PESS Researchers attend HEPA 2026

What is HEPA?

HEPA Europe is an annual conference that brings together researchers, policymakers and practitioners interested in the promotion of health-enhancing physical activity. The theme of this year’s HEPA Europe conference, hosted in Ljubljana by Slovenia’s National Institute of Public Health, was “Green Pathways to Health: Integrating Green Spaces and 24-Hour Movement Behaviours for Combating NCDs”. Reflecting the theme of this year’s conference, the keynote speakers were Mark Nieuwenhuijsen (Director of the Urban Planning, Environment and Health Initiative and the Climate, Air Pollution, Nature and Urban Health research program at ISGlobal, Barcelona), Željko Pedišić (President of the International Network of Time-Use Epidemiologists and Maja Simoneti (national lead for the Active Travel to School and Healthy City programmes in Slovenia).

What were PESS Researchers doing at HEPA?

PESS was represented at HEPA by Catherine Woods, Enrique García Bengoechea, Kevin Volf and Daire Fitzmaurice. Research presented by the PESS team included work from IMPAQT, a consortium applying the Physical Activity Environment Policy Index (PA-EPI) framework in six European countries, and ULMedEx, UL’s 12-week community exercise programme for adults living with chronic disease.

 In a dedicated IMPAQT symposium Kevin Volf presented on the development of national PA-EPI Evidence Document (available at the UL research repository) and Catherine Woods then presented the first cross-country PA-EPI comparison showing how Ireland’s physical activity policy implementation compares with Germany, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland and Romania. Daire Fitzmaurice presented qualitative research demonstrating that opportunity, not motivation, was central to whether people attended ULMedEx.

Why attend a conference like HEPA

Conferences like HEPA Europe matter because they put research in front of the people best placed to use it and challenge it. Presenting alongside consortium partners and policymakers from across Europe strengthens existing collaborations and creates opportunities for new ones. It also helps ensure UL’s work keep informing physical activity policy and practice in Ireland and beyond.

Written by Dr Kevin Volf