The 5th annual Sustainability, Climate, and Health Collaboration Forum

The fifth annual forum of the Sustainability Climate and Health Collaboration will be held on Monday 8th September, 2025.

The annual forum brings together researchers, practitioners and policy makers to share interdisciplinary work on advancing climate resilient and sustainable health practice.

In the era of compounding disaster threats, the theme of this year’s event will be ‘Building resilience at all levels’.

The Aims of this year’s event are:

• To provide a friendly environment for expanding our networks and knowledge across scales from local to international
• To share interdisciplinary perspectives on the intersections between health, climate, environment and sustainability.
• To provide opportunities for HDRs and ECRs to meet one another, share research and develop their research strategies

We have an amazing panel of speakers lined up across three sessions. Each session will be followed by an interactive panel discussion with the speakers.

Welcome Addresses:

• Prof Joel Negin, Academic Lead, Academic Excellence Program, Office of the Provost, University of Sydney
• Prof David Schlosberg, Director, Sydney Environment Institute, University of Sydney
• Prof Vicki Flood, Director, University Centre for Rural Health, University of Sydney

Session 1: Community Contexts

• Dr Theresa Caruana, University of New South Wales, “Treatment access issues for people on opioid dependence treatments during the 2022 Northern Rivers flooding”
• Mrs. Caroline Deen, University of Sydney, “Food security across the Northern Territory and Torres Strait Islands”
• Deputy Captain Glenn O’Rourke, NSW Rural Fire Service, “Community resilience for better bushfire responses”
• Dr Tonia Crawford, University of Sydney, “What can nurses do to enact health policies that aim to strengthen disaster preparedness?”

Session 2: National and Regional Contexts

• Dr Madeleine Skellern, Director of the National Health, Sustainability and Climate Unit, “National Health and Climate Strategy and Next Steps”
• Professor Xiaoqi Feng, University of New South Wales, “The Risks of Not Planting Trees”
• Dr Louise Woodward, Northern Territory Paediatrician, “Northern Australia – our very own fossil fuel ‘sacrifice zone’”
• Representative from United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), presentation TBC

Session 3: Capacity Building Workshop

In the afternoon, we are blessed to have Professor Yuming Guo from Monash University host a capacity building session for HDRs and EMCRs on ‘Environmental epidemiology and its application in climate and health research’.

We will also be hosting a HDR and EMCR poster competition – more details can be found below and saved for future reference here. The top three (3) poster winners will be invited to present their research in a flash talk series at 2.45pm.

Hosted by: The Sustainability, Climate and Health Collaboration

Co-hosts: Sydney Environment Institute and Sydney School of Public Health

When: Monday 8th September 2025: 9.30 am – 3.00 pm AEST

Where:

In person: Room 416, Susan Wakil Building Event Place, Camperdown Campus, The University of Sydney

Online: via Zoom https://uni-sydney.zoom.us/j/84636365400

Attendees: Anyone who is interested in collaborating on this topic is welcome.

Register by 1st September 2025.

Registration is free but required due to limited spaces. Light morning tea and lunch will be provided for networking.

Event Organising Committee: Dr Tu Nguyen (Co-Chair), Dr Rebecca McNaught (Co-Chair), A/Prof Ying Zhang (Co-Chair), Caillin Dunsford