IDRC at the 2025 Canadian Conference on Global Health

The annual Canadian Conference on Global Health, sponsored in part by IDRC, will highlight innovative solutions from IDRC-funded researchers and staff, together with global health professionals, researchers, policymakers and advocates addressing today’s most pressing health challenges.

The theme of this year’s conference is: “Navigating the path forward: Advancing global health in a changing world.”

The conference, held at the Halifax Convention Centre, will focus on four sub-themes:

Navigating global health governance, financing, collaboration and trust
Youth, gender and inclusive leadership in global health
Global health security: Threats, climate, outbreaks and preparedness
Harnessing innovation, technology and artificial intelligence (AI) for global health

IDRC and its grantees will present IDRC-funded research in five symposia, three workshops, 20 oral presentations and five posters.

View the full conference schedule and register to join the sessions.

Here are some highlights

SYMPOSIUM 3: Health and social protection of women workers in the care economy

9 a.m.–10:30 a.m. Atlantic Standard Time (AST)

Facilitated by IDRC Senior Program Specialist Adrijana Corluka, this session will focus on lessons from research projects in Peru, Ecuador and Argentina. The projects were funded under the Women’s health and economic empowerment for a COVID-19 Recovery that is Inclusive, Sustainable and Equitable (Women RISE) initiative, a partnership between IDRC, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. View videos about the projects in Peru and Ecuador.

VIRTUAL SYMPOSIUM 5: From research to resilience: Advancing health and economic wellbeing for the youth in the informal sector in East and West Africa

11 a.m.–12:30 p.m. AST

Facilitated by IDRC Senior Program Specialist Francine Sinzinkayo, this session will share lessons learned from Women RISE projects in Burkina Faso, Nigeria, and Uganda. . The session will highlight the challenges African youth face at the intersection of employment and health, including informal labor, limited social protection, and barriers to healthcare.

SYMPOSIUM 2: Transforming the future — Gender and equity in mentorship models for early-career researchers

2:30 p.m.–4 p.m. AST│Room 503

Facilitated by Lisa Avery, assistant professor at the University of Manitoba, Canada, this session will discuss lessons from a Women RISE project in Kenya.

PLENARY: Innovation for Equity: Whose Solutions? Whose Impact?

9 a.m.–10:30 a.m. AST│Ballroom B1

Moderated by IDRC Global Health team leader David O'Brien, this plenary session will examine how innovation, technology and AI can meaningfully transform health outcomes across diverse contexts.

SYMPOSIUM 4: Adolescent and Indigenous knowledge in sexual and reproductive health and rights and mental health research — Experiences from Guatemala, Mexico and Peru

11 a.m.–12:30 p.m. AST│Room 503

Facilitated by IDRC Senior Program Specialist Adrijana Corluka, this session will discuss insights from ongoing IDRC research aimed at deconstructing sexual and reproductive health with Mayan Indigenous-Afro-descendant adolescents, upscaling access to quality health-care services for priority populations in Guatemala, exploring the nexus between maternal and mental health in climate change-affected Indigenous communities in Guatemala, improving access to menstrual health for girls and adolescents in Peru and addressing the intersecting burdens of mental health challenges and adolescent pregnancy in Peru.

WORKSHOP 3: Decolonizing global health research — Lessons from the WHEELER initiative

11 a.m.–12:30 p.m. AST│Room 504

Facilitated by Lisa Avery from the University of Manitoba, this workshop will discuss lessons from the Women RISE project in Kenya called Women in health and their economic, equity and livelihood statuses during emergency preparedness and response (WHEELER).

WORKSHOP 5: Strengthening health systems in low- and middle-income countries through responsible AI

2 p.m.–3:30 p.m. AST│Room 505

Facilitated by David O’Brien, IDRC Global Health team lead, this session will include speakers from the IDRC-supported Global South AI for Pandemic and Epidemic Preparedness and Response Network.

SYMPOSIUM 7: AI and Global Health — Predicting vulnerability among grassroots waste pickers in Ecuador

2 p.m.–3:30 pm AST│Room 504

Facilitated by Diana Morales Aviles, assistant professor at the Universidad de Cuenca in Ecuador, this session will discuss lessons from the Women RISE research on women recyclers' work and health in the context of COVID-19 in Ecuador. View a video about the project.

WORKSHOP 7: Future research directions in a changing world

10:30 a.m.–12 p.m. AST│Rooms 501 and 502

This workshop will be facilitated by David O’Brien, IDRC Global Health team lead.

The aim is to conclude the conference with a wrap-up discussion on emerging research directions that build from the presentations across the four conference sub-themes. Participants will identify future research directions that might inspire graduate student and faculty research and provide an opportunity for practitioners to suggest topics that they are grappling with. Implications for future research and partnerships will be also explored.