Reducing Loneliness Together

Reducing Loneliness Together featured a range of speakers with diverse backgrounds, experiences and expertise who, through a process of sharing discoveries and discussing ideas, brought forward ideas to identify potentially effective and equitable solutions to loneliness.

Panellists discussed that one of the biggest challenges in tackling loneliness is developing a multi-sectoral approach, where infrastructure and health have equal footing in an action plan.

Solutions need to be informed by people across all levels of public, private and third-sector organisations, especially by people who are the least empowered to participate in the process. By bringing together a richly diverse group of experienced and influential speakers, the workshop represented an important first step towards identifying multi-sectoral loneliness reduction strategies that are scalable and effective for everyone.*

*The Stand

Speakers at the event included:  

Professor Thomas Astell-Burt (organiser), ARC Future Fellow at UOW, Founding Co-Director-PowerLab

Neal Ames, Recreation and Open Space Planner, Waverley Council, National Advisory, Parks and Leisure Australia

Sheree Blanch, PhD student, School of Psychology, UOW

Dr Anthony Brown, Executive Director, Health Consumers NSW

Dr Caroline Butler-Bowdon, Executive Director, Cities Revitalisation and Place, Transport for NSW

Professor David Currow, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Health and Sustainable Futures), UOW

Dr Matt Daly, Research Fellow, Sustainable Building Research Centre, UOW

Professor Patricia M. Davidson, Vice-Chancellor and President, UOW

Professor Xiaoqi Feng, NHMRC Career Development Fellow at UNSW, Founding Co-Director PowerLab

Dr Summer Finlay, Senior Lecturer, UOW

Dr Theresa Harada, Associate Research Fellow, UOW

Senior Professor Daniel Hutto, Senior Professor of Philosophical Psychology, UOW

Catherine Lourey, Commissioner, NSW Mental Health Commission

Nieves Murray, CEO, Suicide Prevention Australia

Phil Pettitt, Manager Community Greening, Royal Botanic Garden Sydney

Cristina Thompson, Senior Research Fellow, Australian Health Services Research Institute, UOW