Research update: What we have achieved in 2025

Diabetes Victoria is proud to collaborate with research partners to create meaningful outcomes for people living with diabetes. Here, we reflect on some of our key achievements in 2025.

Research Partnerships

We were thrilled to announce our 10-year partnership with the Australian Centre for Accelerating Diabetes Innovations (ACADI). Diabetes Victoria and ACADI share aligned values, particularly around interdisciplinary diabetes research, and involving people with lived experience at the outset.

Interdisciplinary research is defined as combining knowledge, techniques, and perspectives from two or more disciplines to advance our understanding or to solve problems where solutions are beyond the scope of a single discipline.

Our ACADI partnership will accelerate diabetes innovation and see research advancements translated into ‘real-world’ community impacts.

We have also established another 5-year partnership with the Australian Centre for Behavioural Research in Diabetes (ACBRD). Co-funded by Deakin University, the ACBRD is Australia's first and only national research center dedicated to the behavioural, psychological, and social aspects of diabetes.

World First

In September, the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) launched the world's first evidence-based clinical guideline focused specifically on assessing and managing diabetes distress among adults with type 1 diabetes and type 2 diabetes. This is also the EASD's first-ever evidence-based guideline.

The EASD’s Guideline Development Panel was co-led by the ACBRD’s Foundation Director, Professor Jane Speight, who is also the Chair of the international PsychoSocial Aspects of Diabetes (PSAD) Study Group.

Diabetes distress is a common experience among people living with diabetes. Despite improvements in therapies and technologies, many people continue to experience significant emotional and psychological burden in managing the relentless 24/7 demands of diabetes.

This guideline is so important for improving clinical practice and shaping future research.

Research Spotlighted

ACBRD research was featured in NDSS e-learning for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health workers

Dr Elizabeth Holmes-Truscott, the Deputy Director of the ACBRD, together with an Indigenous expert advisory group, developed a new NDSS module that provides an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspective on the impact of diabetes stigma and discrimination.

By the end of the module, participants will be able to:

Recognise what diabetes stigma is, and where it comes from
Understand the experiences of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples living with diabetes
Identify the prevalence and impact of diabetes stigma
Reflect on personal biases and gain confidence in stigma-free care provision
Apply practical strategies to reduce the harm caused by diabetes stigma.

Training Trialled

ACBRD trialled a mental health training course for health professionals

Fifty percent of people living with diabetes experience mental health challenges.

The LISTEN program was developed by the research team at ACBRD, to integrate mental health and diabetes self-management support via telehealth. The trial was executed over a 2-year period from late 2021 and allowed 216 participants to have access to up to four sessions of 45-60mins with a diabetes health professional to discuss diabetes distress and burnout.

The trial showed significant reductions and relief of diabetes distress among people with type 1 and type 2 diabetes who participated in the LISTEN sessions at eight weeks and at six months. The ACBRD is now supporting the creation of a ground-breaking online training course that helps health professionals better support the mental health of people living with diabetes.

The course will be hosted on Deakin’s FutureLearn platform and made available to health professionals worldwide, with enrolments opening in late 2025.