The paper titled “Urban Indian young adults’ perceptions of a healthy lifestyle and its associated factors: a multi-city qualitative inquiry using thematic analysis” was published on July 8, 2026, and authored by the team that was awarded the ISBNPA Pioneers Program in 2025.

You can find the full reference below

Rathi N, Sharma A, Sandilya S, Ghosh S, Chowdhury R, Singh M, Worsley A and Bruening M (2026) Urban Indian young adults’ perceptions of a healthy lifestyle and its associated factors: a multi-city qualitative inquiry using thematic analysis. Front. Public Health 14:1886704. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2026.1886704

Congratulations to all the authors. This achievement highlights the need to invest more in seed funding, such as the Pioneers Program, to fulfil the ISBNPA mission.

Click on this [LINK] to read the online version.

Or read the pdf below.

All presentations were evaluated by at least 3 judges (75% of the score) and the public (25% of the score)

Best oral presentation overall

Hannah Goss et al, LifeLab Dublin: Co-creating a Health Literacy Intervention with and for Young People

Best Student/Early Career oral presentation

Julie E. Campbell et al, Developing Consensus for a Responsive Feeding Approach in Early Care and Education Settings

Winners are offered registration for ISBNPA2027 in Halifax!

Sofia is a PhD candidate in Physical Education and Sport at Universidade Lusófona, specialising in physical activity and health, and currently serves as Managing Editor and Social Media Manager for the International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity (IJBNPA). She brings direct experience in journal and editorial support, social media and digital communications, and close familiarity with the ISBNPA community. In this role she will support the Executive Director across day-to-day operations, communications, membership, and annual meeting activities.

The selection process

The Society received three applications by the 15 May 2026 deadline, from:

• Artur Direito
• Ana Carolina Barco Leme
• Sofia Franco

We are grateful to all three for their interest in serving ISBNPA and for the quality of their applications.

All proposals were assessed by a three-person panel: António Palmeira (Executive Director), Seb Chastin (President), and Penny Love. Candidates were scored against ten weighted criteria reflecting the requirements of the role.

The proposal analysis was shared with the Executive Committee at the Pre-Conference Meeting on 27 May 2026. On 10 June 2026, the three-member panel completed the assessment and decision-making process and confirmed the appointment.

Please join us in welcoming Sofia to the ISBNPA team.

Slide deck AGM 2026

The meeting link was sent to all members via our newsletter system.

The memo and the link to the recording are copied below.

ISBNPA Annual General Meeting 2026

Duration: ~00:39 – 01:33 (following the EC meeting)
Source transcript: 2026-06-23-ISBNPA-EC-and-AGM2026.txt
Presiding: Sebastian Chastin (President)
Presented by: Seb Chastin, António Palmeira, Leah Carpenter, Rick Rosenkranz
Open to: Full ISBNPA membership (online, ~20+ members present)

1 Agenda

1. President’s report — strategy and priorities
2. New community journal
3. Climate action and conference frequency
4. Operational changes
5. EC composition — new and outgoing members
6. Membership statistics
7. Treasurer’s report (Leah Carpenter)
8. Journal report — IJBNPA (António / Rick Rosenkranz)
9. Conference update — Halifax 2027 and beyond
10. Open discussion
11. Close

2 President’s Report

Seb opened by framing the current presidency. The strategy developed by the two previous presidents — four pillars — remains current and was not revised:

1. Inclusive ISBNPA — broader geographic and career-stage representation
2. Building the Next Generation — early career training and mentoring
3. Research Impact — getting our science to matter more broadly
4. Climate Action — sustainable society and conference operations

Rather than refreshing the strategy, this term is focused on implementation — making the organisation actually deliver on what was agreed.

Building Future Leaders (BFL):
Third cohort was welcomed just before the Cadiz conference. BFL continues to be one of ISBNPA’s most successful initiatives — strong attendance, high satisfaction. A further course (not yet named) is in development, led by Simone Verswijveren and colleagues.

3 New Community Journal

Seb presented the journal concept to the membership.

The existing journal, IJBNPA (International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity), belongs to the publisher — not to ISBNPA. APCs keep rising, and ISBNPA is increasingly “held hostage” to a commercial publishing system. The new journal is the society’s way out: owned and run by the community, for the community.

What it is:

• Not a replacement for IJBNPA — runs in parallel
• ECR editorial board: ~20–30 early-career researchers working as a college (like a double-check peer review system), not a traditional hierarchy with a single editor-in-chief
• Senior fellows support the ECR editors — mentoring, not managing
• Governance board: open to ISBNPA members, meets 1–2 times/year
• Link to the Editorial and Reviewing Academy being developed with Jordan Curry — editors get training, certificate, CPD credit
• Low APC; preprint model
• Submissions from the Halifax 2027 conference abstracts will seed the first issues
• Budget: ~$50,000 allocated
• Target launch: Halifax 2027

Member survey at Cadiz showed strong support for this model.

4 Climate Action and Conference Frequency

The situation:
The Climate Action Committee has been tracking ISBNPA’s carbon footprint for nearly three years. The conference is responsible for ~90% of the total footprint, and ~90% of that is travel. ISBNPA made a public pledge to halve its carbon footprint.

The modelling:
A specialist in carbon calculation was commissioned to model the impact of holding off-year regional meetings instead of an annual global conference. Result: a 33% reduction in carbon emissions by 2030 — well short of the 50% pledge, but a meaningful step.

The decision in practice:
No formal decision to permanently reduce frequency was announced. The reality is simpler: no bids were received for 2028 from the Asia/Oceania rotation region. The deadline was December 2025. Starting to organise a global conference from scratch now would be too late and too risky. 2028 will therefore be used to test a regional meetings model — smaller satellite meetings piggybacking on existing regional conferences, so members in each region still have a forum without everyone travelling globally. 2029 (Glasgow) is already confirmed.

Open discussion:

Florian Herbolsheimer suggested synchronising regional meetings at the same time point globally and complementing with stronger digital connectivity — “less frequent but for longer.” Seb acknowledged this has been explored; hybrid and online-only formats tried during and after COVID were not well received. The regional model is being investigated with other scientific societies.

Jennifer Copeland was explicitly supportive: reducing frequency is an opportunity for ISBNPA to show leadership in a space where many of its members do research. She also flagged equity — not everyone can afford annual international travel — and science quality: a two-year cycle may mean better, more mature work at the conference. She was clear this is not a permanent commitment, it’s a trial.

Alex McComber brought an Indigenous perspective: land health and human health are inseparable. Stepping out of the Western framework of perpetual growth and annual gatherings aligns with what ISBNPA’s own science should be saying. He framed reducing the conference footprint not as a sacrifice but as an ethical alignment.

Rick Rosenkranz challenged the framing: if carbon neutrality is the goal, and we’re modelling only a 33% reduction, what are we actually getting? Seb clarified the pledge is to halve the footprint (not reach neutrality — carbon neutrality is increasingly considered unrealistic). Rick then proposed a better metric: impact per unit of carbon — maximising what the society delivers relative to its emissions. Seb agreed this is the right frame and acknowledged the impact side of the equation has not yet been fully calculated.

5 Operational Changes

Budget: ISBNPA now has an explicit annual budget (not just a bank balance). The cycle starts post-conference, when profit/loss is known. The budget funds three priority areas: journal, conference, comms.

Working groups: Specific activities are handled by working groups, always supported by the officers (Seb, Penny, Leah, António) and Sophia. The full EC takes an advisory and consent role.

Professional support: ISBNPA engaged NEO, an agency supporting communications and implementation planning. NEO ran the member engagement work at Cadiz — a survey deployed to conference attendees.

Results of the Cadiz member survey:

• 1,280 participants, 56 countries
• Top word in free-response cloud: community
• Strong support for the new journal
• Support for reducing conference frequency (consistent with the climate action direction)
• Note: this is not a representative sample, but the signal is clear — these moves are not against the grain of what members want

6 EC Composition

6.1 Officers (unchanged from previous term except new assistant)

António noted that previously ISBNPA ran almost entirely on 1/3 of his FTE. Adding Sophia nearly full-time is a meaningful capacity increase.

6.2 New Members at Large (incoming)

6.3 Outgoing Members (completing 3-year terms — thank you)

Scott, Andrea, Adewale Oyeyemi, Sara, Deborah, Kylie Wilson.

António noted these are 3-year commitments with monthly meetings and ongoing working group involvement — not light volunteering. Gratitude expressed publicly.

7 Membership Statistics

New record: ~1,300 members (previous record was ~1,100).

• ~1/3 are students
• ~60% physical activity focus; ~40% nutrition; many working across both
• Geographic concentration still skewed to high-income countries: US, UK, Australia, Canada top the list
• Spain and the Netherlands up this year — reflects the European conference location in Cadiz
• ISBNPA continues to work on LMIC inclusion; the regional representatives on the EC are part of that effort

8 Treasurer’s Report — Leah Carpenter

8.1 Overview of assets (before Cadiz conference, as of late May 2026)

Intent for fund allocation: 1/3 checking / 1/3 savings / 1/3 investments. Investments are a 2027 project — Leah will run an RFP to select an investment firm (same process as the 2025 auditor RFP).

8.2 Financial highlights

Oak Tree Bank savings account (opened 2025):
3.8% annual return vs. 0.01% at Wells Fargo. ~$185,000 transferred from Wells Fargo savings; balance now >$190,000.

Auditor:
Engaged in 2025 for annual taxes. Continuing with the same auditor for 2026.

Budget development:
A major 2026 project. Having an actual budget is changing how decisions are made — now able to model planned and emerging expenses before committing.

Payment processing — Stripe (late May 2026):
Membership transactions now processed via Stripe rather than the previous system. KIT (PCO) supported the transition. Monthly transfers to Wells Fargo have been seamless in April and May.

Cadiz conference revenue:
Still being tallied (expenses ongoing). Based on attendance, a net positive is expected — António put the estimate at ~$40,000–50,000 USD. (Typical cycle: conference year is profitable, off-year is a cost.)

2026–2027 financial priorities:

• Monitor 2026 revenue and expenses against the new budget
• Build and submit the 2027 budget

Leah also recognised Scott (outgoing Finance Committee lead) and Meg Bruning (former Treasurer, 7+ years of service) for the foundation they left.

9 IJBNPA Journal Report — Rick Rosenkranz / António

Submissions (2026): On track for ~2,000+ (still growing; trajectory is consistently up year on year). For context, in the early years the journal received a few hundred submissions per year.

Impact factor: jumped from 5.5 to 7.1 — announced 2–3 days before the AGM. António cautioned that chasing a high impact factor is not the goal; quality and responsiveness are. But the number reflects that the field values the journal.

Publication time: ~6 months from submission to publication. António noted this is something the community appreciates — the journal is not a black box.

APC: ~$2,500 — António noted other journals are now charging $5,000–$12,000. ISBNPA has actively pushed back in negotiations to keep the cost reasonable.

Springer contract renegotiation:
Current contract expires end of 2026. Early proposals from BMC/Springer have been concerning — they want to increase editorial and secretariat control, and to scale publication volume significantly (from ~115 to ~300 articles over 5 years, driven by their revenue model). ISBNPA is pushing back to retain editorial independence and the current secretariat structure, even though that is more expensive for the society.

Rick’s framing: the journal is doing well on everything ISBNPA can control. The frustrations are systemic — they’re not unique to IJBNPA, they’re what all journals and academics are navigating in the current publishing environment. The new community journal is a response to the systemic problem, not a verdict on IJBNPA’s quality.

Editor-in-Chief succession:
Rick Rosenkranz and Melanie (Deputy Editor) are ending their terms next year. The search will be open — António encouraged anyone interested to come forward. The position is not pre-assigned.

10 Conference Update

10.1 Halifax 2027 — confirmed

Dates: mid-June (~15–19 June), Halifax, Canada
Organising committee: Shilpa Dogra, Alex McComber, Cameron (and others)
KIT (PCO) already working on submissions system and keynote pipeline
Abstract submissions open: September 2026

10.2 regional meetings

No bids received. The rotation was due to be Asia/Oceania. The window closed December 2025. Organising a global conference from a standing start with ~18 months of lead time is not viable — ISBNPA normally locks venues 4+ years in advance (2029/Glasgow was booked years ago).

Plan for 2028: test a regional meetings model — satellite meetings, symposia piggybacking on existing regional conferences (e.g., a regional PA/nutrition congress in South America), ISBNPA-branded sessions in each region rather than one global gathering. The carbon and financial implications will be tracked carefully.

António confirmed: this does not mean ISBNPA will hold a global conference every other year as a fixed pattern. The frequency is not yet set — 2028 is the first trial, 2032 may or may not be the next off-year. Learning first.

10.3 Glasgow (confirmed)

Already contracted. Seb’s home city.

11 Open Discussion

Q&A was light. Key points from discussion:

• Conference frequency: see Section 3 above — Florian, Jennifer, Alex, and Rick all contributed. The tone was broadly supportive of the direction, with thoughtful questions about what “success” looks like.
• SIGs: António noted to Cindy Forbes (present in the call) that Sophia will take a more active role in supporting the Special Interest Groups — so SIGs can expect more operational backing going forward.
• Upcoming EC positions: 2–3 Member at Large slots opening next election cycle; Treasurer-elect also opening. António encouraged interested members to watch for the call.

12 Close

António closed the AGM. The recording and slides are available in the ISBNPA website . He reminded attendees that António and Sophia are reachable by email, and that regional representatives are also a point of contact for raising ideas to the EC.

Click this [LINK] to read the online version.

Or read the pdf below.

Click this [LINK] to read the online version.

Or read the pdf below.

Click this [LINK] to read the online version.

Or read the pdf below.

Click this [LINK] to read the online version.

Or read the pdf below.

During this IWRC webinar, we:

• Introduce ourselves and begin forming meaningful connections around the Circle 

• Share the background and vision of the Indigenizing Wellbeing Research Circle 

• Discuss the values that guide our work 

• Reflect on how Indigenous ways of knowing, being, and doing shape wellbeing research and practice 

• Share what it means to engage in work that is by, for, and with Indigenous Peoples and communities