. These trainings should include a representative from each CTG, and participants should rate their experience as satisfactory or above.

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander NTS will also be required to:

• Collate and create a repository accessible to CTG staff and members of existing knowledge from the research sector on the current barriers for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander participation in cancer clinical trials.
• Collate and create a repository of existing knowledge from the research sector on improving cancer clinical trial design to increase participation of Indigenous Australians. This repository needs to be accessible to CTG staff and members and should include, but not be limited to, improving culturally safe and tailored communications to build awareness of clinical trials in Indigenous communities, embedding co-design principles and cultural safety practices into clinical trial concept and protocol design.
• Recognising that there is not a singular model for cultural safety, this NTS should build a repository of various cultural safety trainings and resources that CTG staff and members can access depending on their trial design, location of clinical trial sites, or research specific topics, such as how to embed principles of Indigenous Data Sovereignty.
• Establish and maintain networks with organisations, locally and nationally, involved with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander research and health programs. It will be expected that this network will assist CTGs in finding researchers and/or consumer representatives to attend events hosted by CTGs and join or partner in their cancer clinical trials, as this is often a requirement for ethics approvals or grant funding applications. Networks may also be used to establish future tele-trial sites, as needed.
• Establish an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander resource centre for use by the CTGs, other cancer researchers and health professionals across Australia.
• Establish collaborative relationships with other NTS funded by Cancer Australia to support the CTGs.
• Attend relevant SCCT program national meetings, such as Annual Scientific Meetings, Steering Group Committees, CTG and NTS network and concept development workshops, when available to do so.
• Engage with Cancer Australia to support a cycle for continuous improvement of services delivered, acknowledging feedback following annual progress reports, contract performance reviews and any feedback invited from consumers, clinical trial groups and the health research sector.
• Promote the work of CTGs in newsletters and other resources.