13 November 2026 | InterContinental Sydney Coogee Beach
HealthX 2026: Enabling Healthy Lives in a Changing Climate
About HealthX
Now in its fifth year, HealthX is UNSW Medicine & Health’s annual symposium for interdisciplinary dialogue and connection. It brings researchers, clinicians, professional staff and students into the conversation with critical partners from government, health services, industry and the community.
By connecting perspectives from Medicine & Health with expertise across UNSW and beyond, HealthX creates a space to generate ideas, identify shared priorities and build new collaborations.
HealthX 2026: Enabling healthy lives in a changing climate
Climate change is arguably the most urgent issue of our time, placing growing pressure on communities and reshaping the demands on health systems. Reflecting the UNSW Strategy, with ambitions to enable healthy lives and accelerate the transition to a sustainable society and planet, HealthX 2026: Enabling healthy lives in a changing climate will connect expertise from across UNSW with partners in government, health services, industry and the community.
Across four sessions we will explore practical action and build the cross-disciplinary collaborations needed to create healthier communities and climate-ready health systems. Be part of the conversation and help shape how UNSW can enable healthy lives in a changing climate.
Program
- Friday
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Keynotes:
Dr Sandro Demaio*
Director of the World Health Organization Asia-Pacific Centre for the Environment and HealthDr Ali Drummond
Chief Executive Officer, Congress of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Nurses and Midwives -
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Associate Professor Negin Nazarian
School of Built Environment, UNSWProfessor Andy Pitman
Climate Change Research Centre, UNSWProfessor Jason Sharples
Director, Bushfire Research Group UNSW CanberraAssociate Professor Bhiamie Williamson
Program Lead at National Indigenous Disaster Resilience, Monash University -
Professor Madeleine Skellern
Director, National Health, Sustainability and Climate UnitAssociate Professor Bridget Pratt
Mater Senior Lecturer in Healthcare Ethics, Queensland Bioethics Centre, Australian Catholic UniversityProfessor Ian Hamilton
Director, Global Planetary Health Program, The George Institute for Global HealthAlana Stoeger
District Sustainability Program Manager, Hunter New England Local Health District -
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Professor Cameron Holley
School of Law Society & Criminology, UNSWProfessor Ben Newell
Director, UNSW Institute for Climate Risk and ResponseDr Jacek Andesrt
Research Fellow, Guunu-maana (Heal) Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Program at The George Institute for Global HealthKeziah Bennett-Brook
Program Director, Guunu-maana (Heal) Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Program
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Please note: Program details are subject to change.
*Dr Sandro Demaio appears by arrangement with Claxton Speakers International.
Steering Committee
Location
Due to the temporary closure of John Niland Scientia Building (G19), HealthX has moved to another venue:
The Centennial Room
InterContinental Coogee Beach
242 Arden St, Coogee
If you have any questions about HealthX, please contact us via email.
Contact us
If you have any questions about HealthX, please contact us via email.
research.support@unsw.edu.auAcknowledgement of Country
UNSW respectfully acknowledges the Bedegal people, who are the Traditional Owners of the land on which the Kensington campus is situated. We honour their deep, enduring connection to this Country and pay our respects to Elders past and present. As we come together on these lands to share ideas, build knowledge, and foster connections, we commit to walking together enable healthy lives in a changing climate.