October 16, 2025Northern Health Research Week returns this year from 20-24 October 2025, showcasing the breadth and depth of research activity across our organisation, and highlighting the significant contributions of staff and university partners – La Trobe University, RMIT University, and The University of Melbourne. The theme for this year is ‘Healthcare 2050’ as we envisage the future and the important role that Northern Health research will play in advancing clinical care for the people of Melbourne’s North and beyond.
2025 has been another year of strong growth and transformation for research at Northern Health, marked by an impressive 21 per cent increase in abstract submissions for Research Week 2025, compared to 2024.
Highlights of the year include the launch of the Equity Diversity and Inclusion Research Partnership with La Trobe University in March 2025. The partnership will establish a collaborative research hub dedicated to enhancing health equity and diversity research, specifically addressing the needs of one of Victoria’s most diverse and rapidly growing regions. The collaboration will also provide new career development opportunities for staff and students from both La Trobe University and Northern Health, helping to cultivate a stronger and more skilled workforce for the future.
There has also been remarkable progress of the Clinical Translational Research Partnership with RMIT University, established in May 2024. Already the partnership has delivered impressive outcomes including significant external funding and has seen the appointment of a joint Professor of Translational Research, appointment of a joint postdoctoral fellow and research assistant, and commencement of the first of several PhD candidates.
Research Week 2025 will celebrate these achievements and more, bringing together national leaders and our own expert researchers to share knowledge, spark ideas, and inspire future discoveries.
Highlights for Research Week:
- An opening session featuring our Chief Executive, Ms Debra Bourne, who will spotlight research at Northern Health.
- Keynote addresses delivered by internationally recognised researchers such as:
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- Professor Vassilis Kostakos (University of Melbourne) – A human-centred approach to digital health
- Professor James Boyd (Latrobe University) – Health Research in the Digital Age
- Distinguished Professor Vasso Apostolopoulos AM (RMIT University) – Bench to Bedside: Translating Cancer Vaccine Research into the Clinic.
- Associate Professor Sam Forster (Hudson Institute of Medical Research) – Making Microbiome-Based Medicines a Reality.
- Showcasing Northern Health researchers through oral presentations of the top-ranked abstract submissions, and a series of poster sessions throughout the week in the Northern Hospital Epping foyer.
The week will conclude with a celebration of research excellence, including presentations from recent recipients of competitive grants, a lively Great Debate on the topic “Robots will replace clinicians by 2050” and an awards ceremony for best poster, people’s choice poster, and best abstract oral presentations including the 2025 Peter Brooks Research Award.
Research Week 2025 promises to be an inspiring and insightful event, offering opportunities for researchers at all stages of their career to connect, share, and celebrate the remarkable work being undertaken at Northern Health.
We look forward to your participation as we showcase the impact of research in shaping better care for our community and more broadly outcomes in healthcare.
A big thank you to the research office, in particular Britt Szabo and Pree Holman, for all their work in pulling another wonderful week together.
| Associate Professor Mayur Garg | Associate Prof Justine Ellis |
| Director of Gastroenterology | Research Operations Manager |
| Acting Director of Research | Research Development and Governance Unit |
| Northern Health Research Executive Committee |
