KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
Professor Ilona Kickbusch is the Founder of the Global Health Centre at the Graduate Institute in Geneva. Her areas of expertise include the political determinants of health, health in all policies, digital transformations and global health. She advises countries on their global health strategies, trains health specialists, and is involved in health initiatives of political bodies such as G7 and G20. She publishes widely and serves on various commissions and boards. Ilona is a member of the Global Preparedness Monitoring Board and has been Co-Chair of UHC 2030, and the Lancet and Financial Times Commission title Governing health futures 2030: Growing up in a digital world. She has had a distinguished career with the WHO. She was a key instigator of the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion and WHO’s Healthy Cities Network and has remained a leader in this field, most recently serving on the Who Council on the Economics of Health for All. She was the Director of the Global Health Division at Yale University School of Public Health and responsible for the first major Fulbright Programme on global health.
Malcolm Aston is a proud Ngarrindjeri man from the Coorong in South Australia, and an Aboriginal health leader whose work spans community advocacy, government policy, and public health practice. In April 2026, he was elected as one of six representatives for Region 4 (Murraylands, Riverland and Southeast) on the South Australian First Nations Voice to Parliament — Australia's first legislated First Nations Voice to Parliament — providing strategic advice to government on legislation, policy and programs affecting Aboriginal communities, and ensuring decisions are grounded in lived experience and cultural knowledge. Alongside this role, Malcolm leads Aboriginal Programs at Cancer Council SA, overseeing the design, delivery and evaluation of culturally appropriate cancer prevention, research and support programs for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities across the state. His current work includes building workforce accreditation pathways with frontline services, and co-designing a statewide Aboriginal Cancer Rebate Pilot to lift bowel screening participation. Malcolm's career spans more than 15 years of leadership in Aboriginal health and community services, including regional leadership of Indigenous suicide prevention services in the Australian Capital Territory, community-led research coordination, and delivering cultural awareness, mental health first aid and suicide intervention training across Australia through his own consultancy. Across every role, Malcolm has worked at the intersection of community voice and institutional systems — translating lived experience into policy, and policy into programs communities can trust.
Professor James Smith is an applied health promotion researcher with 25 years working at the research, policy, and practice nexus. He is an ARC Mid-Career Industry Fellow (Young Men's Health), Matthew Flinders Professor in Health and Social Equity, and the Co-Director of the FHMRI Health Equity Impact Program. His research interests are eclectic, spanning fields such as health equity, men’s health, alcohol and other drugs, mental health and wellbeing, Indigenous health, and youth health. He is a Fellow and Life Member of the Australian Health Promotion Association, where has contributed to serving AHPA for over two decades through roles such as SA and NT Branch President, National Vice President, National Chair of the Research, Evaluation and Evidence Translation Committee, National Conference Co-Convenor, and immediate past Editor-in-Chief of the Health Promotion Journal of Australia. He currently sits on the Global Executive Board of the International Union for Health Promotion and Education (IUHPE) and is the IUHPE Global Vice President of Scientific Affairs and Co-Chair of the Global Scientific Committee for the 2028 World Health Promotion Conference. He also holds a ministerial appointment as the National Chair of the Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) Reducing Health Inequities Mission Expert Advisory Panel.
Holley Skene is a leading voice in sexual and reproductive health and rights in South Australia, with over 15 years’ experience across government and non-government sectors. With qualifications in psychology and public health, she brings deep expertise in health promotion, systems change and equity-driven practice.Holley is Chief Executive Officer of SHINE SA, a leading provider of comprehensive, evidence-based and LGBTIQA+ inclusive sexual health services and relationships education. She is also a qualified Company Director.In addition to her executive role, Holley serves as Chair of Sexual and Reproductive Health Australia and as a Non-Executive Director on the Board of LGBTIQA+ Health Australia, contributing to national leadership on policy, advocacy and service delivery.A strong advocate for the power of grassroots movement building to drive lasting change, Holley is committed to advancing equitable health outcomes for all communities. Her leadership has been recognised through her inclusion in South Australia’s 2024 40 Under 40.
Blair lives in the North Eastern suburbs of Adelaide with his wife and three daughters. He grew up on the family farm, just across the border not far from Mount Gambier. He was elected to represent the State electorate of Wright in 2018 and was appointed Minister for Education Training and Skills in March 2022 and Minister for Police in September 2025, and the Minister for Health and Wellbeing in March 2026. The focus of Blair’s work in government has been education, training and skills, child protection, and emergency services.
Aunty Margaret Brodie
Kaurna Elder
Aunty Margaret Brodie is a Kaurna Elder. She is a daughter of Auntie Veronica Brodie, and great-great-granddaughter of Lartelare, a senior Kaurna woman who was born by the Port River, Kaurna Country in 1851. Over the last 10 years, as a certified Tour Guide, Margaret has shared culture and story with schools and community thru walking tours and workshops. She has recently been involved in the Port Adelaide Enfield Council ‘Art of Reconciliation’ project, plus ‘Bodies of Work’ and ‘Art and Culture after the Creative City’ at Vitalstatistix.
My weaving comes from watching my mother and other local women teaching it. It is part of my Kaurna and Ngarrindjeri cultural background and now I have female family members doing it and teaching it as well. My sewing comes from home economics in school and my Aunty. These practices are part of our survival – we learn those skills just as we learn storytelling.
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