Seminar Series
Seminar Series
MERQ runs an annual seminar series on topics relating to medical and health education research as well as providing professional development opportunities.
If you would like to be notified of forthcoming MERQ Seminars, please join our seminar mailing list. For information about the seminar program, please contact us.
5 AUGUST 2025 How to solve [almost] any problem: a playful yet proven, step-by-step approach to pulling apart virtually any problem to discover effective, elegant solutions that actually workJason Clarke – Founder, Minds at Work When asked: "What would you do if you only had one hour to solve a problem?" Einstein replied: "I’d spend 55 minutes working out which questions to ask".
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14 APRIL 2025 Prevention of Gender-Based Violence in Public Health University CurriculumMatilda Hutchinson – Our Watch Our Watch is Australia’s leader in the primary prevention of violence against women. Matilda Hutchinson from the Our Watch Prevention in Teaching and Learning team shares resources and strategies for academics teaching public health that can be included across public health curricula and teaching practice across the country. The Prevention in Teaching and Learning resources are developed in consultation with academic and teaching staff from universities and sector experts. These resources form part of Educating for Equality, a whole-of-university model developed by Our Watch and Universities Australia in collaboration with universities across Australia. |
14 AUGUST 2024 Doing Research with Routinely-Collected Hospital Data: |
25 JUNE 2024 Essential skills for health professionals – the ones we don't teach!Professor Rob Moodie – Professor of Public Health, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne Teaching and fostering the development of human skills (often erroneously referred to as ‘soft’ skills) is critical for health professionals. Skills such as creating vision, decision-making, problem-solving, active listening, powerful questioning, managing conflict, managing performance and a range of emotional intelligence skills such as self-awareness and self-management are also essential to nurture leadership. This talk will discuss an inclusive view of leadership that is independent of authority, using a collaborative learning approach where participants are guided through a highly interactive, ongoing practice of reflection, self-assessment, and development as leaders.
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14 NOVEMBER 2023 Exploratory Pedagogic Inquiry for Academic DevelopmentProfessor Debbi Marais – Director of Postgraduate Education, Warwick Medical School Exploratory Pedagogic Inquiry (EPI) is a collaborative process that enables Higher Education teaching staff to engage in practitioner inquiry into teaching and learning. This seminar offers a practical introduction to EPI, providing the opportunity to reflect on successes and challenges in personal practice by peer coaching. In so doing, participants will learn how to identify uncertainties in what is being said through active listening.
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10 JULY 2023 How you can improve accessibility of your presentations for disabled academicsProfessor Louise Purton – Head, Stem Cell Regulation, St Vincent's Institute of Medical Research 1 in 5 people have a disability, of which there are many different types. In recent years people have been trained to be minimalist in their oral presentations, however, this has reduced accessibility of the presentations for many with disabilities. In this presentation, Professor Purton will highlight many of these issues and provide tips on how you can improve accessibility of oral presentations for people with different disabilities.
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20 MARCH 2023 A decade of public health advocacy: Peaks, pitfalls and possibilitiesDr Bronwyn King AO – Founder, Director and CEO – Tobacco Free Portfolios Dr Bronwyn King presents her story of a career that spans elite sport, oncology, sustainable finance, and health advocacy. She shares surprising and inspiring stories of how her focus shifted unexpectedly towards public health, leading to the development of an NGO with a global footprint and a start-up taking its first steps. Dr King discusses her learnings, insights and visions for a healthier future for all.
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23 MAY 2022 Narratives of Progression: From medical student to doctorProfessor Sandra Carr – Head of the Division of Health Professions Education at the University of Western Australia This interpretive phenomenological study reports on the findings from in-depth interviews of 38 final year medical students who had experienced a significant academic interruption and follows their process of working through failure and their transition from academic failure to becoming a junior doctor.
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4 APRIL 2022 Professionalism and the evolution of the healthcare professional: Can ProfESS make a difference?Associate Professor Lyn Clearihan – Associate Dean Professionalism (Practice Standards), Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, Monash University In 2021 the Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences introduced a new framework (Professional standards, Ethical behaviour and Student Support - ProFESS) across all of its courses. The focus of the framework is to foster a greater understanding of professionalism, aid students in their professional identity formation development, address professional behaviour lapses early and encourage behaviour change or modification if needed. The framework underpins the revised Fitness for Practice approach within the faculty and marries student support with the need for students to meet course expectations and professional standards. This presentation explores why the framework is needed and how it works.
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8 NOVEMBER 2021 Nothing is certain but uncertainty: Helping our students prepare for the certainty of uncertainty through our teaching practicesAssociate Professor Michelle Lazarus – Director of the Monash Centre for Human Anatomy Education within the Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute In addition to her leadership roles, Associate Professor Lazarus is passionate about evidence-based education. Her research group explores ways of improving basic science teaching to enhance students’ professional identity and role development, as well as knowledge competency. Her recent work explores the role of uncertainty within healthcare science education, challenging her own tolerance of uncertainty (an academic irony). |
16 AUGUST 2021 Sit less and move more for cardiometabolic health: Emerging insights and opportunitiesProfessor David Dunstan – Head of the Physical Activity Laboratory at the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute Professor Dunstan's multi-disciplinary research program has provided substantial contributions to the evidence base on the adverse health consequences of too much sitting, and the potential health benefits resulting from frequently breaking up sitting time. He has an extensive track record in the design and management of clinical/laboratory and health behaviour intervention trials involving chronic disease subgroups in real-world settings and large scale epidemiological studies. In this seminar he synthesises the observational and experimental evidence on the adverse effects of prolonged, uninterrupted sitting, and the evidence identifying the possible mechanisms underlying the associated risk.
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21 OCTOBER 2020 Gender and COVID: challenges and silver liningsProfessor Jane Fisher AO – Professor of Global Health, Director of the Global and Women’s Health Unit, and Co-Lead of the Planetary Health Division at the School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University Professor Fisher discusses some of the gendered challenges faced during the COVID-19 pandemic, but also highlights opportunities as we head into recovery.
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12 AUGUST 2020 Planetary health in a COVID worldProfessor Tony Capon – Director, Monash Sustainable Development Institute Professor Capon presents information relating to planetary health and how our ‘new normal’ has provided both opportunities and challenges for human health impacts.
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24 JUNE 2020 Black lives matter: Practical examples for addressing Indigenous health in VictoriaDaniel Carter – Director of Aboriginal Health at Monash Health Daniel Carter is a proud Ngarrindjeri/Wergaia man who grew up in Melbourne's south east suburbs. He is a Monash University alumni with over ten years experience in Aboriginal health and community engagement roles with state and local government in addition to NGOs.
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19 FEBRUARY 2020 Using Social Media for Knowledge TranslationDr Richard Huysmans – Author of Connect the Docs: A Guide to getting industry partners for academics Dr Huysmans provides an overview, tips and advice for using various social media platforms to maximise your knowledge translation and share emerging evidence with the general public.
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30 OCTOBER 2019 Australia's healthcare system is about 120,000 years oldProfessor Karen Adams – Director, Gukwonderuk Indigenous Unit, Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, Monash University Australia’s First Peoples have the oldest continuing culture on the planet some 120,000 years old. This is underpinned by a robust and vibrant healthcare system that supports wellbeing in sophisticated and sustainable ways. So why is that studies of Indigenous health and wellbeing continually paint such poor pictures and describe deficits, problems and gaps? In this seminar Professor Adams discusses First Peoples' determinants of health and wellbeing which largely focus on sustainability, relationship and connection. These start in early life in south east Australia during pre-conception and continue on during and after birth through connection to country, family and community. This seminar also deconstructs the ongoing settler colonial discourse of "Indigenous health" that perpetuates myths, stereotypes and terra nullius, and highlights examples of emerging First People's healthcare that incorporate very old ways of knowing, being and doing.
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9 OCTOBER 2019 Finding the grey: an introduction to uncovering government documents, reports and data to inform health researchCassandra Freeman – Subject Librarian with the Faculty of Medicine, Health Sciences and Nursing at Monash University Library Public health requires an understanding and appreciation of policy and the impact of disease. Whilst much is available through the peer reviewed literature, there is a significant amount of valuable research that can be difficult to find that can also be essential in informing public health research. This 'grey literature' consists of information and research produced by organisations outside of the traditional commercial or academic publishing and distribution channels. It includes reports, working papers, government documents, white papers and evaluations. In this seminar, Cassandra Freeman talks about strategies and tips to effectively find this literature and suggested ways to document and report how you have searched.
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21 AUGUST 2019 The globalisation of health and human rightsDr Maithri Goonetilleke – Senior Lecturer in the Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, Monash University Global health lies at the nexus of global patterns of biological and social disorder. The last forty years of neoliberal globalisation have not just affected global economies but have had tangible impacts on the health and human rights of individuals and communities around the world. In this seminar Dr Goonetilleke explores the nature of these effects and considers the way forward for the health of our globalised world.
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12 JUNE 2019 Why gambling is a global public health problem, and what we can do about itAssociate Professor Charles Livingstone – Head, Gambling and Social Determinants Unit, School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University Gambling is increasingly perceived as a major public health problem, with estimates of gambling-derived harm now indicating a harm burden around two-thirds that of alcohol misuse and abuse, and on a par with major depression. Yet gambling continues to expand, globally, and the gambling industry is rapidly expanding in low and middle income countries, having consolidated a significant market in high income countries. This seminar, adapted from a recent presentation at WHO HQ, will explain the nature and scale of gambling harm globally; demonstrate that gambling can best be addressed by adopting effective public health approaches to harm prevention and minimisation; and provide suggestions on how to bring about a more unified and globally applicable approach to gambling harm prevention. |
20 MARCH 2019 Learning from our success in tobacco & UV to address new challenges in public healthCraig Sinclair – Head, Prevention Division, Cancer Council Victoria Our understanding of how to reduce cancer risks at the population level is becoming better, particularly as a result of our efforts in tobacco control and skin cancer which has had the benefit of over 30 years of investment by governments and civil society to tackle the issue. In this seminar Craig Sinclair discusses how these learnings can be applied within the context of significant and potentially bigger challenges facing us in relation to obesity, alcohol and screening.
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12 SEPTEMBER 2018 Mental health panel discussionLyn Clearihan, Mio Ihashi, Arshdeep Cheema R U OK? Day is a national day of action dedicated to reminding everyone that any day is the day to ask, “Are you ok?” and support those that might be struggling. The day is about inspiring people to start these conversations every day of the year. To coincide with R U OK? Day, we dedicated this seminar to a mental health discussion featuring a panel of presenters talking about mental health from their various perspectives and providing information and tips to help people feel supported and connected.
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11 JULY 2018 How community engagement can enhance healthcareMel Hagedorn – Engagement Manager, Bang The Table There is growing recognition about the importance of partnerships between health services and health professionals with patients, families, carers and consumers. So how do we can we achieve this? In this seminar Mel Hagedorn showcases how online engagement can be an effective tool to engage with health service communities. Mel has an extensive background in marketing, public engagement and philanthropy working at the Children’s Hospital Foundation, across all levels of Government and large multinational corporations. A registered B-Corp organisation, Bang the Table’s mission is to improve the quality of public debate and level of community involvement in public life.
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14 MARCH 2018 Research into Practice – How Alfred Health reduced sugary drink consumption and caused a media stirKia Noble – Dietitian and Acting Population Health Coordinator at Alfred Health Are you currently working on interesting projects and looking for ideas to translate this knowledge into practice and policy? Alfred Health introduced a number of initiatives to reduce consumption of sugar sweetened drinks at The Alfred through a series of behavioural insights trials. Learn more about this exciting work and how research outcomes were shared with colleagues and the general public using savvy communication.
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30 AUGUST 2017 Knowledge translation – Practical examples of how to influence policyProfessor Maxine Morand Professor Morand has a background in health, research, politics and senior management. Following her career in the Victorian parliament, Maxine transitioned into executive roles, currently Board Chair of Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and board member of Access Community Health. In this seminar, Professor Morand presented the challenges and enablers faced when translating evidence into policy and practice. |
7 JUNE 2017 Presentation skillsJohn Yeo – Convenor, TEDx Melbourne Staff and students from SPHPM and the Alfred precinct learnt how to deliver messages with impact and keep their audiences engaged from TEDx Melbourne’s Jon Yeo. The highly anticipated seminar was attended by over 100 people in the new conference facilities at 553 St Kilda Road. Jon delivered a dynamic and informative presentation highlighting key points in determining effective communication. |
29 MARCH 2017 Online engagement – What to do and how to do it wellAnn-Marie Pistikakis and Cosette Paneque – Breast Cancer Network Australia (BCNA) This seminar showcases examples from Monash University units using online engagement with students. It also features BCNA representatives sharing how online engagement can be used as a tool to support those that are facing health issues. A fantastic opportunity to learn more about existing approaches to online engagement and develop ideas for your own use.
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Seminar recording is available for School staff and students