Health-Enhancing Physical Activity (HEPA) Conference 2023 – daire fitzmaurice.

The conference was jointly organised with the World Health Organisation/Europe and focused on the following title “Implementing Health-Enhancing Physical Activity research: from science to policy and practice.”

There were three excellent keynotes of the 3-day conference from the following corners of the world:

Brett Smith who is a Professor of Physical Activity and Disability in the Department of Sport and Exercise Sciences at Durham University, UK. He who spoke about his project Moving Social Work: A new evidence-based and co-produced programme to promote physical activity to disabled people.

Tegan Cruwys who is an Associate Professor and Clinical Psychologist at the Australian National University. She spoke on how the social world shapes physical activity and exercise.

Karim Abu-Omar who is a lecturer at the Department of Sports Science and Sport at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), Germany. He spoke about the concept of sustainable health-enhancing physical activity, and what the impact of our physical activity is in relation to climate change.

The conference had accepted abstracts and pitches across a whole host of physical activity areas including mental health, older adults, policy, prescription, clinical populations and active aging (to name a few). However, all the symposia, oral presentations and pitch presentations were made extremely easy to navigate using the HEPA mobile app which allowed you to add the sessions you would like to attend to you calendar to keep you in track during the day.

This was my first experience at an international conference and also my first time in Belgium, so I knew I had to make the most of my time there. The conference was a brilliant opportunity to network with other European physical activity for health researchers within the ‘HEPA Family’, especially during the social events. Of course, being a physical-activity based conference there were plenty of opportunities to network and chat to other people while walking to lunch – which was planned a 5 to 10-minute walk away from the main conference room to give attendees a chance to stretch their legs. There was also the option of a walking tour around the beautiful Leuven on the first evening, which took about an hour to see all the sites and local stops of the university city. HEPA also employ a ‘standing applause’ to break up sitting time between talks – the added bonus is that everyone gets a standing ovation!

The PESS department was well supported with both Caera Grady and Kathleen McNally presenting on their work with the Active School Flag, Padraic Rocliffe and Chloe Forte presenting on their PhD work and Thasyse Gomes presenting on GoGreenRoutes project. Kwok Ng and Aurelie van Hoye were also involved in several publications disseminated over the conference. It was a brilliant opportunity to support my colleagues in PESS bu attending their presentations and learning a little more about the work that’s going on in the department.

One of the highlights of the conference was the chance to join one of the HEPA working groups: HEPA promotion in a healthcare setting and learn about the projects and research that they are currently undertaking.  The working groups are a great way to meet other researchers that are in a similar area to your own and provide an opportunity to discuss topics that are directly related to your own research.

HEPA 2024 came just at the end of my 1^st year of my PhD and has renewed my motivation to continue my work into the new academic year and inspired me to disseminate my findings at some upcoming conferences.