Held online 24-26 November, ISHCA 21: Ensuring Equity Through Engagement and Research will explore how implementation science can be harnessed to produce better health outcomes for all.

The opening plenary session will highlight the challenges of health equity in implementation research, with speakers Professor Lisa Jackson-Pulver (University of Sydney), Dr Heidi Janssen, (Hunter Medical Research Institute) and Professor Chris Russell (Flinders University) drawing from their diverse experiences in research and practice.

The importance and value of stakeholder engagement in implementation research will be addressed by Professor Gillian Harvey (Flinders University), Ms Ainslie Cahill AM (SPHERE) and Associate Professor Reema Harrison (Macquarie University) in a session designed to stimulate thinking about engaging leaders from communities.

“We are delighted to have such eminent speakers from around Australia representing a wide range of disciplines. Their expertise will make this first Implementation Science Health Conference Australia an event not to be missed,” said Dr Nicole Rankin, Director of Sydney Health Partners' Implementation Science Program.

Attendees will hear from experts about the challenges of balancing implementation and clinical outcomes at a panel discussion featuring Professor Russel Gruen (Australian National University), Ms Merran Findlay (Chris O’Brien Lifehouse), Dr Trish Bradd (Clinical Excellence Commission), and Professor Luke Wolfenden (National Centre of Implementation Science at the University of Newcastle).

ISHCA will commence with a free Q&A session with Prof Nick Sevdalis, Director, Centre for Implementation Science, King’s College London.

“Over the three days we’ll explore contemporary issues in Implementation Science, deepening our understanding of how interventions can be successfully implemented in different contexts to reduce health inequities,” said Dr Rankin.

Dr Rankin says health systems continue to be challenged by systematic differences in the health status and outcomes of different population groups.

“Addressing these systematic differences and improving health outcomes for different populations requires effective and tailored implementation of innovation, not just the innovation itself,” she said.

“Implementation science provides a deeper understanding of how interventions succeed in different contexts, so that they can be more effectively delivered to everyone, at scale, and work to reduce health inequities.”

ISHCA 21 is jointly hosted by Sydney Health Partners, Maridulu Budyari Gumal (SPHERE) and the National Centre of Implementation Science (NCOIS; University of Newcastle).