2023 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Eye Health Conference
Welcome
The 2023 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Eye Health Conference (NATSIEHC23) will be held on Dharug Country in Western Sydney from Wednesday 24 to Friday 26 May 2023.
The 2023 Conference is led by the National Experts Group for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Eye Health (NEGATSIEH), which contributes to the Conference Leadership Group, supported by the Indigenous Eye Health Unit (IEHU) at The University of Melbourne. NEGATSIEH and IEHU are delighted to announce that the Aboriginal Health and Medical Research Council of NSW (AH&MRC) has accepted invitation to co-host NATSIEHC23.
The 2023 Conference will build on the wonderful 2022 Conference, where over 220 delegates gathered on Larrakia land in Darwin over 3 days in May. Since 2017, the national Conferences have developed into a key annual gathering of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander eye health sector. The annual Conference provides a wonderful opportunity for a wide variety of voices to discuss and share success stories and challenges in eye health from across Australia.
National Conferences for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander eye health sector have been held since 2017, making 2023 the seventh event. The annual Conference provides a wonderful opportunity for the sector to come together and a wide variety of voices are presented to support discussion and sharing of success stories and challenges in eye health from across Australia.
The Conference aims to advance the collective work of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander eye health sector towards the shared goal of improving eye health access and outcomes of First Nations Australians. Delegates will include representatives from Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations and other primary care service providers, eye care clinicians, policy makers, researchers, non-government organisations, hospitals, professional peak bodies and government departments from across the country.
Please join us in May 2023.
Please email Indigenous-EyeHealth@unimelb.edu.au with any questions.
Keynote Speakers
We are excited to announce our 2023 Keynote Speakers
Jilpia Nappaljari Jones Memorial Oration
The Jilpia Nappaljari Jones Memorial Oration was first introduced in the 2022 Conference. It aims to celebrate the contributions of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women to eye care. The Oration acknowledges the significant contribution Jilpia made to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander eye health and her inspiration for a whole generation of amazing women leaders in eye health. For more information about Jilpia Nappaljari Jones and the Memorial Oration, please see here.
The 2023 Jilpia Nappaljari Jones Memorial Oration will be presented at the 2023 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Eye Health Conference by Lauren Hutchinson.
Lauren Hutchinson - 2023 Jilpia Nappaljari Jones Memorial Oration
Lauren Hutchinson is a Murrawarri woman and optometrist. Lauren was born and raised on Wiradjuri country in the central west of NSW. She graduated from her Bachelor of Vision Science/Master of Optometry from QUT in 2017, following which, she returned to the central west, now residing back on the beautiful lands of the Wiradjuri people once again. Lauren has worked as an optometrist both in private practice and within the community controlled sector. She is a current director of both the Indigenous Allied Health Australia national and Northern Territory Workforce Development Boards.
Lauren's passions are in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, rural and remote and paediatric health and is committed to advocating for improving outcomes for her people in these spaces.
In her spare time you can find Lauren spending time with her beautiful nieces and nephews, on a hockey field or fishing on the Galari (Lachlan River).
Abstracts
Abstract submissions are now open for the 2023 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Eye Health Conference (NATSIEHC23).
NATSIEHC23 will be held on 24-26 May 2023, and we are inviting abstract submissions for Oral, Tabletop, Workshop, Quick Yarn and Poster presentations in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander eye health.
We welcome abstracts from all working in or interested in improving Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander eye health. Abstract submissions which include at least one Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander presenter will be given preference for inclusion.
Conference Theme
The theme for this year's Conference is Our Vision in Our Hands: Finding Our Voice. Building on the 2022 Conference which first introduced ‘Our Vision in Our Hands’, this year’s theme will allow us to further explore Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander self-determination and leadership in eye care. The theme connects our sector’s work with the wider movement towards First Nations self-determination, the Uluru Statement from the Heart, and the movement to establish First Nations voices into future policy making.
For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander delegates the Conference will aim to empower, inform and inspire, enabling First Nations people to lead eye health initiatives designed to improve eye health outcomes in communities. For non-Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander delegates, the Conference will aim to deliver knowledge, guidance and some practical skills to help shape their contribution to ending avoidable vision loss. This will include advancing conversations about how they, their colleagues and their non-Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations may reflect and adjust their own approaches to supporting eye care.
Topics of Relevance
Topics should be relevant to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander eye health and support the 2023 Conference theme. Topics for abstracts could include: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leadership of eye care; community-led and innovative approaches to improving eye health outcomes; effective commitment, communication, and advocacy in eye care; working collaboratively and interculturally to improve eye health; cultural safety in eye care and in the eye health and vision sector; eye care in the primary health care setting; community and/or cultural engagement initiatives; workforce development; overcoming challenges in coordination and case management; improving outcomes and access to services; health system changes and reform.
If you are interested in presenting your work, please submit your abstract below. The closing date for abstract submission is Friday 3 March 2023.
We hope to see you at the conference and thank you for considering sharing your experience and knowledge.
Key Dates
Abstract submission has been extended by two weeks, and will now close on Friday 17 March
| Call for Abstracts Open | Monday 16 January 2023 |
| Call for Abstracts Close | |
| Acceptance Notification | Friday 31 March 2023 |
Presentation Types
The 2023 Conference will include opportunities for presentation in several formats. Additional details to support preparing your presentations are also provided.
You may indicate your preferred format with your submission. Please note that there are limited spaces available for each type of presentation, and the organisers may propose a different presentation format than proposed by the authors.
- Oral presentation: up to 20 minute presentations, with or without slides.
- Table Top presentation: An opportunity for sharing of information and exchange in a smaller group setting. Each Table Top presentation will be for up to 10 minutes only, including questions and discussion, and repeated in front of changing group of delegates.
- Workshop: suitable for skill-sharing, interaction and practical knowledge exchange, and will be allocated up to 90 minutes.
- New to 2023: Quick Yarn presentation, featuring short, informal yarning presentations (3-5 minutes, First Nations presenters only). See more details below.
- Poster presentation: The conference also welcomes posters, which will be displayed throughout the Conference.
Quick Yarn session: This is a new presentation format, included in the 2023 Conference for the first time. The session aims to support emerging First Nations people working in the sector to share stories, perspectives, and experiences. Each presenter will have up to 5 minutes to share ideas, perspectives, and emerging projects. The Session Chair will also be able to support the presenter by asking previously agreed questions. Please contact us for expressions of interest and with any questions about this session.
Abstracts should be a summary of the presentation with no more than 200 words (not including title and authors).
Submission Instructions
- Please submit an abstract of up to 200 words, and a title (no more than 15 words);
- Please include a short bio for each presenting author (no more than 50 words);
- Please note that abstracts with Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander presenting/ co-presenting authors with be prioritised in the program;
- Please indicate whether you prefer to deliver your paper as an Oral, Table Top, Workshop, Quick Yarn, or Poster presentation;
- Please complete an additional submission form for each abstract;
- The deadline for abstracts is Friday 3 March 2023
Abstract submission has been extended by two weeks, and will now close on Friday 17 March
For questions, additional information, or support with your submission, please contact us at Indigenous-EyeHealth@unimelb.edu.au
Conference Theme
The theme for this year's Conference is Our Vision in Our Hands: Finding Our Voice, representing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leadership and ownership of eye health, and linking the work of the sector with the broader movements for self-determination and centring First Nations voices.
Background: The Conference theme for 2023 has been set by the National Experts Group for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Eye Health (NEGATSIEH), which contributes to the Conference Leadership Group overseeing the conference. The theme builds on last year’s conference, which first introduced Our Vision in Our Hands as a Conference theme.
This year’s addition, Finding Our Voice, seeks to highlight emerging and future First Nations leaders of the sector, while also resonating the strength and values of the longstanding movement for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander self-determination in health, and the broader current national movement to enshrine First Nations voice to parliament.
The theme invites consideration of how best to approach efforts to end avoidable vision loss and blindness. It calls for increasing support for the emerging First Nations leadership in the sector, and ownership of eye health by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people along with the shift in power that is necessary to produce the outcomes that we are all working towards.
The activities delivered as part of this theme will support the sector to purposely move towards assuming the roles that are required to advance eye health outcomes for Australia’s First Peoples, and make the necessary connections between self-determination, political representation, voice, and health.
For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander delegates the conference will aim to empower, inform and inspire, enabling First Nations people to play a key role in leading the eye health initiatives designed to improve eye health outcomes in their communities. For non-Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander delegates, the Conference will aim to deliver knowledge, guidance and some practical skills to help shape their future contribution to ending avoidable blindness. This will include seeding some early ideas on how they, their colleagues and their non-Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations may wish to begin adjusting their approaches to supporting eye care. The goal is to permeate the thinking across all levels of the sector from the national policy landscape to funding bodies, service providers and the communities themselves.
Sponsorship Prospectus
In 2023, for the first time, the Conference Leadership Group of the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Eye Health Conference is inviting expressions of interest for Conference sponsorship. Please note that expressions of interest for sponsorship are by invitation only.
The Indigenous Eye Health Unit has provided support since the inaugural national Conference in 2017. The Conference is now moving to an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander controlled event, and sponsorship is necessary to provide for future events.
The Conference has transitioned to a First Nations – led event from the 2022 Conference. This year, the National Experts Group for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Eye Health (NEGASIEH), which contributes to the Conference Leadership Group, has asked the sector to explore ways to ensure this important annual Conference remains viable. This is the practical application of the 2023 Conference theme, ‘Our Vision in our Hands: Finding Our Voice’, onto the organisation approach of the Conference itself.
Sponsorship of NATSIEHC23 will help support First Nations self-determination in eye care, and will ensure that this important annual event continues in future years, in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander hands.
Sponsorships will also support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander delegates from across Australia to attend this important gathering.
For more information about Conference sponsorship, please see below.
Please contact indigenous-eyehealth@unimelb.edu.au for any queries.
