PHSI ANNUAL SYMPOSIUM 2025 REPORT
The Annual Symposium has always been a calendar highlight for the PHSI. An opportunity to catch up with friends, meet new people, and hear about the latest research in Population Health. However, the 2025 PHSI Annual Symposium was particularly significant as it was the final event for the Institute after 8 successful years. On June 4th, greeted with pastries, hot drinks and views across Millenium Square, the PHSI community were welcomed into the Rosalind Franklin room at “We the Curious” in anticipation of the day ahead.
After a warm welcome from PHSI Director Prof. Ellen Brooks Pollock, we were delighted to receive the plenary talk from Christina Gray, Director of Public Health for Bristol City Council. Christina’s presentation was followed by a lively discussion with expert contributions from Consultant in Public Health, Jo Williams.
After a short break and yet more delicious baked goods, the programme continued with a range of excellent speakers presenting their work on the symposium theme of “Data to Action: The Impact of Population Health Research in Practice.
Dr Dee Knipe spoke about her important research on suicide prevention in Sri Lanka whilst Dr Sion Bayliss provided a fascinating insight into his work on machine learning and application to pathogen source tracking. The session was closed by Dr Joanna McLaughlin who gave the ECR Prize talk on BMI restrictions in joint replacement surgery. Many congratulations to Joanna who was selected from a number of applicants to present in this slot.
Over lunch, there was opportunity to network on the terraces, visit posters and watch a series of documentary films about PHSI research created by Nick Street from Street Films. We also shared postcards created by local illustrator Hannah Broadway, depicting images and quotes to commemorate the collaborations, connections and ethos of the institute and its many achievements over the past 8 years.
A key aspiration of the PHSI has been to take an interdisciplinary approach and make the University of Bristol’s world leading population health research more widely accessible. The films and artwork are fabulous examples of this and act as a legacy of the Institute.
The afternoon session started with a dynamic panel discussion between Dr Clare Thomas from the PHSI Knowledge Mobilisation (KM) team and a number of KM Catalyst Awardees (KMCA). Phuong, David, Matilda and Beki shared insights and learnings from the workshops they facilitated with their £1500 KMCA awards, discussing the collaborations made, outputs achieved and reflections on future goals. You can read more about their KM workshops here.
Dr Emma Vincent continued with a fascinating talk about the links between diet, obesity and cancer, followed by a topical presentation on responsible AI use from Ms Matimba Swana. Matimba, a PhD candidate in the school of Engineering, Mathematics and Technology was a KMCA recipient in 2024. You can read about Matimba’s successful workshop, along with blogs from the other 2024 KM catalyst award holders, including our earlier speaker Joanna McLaughlin here. 
The final session was concluded by Prof. Jason Johnson who spoke about his extensive research on inflammatory biomarkers and their use in preventing heart disease and stroke.
Congratulations to Shweta Dabholkar who was awarded Judge’s Choice award for her poster on the global costs associated with suicide and Megan Ruffle who received the People’s Choice award for her poster on infectious disease modelling. 
Many thanks to all who attended this event, we hope you enjoyed it. If you could spare 2 minutes to complete this evaluation questionnaire we would really value your feedback. If you would like a free pack of commemorative postcards, please contact gemma.crawford@bristol.ac.uk
