 From May 13 to 15, I attended the World Conference on Health Promotion at the ADNEC Center in Abu Dhabi, UAE. The focus of the conference was Settings for Planetary Health and Well-being. This was a historic event for two reasons; it was the first time the conference was hosted in the Middle East, the “cradle of civilization,” and second, the first IUHPE conference held in person following the COVID-19 pandemic. I presented two papers from my doctoral studies, exploring health promotion within healthcare. I was able to attend this conference thanks to the support from my supervisors (Dr. Christine Cassidy and Dr. Janet Curran) and funding through the CIHR Health Systems Impact Fellowship (Postdoctoral). Over the course of the conference, I interacted with researchers, practitioners and members from non-governmental agencies, all working towards a similar goal: to improve the social and environmental conditions where people live, work and play. The conference themes included systems-level collaborations, digital health transformation and equity, inclusion and Indigenous knowledges. This conference was a meeting place for sharing ideas, science and solutions. The conference was also a place for action, ending with the writing of the Abu Dhabi Legacy Statement of the IUHPE. Past declarations have been attributed to setting the future direction of health promotion research. I attended an exceptional workshop about the challenges of health promotion research. Health promotion was the focus of my doctoral studies, and it confirmed my reflections and findings. Health promotion research is often viewed as secondary to other health systems research, even though it is essential for reorienting health services and, thus, reducing healthcare costs, and a component of the Quintuple aim (improving population health). Therefore, health promotion researchers must be creative and find opportunities to advocate for improving the social and structural determinants of health. Be a “Trojan horse” for health promotion and find ways to influence the system, even if they aren’t obvious. As a follow-up, I had the privilege of attending a mentor moment – a session with a leading health promotion scholar, who also happened to be one of the presenters of the workshop. It was an invigorating and uplifting session filled with optimism, realism, and laughs. We talked about the challenges of health promotion research (e.g., studying interventions in complex environments), how fun it is to be a researcher (getting paid to learn) and the importance of relying on the networks of people around you to keep learning. I look forward to applying this learning to my research as a Postdoctoral Fellow and developing my program of research to incorporate these lessons. Laura Kennedy, Postdoctoral Fellow  |
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