Events

Upcoming Events

Inequalities in maternal nutrition, obesity and food insecurity, 10am Thurs 5 June 2025

IPAN and IHT would like to invite you to attend this special seminar, featuring a presentation from visiting researchers, Prof Nicola Heslehurst from Newcastle University, UK and Dr Zoe Bell from King’s College London.

The presentation will be held on Thursday 5th June from 10.00am – 11.00am at Burwood Corporate Centre or via Zoom (see details below).

Presenters: Professor Nicola Heslehurst, Professor of Maternal and Child Nutrition, Newcastle University, UK and Dr Zoe Bell, Research Associate, King’s College London, UK

Meeting URL:     https://deakin.zoom.us/j/83562629634?pwd=T7U7yEAtiHpA6SqkBMPENBSnvAdDe5.1&from=addon
Meeting ID:        835 6262 9634
Passcode:           53237650

Deakin Researcher Development Academy Workshops and Webinars

The Researcher Development Academy (RDA) have curated several workshops and webinars that run across the campus network. They are available to all graduate researchers, graduate research supervisors and EMCRs. Here’s a selection of the many opportunities available:

Mental Health Awareness for Graduate Researchers, 10am Thurs 12 June 2025
Impact 6 – Evidencing and Reporting Research Impact, 12.30pm Thurs 12 June 2025 (On campus Burwood, he2.006)
Engaging beyond the academy, 2-day EMCR intensive (24-25 June, Deakin Downtown)
The importance of connecting with broader community networks, non-academic organisations, and international conversations is part of contemporary researcher practice for most academics. Given the direction of institutional and national research priorities, wider engagement practices are crucial to career progression and effective research outcomes. This 2-day EMCR development intensive, convened by the Researcher Development Academy (RDA), focuses on ‘Engaging beyond the academy’ and builds your knowledge, skills, and networks for ensuring that your work and its impact travels further. This event is in person at Deakin Downtown.
Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Privacy in Research, 12.00pm Thurs 18 June 2025
Impact 6 – Evidencing and Reporting Research Impact, 12.30pm Thurs 18 June 2025 (On campus Waurn Ponds, DD2.203)

Find out more https://deakin365.sharepoint.com/sites/ResearchandInnovation/SitePages/Workshops-and-webinar-programs.aspx

The INSPIRE Forum: supporting our emerging researchers, 4.30pm Wed 11 June 2025

The INSPIRE Forum has been designed to support our emerging researchers and provide valuable opportunities for connection and collaboration with peers and senior researchers from the Barwon – Deakin research community.

Whether you are completing a PhD or Masters project, a clinician balancing research with your normal workload, upskilling via Western Alliance’s STaRR Research Training Program or curious about becoming involved in research but yet to take first steps, the INSPIRE Forum will help you feel connected, supported and informed. Join your colleagues and senior research leaders in an informal setting to share experiences, best practices and learnings, build relationships, and understand more about research supports available to you.

Please click here to register your attendance (for catering purposes) by Friday 6 June 2025.

Please download the flyer for more information.

IHT EMCR Two-Day Writing Retreat, Wed 11 – Thurs 12 June 2025

We’re excited to invite you to a two-day writing retreat designed to provide us with dedicated time and space to focus on our writing projects. The retreat will take place on Wednesday 11th and Thursday 12th of June at Deakin Downtown.

The retreat will offer a quiet, distraction-free environment, scheduled breaks, and opportunities for collaborative discussions. Whether you’re working on a new manuscript, revising a draft, or exploring new ideas, this retreat is a chance to make significant progress in a supportive atmosphere. Please register via Eventbrite separately for each day using the links below, and be sure to select the correct ticket type (in person or online) when registering:

Day 1 – Wednesday 11th of June – CLICK HERE
Day 2 – Thursday 12th of June – CLICK HERE

Lunch will be provided for those attending in person, where you can network with your fellow EMCRS. For those attending in person on Wednesday, you may like to bring a towel for our Yoga session. Please also let us know if you have dietary or any other requirements.

Please sign up using the Eventbrite link for the days you will be attending by Thursday 5 June 2025. Please only sign up to attend in person for the days you will be able to make it to Deakin Downtown for catering purposes to ensure no food wastage and alignment with Deakin University’s sustainability goals.

Lunch & Learn: Costing and Pricing Workshop, 12pm Wed 18 June 2025

Join us for a Lunch & Learn session hosted by Dr Patrick-Jean Guay and Harindra Hettiarachchi from the new Research Costing & Pricing team. This session is designed to help researchers and research support staff understand how to effectively cost a project and justify a research budget.

Duration: 45 minutes
Location: Online via Zoom (session will be recorded)
https://deakin.zoom.us/j/85865554241?pwd=XUR3ohbAXidC3936woBI1pJtT2A3fg.1
Meeting ID: 858 6555 4241 Password: 78701023

Part 1: How to cost a project and justify a budget
Part 2: Practical demonstration of the costing tool

Feel free to bring your lunch and your questions!

IHT Morning Teas, Wed 18 June 2025 at Burwood and Tues 15 July at Waterfront, Geelong

We will be holding monthly morning teas alternating between the Burwood and the Waterfront campuses. It’s a great opportunity to connect with other Institute members. Please feel welcome to invite your colleagues and rsvp through the calendar invite.

10.30am Wednesday 18 June at Burwood
10.30am Tuesday 15 July at Waterfront, Geelong

Keep your eye out for the invite to suit your location. Any questions, please email health-transformation@deakin.edu.au.

Understand and Be Understood Workshop, 10am Fri 18 July 2025 at Deakin Downtown

Communication strategies for people with complex communication needs based on core vocabulary research.

Join us for an insightful workshop designed for practitioners, teachers, parents and supporters and researchers focused on effective communication and literacy development for individuals using augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). This event will delve into the importance of vocabulary selection and its impact on AAC users.

What You’ll Learn:

Discover groundbreaking research on core vocabulary from Germany and its practical applications in AAC.
Explore the “Cologne Communication Boards and Binders,” developed from this research, and see how they have been adapted into English to support language development.
Gain strategies for integrating these materials into everyday use to enhance language acquisition and communication.
Learn about intervention planning in AAC, focusing on the ABC model, which was also developed in Cologne, Germany.

IHT All Members Day, Wed 30 July 2025, Deakin Downtown

We look forward to seeing you at our next All Members Day on Wednesday 30 July 2025 at Deakin Downtown. With the theme of Political Engagement and Policy Impact, we’re pleased to share a few of our speakers:

Key note speaker: Adj Prof Rebecca Haddock, Executive Director, Knowledge Exchange, Australian Healthcare and Hospitals Association (AHHA) speaking on how the Deeble Institute can support your political engagement strategies.
Key note speaker: Peter Breadon, Health Program Director, Grattan Institute and IHT Advisory Group member, speaking on the Grattan’s Political Engagement Framework.
How the Faculty can support your political engagement: Mark Duckworth, Faculty of Health, Government Relations Consultant
How the University can support your political engagement: Senior Adviser, External and Government Relations, Office of the Vice Chancellor
Science Meets Parliament Retrospectives from Adyya Gupta and Helena Rodi

More details will be released closer to the date. We hope to see you there!

Free workshop on monitoring corporate and market power, 9 and 10 December 2025

Join us for a deep dive into methods and data analysis related to monitoring corporate and market power.

This workshop will, over two days, discuss different methods for monitoring and measuring corporate and market power (via sectors/industries and markets), and the range of approaches for tracing corporate influences on policy and politics.

Day 1 will involve discussions and strategies involving both quantitative and qualitative methods, with discussions facilitated by leaders in the field. There will be spaces for the exchange of insights and ideas.
Day 2 will involve training in the uses of business analytics secondary data (e.g. Orbis) for measuring key indicators such as concentration, financialisation, common ownership and M&As.

Note, attendees require no statistical knowledge or experience (we use secondary data).

The workshop is also intended to better link various communities involved in corporate power in health, food, and climate change research with researchers active in the Global Political Economy. We seek to foster a community of practice for those working in or researching corporate power.

The final evening will invite participants to an informal get together.

Past Events

Symposium Attendees Advocate for Comprehensive Food Policy Reform Amid Global Uncertainty

In a world grappling with the crises of climate change and widespread malnutrition — including both undernutrition and overnutrition — over 200 participants convened on April 16 for the hybrid symposium ‘The Future of Food Policy in an Uncertain World.’

The event emphasised the urgent need to transform global food systems, which are significant contributors to greenhouse gas emissions and have left more than 700 million people undernourished.

Hosted by the Global Centre for Preventive Health and Nutrition (GLOBE) within Deakin University’s Institute for Health Transformation, in partnership with RE-FRESH: Next Generation, VicHealth, and the Food For Health Alliance, the symposium brought together experts to discuss strategies for building a more sustainable, healthy, and equitable food system.

The event underscored the necessity of both implementing stronger regulations on unhealthy food actors and fostering nourishing, community-based food environments to build a more sustainable, healthy, and equitable food system.

Regulating Unhealthy Food Actors

Professor Francesco Branca, former Director of Nutrition and Food Safety at the World Health Organization, emphasised the importance of policies that improve the availability and affordability of food, including measures to curb the concentration of commercial players who “financially control” our food system, and regulations to shape our food environments. The visitor from Geneva also spoke of the need to support local small food producers and link them to markets and public food procurements.

Dr Jane Martin, Executive Manager of the Food for Health Alliance, highlighted that one-third of Australians’ energy intake comes from discretionary (junk) foods, with overweight (including obesity) now the leading risk factor contributing to Australia’s disease burden. She outlined current opportunities for government reform and advocated for stronger food labeling controls and regulations on unhealthy food marketing to children, noting that 13 countries have such policies in place.

Dr Martin also discussed the need for mandatory front-of-pack labeling, such as ‘teaspoons of sugar’ and warning symbols, which have proven effective in other countries. With only 35% uptake of the voluntary Health Star Rating scheme in Australia — short of the 70% target hoped for at this time — there is a growing consensus that government mandates are necessary. Additionally, implementing a tiered sugar-sweetened beverage tax, similar to the United Kingdom’s approach, could incentivise the food industry to reformulate products for better health outcomes.

Fostering Nourishing Local Food Environments

Dheepa Jeyapalan, Leader Convenor for Food Systems at Regen Melbourne, introduced the concept of ’15-minute cornucopias’ — local markets within a 15-minute walk where residents can access fresh, healthy food. This vision aims to disrupt current food landscape norms, promote fresh and healthy offerings, and elevate small producers. She called for this initiative to become an “earthshot”: a bold declaration to solve complex social problems through collective ambition and systemic change.

To move towards a more nourishing food environment, the speakers highlighted the need for better integration across different elements of the food system and a greater connection to the land. They emphasised the importance of learning from Aboriginal ways of connecting with and nurturing the land, which have sustained communities for thousands of years. Implementing policies that incentivise all segments of the food system can lead to a thriving food system encompassing jobs, land care, social connection, the joy of food, and improved health outcomes.

The symposium concluded with an engaging Q&A session moderated by VicHealth’s new CEO, Professor Anna Peeters, reflecting the audience’s enthusiasm for actionable change in food policy.

This free event was proudly brought to you by the Global Centre for Preventive Health and Nutrition (GLOBE) within the Institute for Health Transformation (IHT) at Deakin University in partnership with the Victorian Health Promotion Foundation (VicHealth), the Food for Health Alliance and the Centre of Research Excellence in Food Retail Environments for Health: Next Generation (RE-FRESH: Next Generation).

Read the original article written by Julia Thompson on the RE-FRESH: Next Generation website.

If you’re interested in applying for an IHT Partner and Consumer Involvement Grant in 2025, the grant guidelines and application form are available on the funding page on the IHT members portal.

Go back to the June 2025 Newsletter

Written by Michelle Jeavons

3 June, 2025