Public Health Seminar Series

The School of Population Health Seminar Series offers an opportunity for staff, students and others with an interest in public health research to learn more about the research and related activity of the School. Seminars are held most Wednesdays between 12pm and 1pm and are available online through Microsoft Teams. If you would like more information about the Seminar Series, or if you have suggestions regarding speakers and or topics (including your own) please contact Michele Rains-Joseph. Upcoming seminars may be found at Events.

Watch seminar videos

Is influenza really a seasonal disease?

Dr David Muscatello, Senior Lecturer in infectious diseases epidemiology, School of Public Health and Community Medicine, UNSW Sydney

Annual seasonal influenza vaccine manufacturing cycles align with temperate country seasonality in each hemisphere, yet influenza seasonality is poorly defined for many countries. The study introduces a novel and universal approach to defining and classifying seasonality that can be used to classify any country’s influenza vaccine cycle alignment. <Download flyer> (Presented: 22 August 2018)

The burden of anti-malarial drug resistance in Vietnam

Kieu Nguyet Oanh Phamm Fellow of the 2018 Australia Awards Fellowships program for the activity “Health Security and Anti-malarial Resistance Surveillance Strengthening in Vietnam” at SPHCM

Malaria, a curable and preventable disease, is still a public health burden in Vietnam. Although many prevention and control strategies have been implemented, the goal to eliminate malaria is still a big challenge because of the increasing antimalarial drug resistance in Vietnam and other Greater Mekong Subregion neighbours. Drs Pham and Duong discuss about antimalarial drug resistance and its recent trend in Vietnam. <Download flyer> (Presented: 27 June 2018)

Living with dementia: is there a place for resilience?

Dr Julie Christie has experience of working with people living with dementia as a nurse, social worker and social work manager

New thinking about how to support people with dementia and their care partners is needed if health, social care and housing support systems are to provide more personalised, impactful and cost-effective solutions. Resilience could offer a solution. However, the concept is not well understood and people with dementia are often assumed to be ‘risky people’ This lecture explores our understanding of dementia and resilience, and provides an opportunity to reflect on current thinking and practice in this area. <Download flyer> (Presented: 30 May 2018)

WHO Collaborating Centre on eHealth and underlying digital health R&D program

Professor Teng Liaw, Professor of General Practice and Director, WHO Collaborating Centre on eHealth, SPHCM, UNSW Sydney

Professor Teng Liaw speaks about the designation of the School of Public Health and Community Medicine as a WHO Collaborating Centre on eHealth and a cluster digital health projects being conducted in the SPHCM, UNSW and partner organisations such as Primary Health Networks, Local Health Districts, government and non-government agencies. <Download flyer> (Presented: 23 May 2018)

Learning from using an appreciative inquiry (action research) approach to the study of nursing home life

Dr Natalie Yates-Bolton, Senior Lecturer in Nursing, University of Salford, UK

An appreciative inquiry (action research) approach was used to study how meaning and purpose in the lives of nursing home residents could be enhanced. A primary focus of the study was to optimise the participation of nursing home residents within the study as there was a lack of pro-active involvement of residents in previous studies. <Download flyer> (Presented: 16 May 2018)

Moving from criminal justice to public health approaches to gun control in Australia; the challenges ahead

Samantha Lee, Lawyer, Chair of Gun Control Australia (GCA)

Australia’s gun laws were dramatically amended after Australia experienced the ‘worst lone gun massacre’ the world had seen at Port Arthur in Tasmania. The framework for this change was prevention before cure. It was a departure from the traditional “criminal justice” approach to gun control towards a “public health approach”. This talk examines why this “public health” model has been so beneficial to Australia, and the challenges ahead for preventing this model being undermined. <Download flyer> (Presented: 11 April 2018)

Prevention is the best cure: Preventive lessons from historic misconduct by clinicians in New Zealand

Professor Kate Diesfeld, Chair of the Ethics Committee and Professor of Law at Auckland University of Technology

Many patients who file complaints regarding clinicians’ misconduct claim their primary goal is to protect future patients. In this spirit, a team of New Zealand researchers have researched who, what, where, when and how misconduct occurred. Due to New Zealand’s unique medico-legal system, the Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal has significant relevance for patient safety. Also, for those who believe that physicians should heal themselves, further ballast is provided our research on how clinicians’ health impairments featured in disciplinary proceedings. <Download flyer> (Presented: 14 February 2018)

Strengthening and monitoring food policies to reduce chronic disease in the Pacific Islands

A/Prof Jacqui Webster (BA Sociology, MA Development Studies, PhD Public Health, RPHNut) is Head of Advocacy and Policy Impact in the Centre for Health Systems Research and Director of the World Health Organization Collaborating Centre on Population Salt Reduction at the George institute for Global Health

Discusses the results of an NHMRC-funded salt reduction intervention project in Fiji and Samoa. The project used a pre-post study design to evaluate the impact of multi-faceted population-wide interventions. Measurement of population salt intake and knowledge and behaviours around salt was integrated into the WHO’s STEPwise program for Noncommunicable disease risk factor surveillance at baseline. <Download flyer> (Presented: 12 July 2017)

A quick guide to working with climate data

James Goldie, PhD student, Climate Change Research Centre, UNSW Sydney

Weather observations and climate models are integral to many environmental health studies, but not all datasets are created equal. This talk introduces the variety of climate data available to researchers, from the satellite and weather station records covering our past to the climate models developed to gain insight into the future. (Presented: 28 June 2017)

Interviewing sensitive populations – stories from a researcher

Dr Sarah Wayland, BSW, PhD (Health) is a qualitative research methodologist who has extensive experience in examining traumatic loss and mental illhealth within vulnerable populations

This seminar explores the experiences, challenges and benefits of working with vulnerable populations. It identifies the guest speakers’ lived experience in working with victims of crime, people living with complex mental health needs and in the justice health space. <Download flyer> (Presented: 21 June 2017)

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