2026 School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences Research Conference: Reimagining Health, Artificial Intelligence from Discovery to Delivery

The School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences (SHRS) hosts an annual research conference, with this year's theme being "Reimagining Health, Artificial Intelligence from Discovery to Delivery".

The morning session is dedicated to student and ECR presentations, and celebrating the School with our annual awards session. The afternoon session is devoted to enhancing capacity in our students and staff, to use AI effectively in research, constructively, and ethically. This session draws on practical, real-world examples to illustrate opportunities for AI in health.

Who should attend

Students and staff in the Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences (HMBS) interested in practical uses of AI in research and practice
Current HDR students in the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences
Early Career Researchers

Cost

This is a free event

What to expect

The morning session event will include:

presentations of recent research undertaken by SHRS Early Career Researchers, Higher Degree Research and Honours students
SHRS Early Career Rising Star presentations
awards for outstanding presentations

The afternoon sessions for this event will include:

a plenary talk and workshop on AI in Research Practice (Jason Downs from the On The Reg Podcast)
lightning talks and a panel discussion featuring researchers across the Faculty presenting their “productivity hacks” for using AI in research
a network session with the lightening talk presenters over afternoon tea

Event Program

Plenary session - Jason Downs

Most AI training tells researchers which buttons to push. This keynote session instead asks where AI actually belongs in a research career, and what it means to build a research practice around it deliberately rather than by accident. While some researchers have taught themselves to work with these tools and are pulling ahead, others are leaving significant value on the table, and the gap between the two groups is widening. This session addresses this gap, by making a strategic case for where AI creates genuine leverage across the research lifecycle, well beyond writing, and by demonstrating what that leverage looks like in practice, with live agent-building anchored in allied health research contexts. Attendees leave with both a position and a method: a considered view of how AI fits their own research, and something concrete they have built and can use. This session includes both a presentation and a workshop and will be hosted by Jason Downs from the On The Reg Podcast.

Full program will be announced soon.

Registration

Abstract submission

Submit your abstract via the button below:
Submit abstract
Abstract submission will close Friday 23 October 2026

Venue

Steele Building and Global Change Institute