Creating systems change for physical activity with Professor Adrian Bauman AO

Addressing physical inactivity is recognised as a major challenge for prevention, and efforts in Australia to date have been intermittent and un-coordinated. No national physical activity policy exists in Australia, although such a framework is essential for progress.

Furthermore, despite much NHMRC-funded research assessing the effectiveness of individual interventions, little integration has occurred across sectors that could contribute to a more active Australia.

A systems approach to understanding and influencing physical inactivity is the only way we are likely to make population health improvements in this risk factor, or make any progress towards achieving the World Health Organization goal of a reduction in inactivity by 15% by 2030.

Adrian Bauman AO

Adrian Bauman (Emeritus Professor of Public Health, Sydney University, Australia) has 30 years experience in non-communicable disease prevention and physical activity research. He co-directs the WHO Collaborating Centre on Physical Activity, Nutrition and Obesity. He is an investigator affiliated with the Australian Prevention Partnership Centre. Current research interests include systems approaches to physical activity and implementation science methods for prevention. He is well-published in the scientific literature and was named 2014-2020 Thompson Reuter (Clarivate) lists of highly cited researchers.

Dr Natasha Schranz

After completing her PhD in 2012, Natasha co-founded and led the national Active Healthy Kids Australia (AHKA) collaboration for five years. In this early-career research role, Natasha advocated across sectors, using the AHKA Report Card on Physical Activity for Children and Young People as the driving mechanism, for increased investment at all levels to support children’s participation in physical activity. Natasha was also a member of the Active Healthy Kids Global Alliance Executive Committee as the Oceania representative during this time. She then moved on to work at the Heart Foundation where she worked closely with the cardiovascular research community in SA and developed a community-based pilot program to increase the awareness of the risk factors for heart disease in regional communities. In February 2020 Natasha was appointed as Wellbeing SA Principal Physical Activity Officer, within the state health portfolio and has been leading their physical activity agenda. To date, this has broadly included co-leading the development of an across-government state-wide walking strategy, development of a state-wide physical activity communications campaign and establishing an ongoing partnership with 10,000 Steps for implementation of the program across SA. Natasha is the co-facilitator of the webinar.

Professor Lucie Rychetnik

Lucie Rychetnik is Co-Director of The Australian Prevention Partnership Centre, Professor with the School of Public Health at the University of Sydney, and Adjunct Professor with the School of Medicine at the University of Notre Dame Australia. She has over 30 years of experience in translating research and mobilising knowledge for public health policy and practice; conducting empirical research on the use of evidence in population health, disease prevention and clinical settings; and leading methodological work on evidence synthesis and appraisal for public health decisions. Lucie is the co-facilitator of the webinar.