All Annual Meeting workshops will take place on Wednesday, June 12, 2025, from 8:00 AM to 12:30 PM.
Workshop #1: Network of Early Career Researchers and Students of ISBNPA (NESI) Workshop
Jun 11, 2025 | 0800 – 1230
Facilitators: Stephen Barrett; Emma Ostermeier
Food insecurity remains a pressing issue in many communities and has a detrimental impact on health and wellness across the lifespan. Solutions to this wicked problem require well-designed and effectively evaluated programs. This workshop aims to equip attendees of all career stages with the skills and knowledge necessary to develop comprehensive food security programs that are accurate, data-driven, and sustainable. Attendees will interactively work through four key areas:
- Develop a multifaceted food insecurity program that incorporates community-based and trauma-informed approaches to address the varied limitations of food access in different communities.
- Identify and implement effective evaluation strategies, including methods for data collection, analysis, and interpretation.
- Role-play and generate communication skills for forming and maintaining effective partnerships with diverse stakeholders to create collaborative solutions.
- Incorporate long-term sustainability and growth in the design of food security programs with climate resiliency in minds
Attendees will work in small groups to apply these concepts to real-world scenarios and communities of interest, fostering collaborative learning. By the end of the workshop, attendees will have developed a framework for designing, implementing, and evaluating multifaceted food insecurity programs in their own communities.
Workshop #2: Sha’tetionkwatte (we are all the same height): Wise practices for building equitable and respectful partnership research with Indigenous communities
Facilitator: Lucie Lévesque
This workshop will focus on natural experiment methods for evaluating policy and environmental changes and their relationship with physical activity. Specifically, it will cover how we can unravel the system in which policy and decision-making takes place, and how best to evaluate real-world policy and environmental changes using natural experiment methods.
There will be three core areas of focus: (1) systems dynamics perspectives and how they can be used to unravel policy implementation processes; (2) challenges and solutions for the design, planning and conduct of natural experiment evaluations of policy and environmental changes; (3) the importance of methodological triangulation. To cover these areas, we will draw on three international case studies of natural experiment evaluations from the Netherlands (the implementation of city-wide 20 mile-per-hour speed limits), the UK (a co-designed sustainable park), and the US (a study of the effect of flooding over time on active transportation using secondary data), while also allowing participants to understand application of these principles in their own settings.
By the end of the workshop, participants will have gained increased knowledge of using various novel methodologies at different stages of policy implementation and evaluation. Ultimately, this knowledge can be used to better understand collaborations for health-for-all policies, and generate more policy-relevant evidence, with the eventual aim of creating effective policies and environmental changes that improve population health.
Workshop #3: Economic evaluation of implementation studies: practical aspects of design, analysis, reporting and interpretation
Jun 11, 2025 | 0800 – 1230
Facilitator: Marina Pinheiro
This workshop introduces health economic evaluation as a tool for clinicians and researchers aiming to translate evidence into practice and advocate for investment in health interventions. Economic evaluation provides a framework to compare intervention costs and outcomes, supporting decisions that maximize health impact.
Our workshop will provide practical guidance on planning, conducting, and interpreting economic evaluations within implementation studies. Using case studies of physical activity and nutrition interventions, we will cover the essentials of designing an evaluation, including identifying, measuring, and valuing health outcomes and costs. We will also offer insights into reporting economic results in clear and actionable ways, enhancing their relevance to policymakers and practitioners.
Designed for researchers and clinicians, this workshop is ideal for those conducting or planning implementation studies who want to assess the overall value of interventions or to better interpret economic evaluation results. With interactive discussions and opportunities to ask questions, this session aims to equip attendees with foundational skills in economic evaluation.
Workshop #4: Systems science in physical activity and nutrition: Techniques and methods for research and practice
Facilitator: Alexandra Potts
In the last decade, there has been growing interest in systems science methods within physical activity and nutrition research, practice, and policy, particularly regarding group model building (GMB). GMB is a participatory process for understanding the composition and dynamics of complex systems, resulting in causal loop diagrams (CLDs). While CLDs can reveal opportunities for interventions that shift how the system functions, this approach is rarely taken. Instead, intervention efforts usually target visible symptoms (e.g., young people purchasing energy drinks), rather than addressing deeper system drivers. This workshop will provide an introduction to GMB and to several innovative tools for identifying systemic intervention opportunities.
Workshop overview:
This participatory workshop is centred around discussing the challenges and benefits of applying systems science in relation to physical activity and nutrition research, policy, and practice. It will introduce techniques for GMB, and equip participants with ways to understand how a system works, and how to identify places to intervene within such a system.
Specifically, participants will gain:
- An understanding of how systems science can be applied in physical activity and nutrition research, including how systems science may be relevant to their own work and in practice.
- Experience an interactive and hands-on approach to developing and refining a CLD via GMB, including learning practical strategies which can be replicated in their own work.
- Skills and knowledge to undertake different analysis techniques to identify potential leverage points that may influence how a system(s) functions.
Outcomes
- Participants will have practical experience of innovative and pragmatic systems science tools and methods to apply in their own work, which may then impact on respective policy and practice
- A co-produced agenda to advance the use of systems science in physical activity and nutrition research.
- Contribution to a future publication to inform research and practice about the utility of different tools for identifying actions within systems.
Workshop #5 – Using system dynamics modelling tools to map the relationship between physical activity and climate change across the 8 investment strategies
Jun 11, 2025 | 0800 – 1230
Facilitator: Erica Hinckson
This interactive workshop is designed to explore and reframe physical activity within the context of climate change by utilising the 8 best investment strategies for physical activity. Participants will leverage system dynamics modelling tools to build upon a set of preliminary maps developed by academics from diverse fields (public health, physical activity, climate changes and systems thinking). The workshop will focus on enhancing these initial maps by integrating insights from external stakeholders, including policymakers, practitioners, and community health promotion agencies from around the world. By the end, participants will have input into the development of a comprehensive, stakeholder-informed model that illustrates how strategic investments in physical activity can support both climate adaptation and mitigation.
Workshop #6: Building Coalitions for Transformative Food Environments in Asia: Strategies, Challenges, and Practical Tools
Jun 11, 2025 | 0800 – 1230
Facilitator: Elaine Q. Borazon
Coalition-building is essential for addressing complex public health challenges, particularly in Asia’s diverse contexts where behavioral nutrition face distinct cultural, social, and economic hurdles. This four-hour interactive workshop is designed to equip researchers, practitioners, and policymakers with the knowledge and skills needed to create effective coalitions that drive sustainable changes in food environments. Participants will explore strategies to engage a wide range of stakeholders—including governments, NGOs, and the private sector—and gain practical tools for building trust, aligning goals, and coordinating actions across sectors.
Through case studies and participatory exercises, attendees will identify common barriers to coalition success, such as policy fragmentation and resource limitations, and develop tailored solutions to address these challenges. The workshop will also present frameworks for integrating evidence-based practices and local insights into coalition-building efforts. By the end, participants will have an actionable plan to initiate or strengthen coalitions advocating for healthier food marketing and retail environments supporting behavioral nutrition with a special focus on Asia’s unique needs and opportunities.
Workshop #7: Engaging Stakeholders for Effective Implementation: Strategies for Sustainable Change
Jun 11, 2025 | 0800 – 1230
Facilitator: Sarah Forberger
Stakeholder engagement is essential for the success of implementation science, ensuring that interventions are relevant, contextually appropriate, and sustainable. This workshop will focus on the role of stakeholder engagement within behavioural nutrition research, examining how tailored engagement strategies can enhance the relevance, feasibility, and sustainability of interventions in diverse settings. By involving healthcare providers, policymakers, community members, and affected individuals, researchers align their work with real-world needs and increase the feasibility and implementation of evidence-based interventions. This workshop is designed for researchers who want to deepen their understanding of stakeholder engagement and develop practical skills to incorporate it into their research.
Over four hours, participants will explore key concepts and tools for effectively engaging stakeholders. Using real-world examples from the field of nutrition from different countries (India, South Africa, Germany), they will learn how to apply stakeholder analysis, mapping, and engagement strategies, including the RACI matrix and stakeholder engagement plan. Participants will be able to directly apply these strategies to their research, ensuring that stakeholder perspectives are incorporated at each phase of the implementation process.
Through case studies, group work, and interactive discussions, participants will develop skills in designing engagement strategies that promote equity, inclusivity, and sustainability. The workshop will conclude with a recap of the covered tools and strategies, providing participants with a clear action plan for implementing stakeholder engagement in their projects.
Workshop #8: Food-EPI: a tool for working with local government to create healthy and sustainable food environments.
Facilitator: Rana Peniamina
This hui (gathering) is a four part wānanga (workshop) conducted as a noho (overnight stay) on a Marae (ancestral Māori meeting place). Participants will engage in culturally grounded physical activities such as waka ama (outrigger canoe), kapa haka (Māori cultural dance), mihi maioha (Māori meditation through movement). Participants will also partake in hangi (traditional Māori food). Each activity will be followed with a kauhau (discussion) to delve deeper into Indigenous perspectives of physical activity and behavioral nutrition. This immersive experience aims to draw together practice and theory as a way to provide a fuller experience for participants to connect with self, others, and place.
Workshop #9: One step closer to gold standard: using predictive modelling with data from 24h diet recalls to improve food questionnaire data.
Facilitator: Beatrix Jones
Most national nutrition surveys use 24h diet recalls to assess the nutritional health of the population. Importantly, single 24h diet recalls are not appropriate to assess usual food intakes due to high day-to-day variability. Food frequency questionnaires (FFQs) give a picture of frequency of food intake for individuals, but are generally not sufficient to assess population food intakes. This workshop will outline statistical methods that give researchers the best of both worlds, by developing prediction models using data from a subsample of 24h diet recalls and accompanying demographics, that can then be applied to a larger FFQ dataset to allow assessment of population food intakes. This process lowers respondent and researcher burden, while producing outputs with greater utility. Workshop topics include preparation of predictor variables, lasso regression for automated variable selection, model diagnostics, and establishment of final models to predict intakes.
The workshop will include a step-by-step example to predict red meat intakes in a sample, by using a prediction model developed from individuals with both FFQ and 24h diet recall data and applying this to a larger set of FFQ data. Participants will be able to ‘code along’ with the example using their own device; code templates in both Stata and R and an example dataset will be provided. Participants should be familiar with either R or Stata.
