University of Waikato presenters at last week’s National Rural Health Conference showed community partnership in action, sharing multiple research projects and collaborations aimed at supporting rural communities’ access to equitable healthcare.
The conference is hosted by Hauora Taiwhenua Rural Health Network and is New Zealand’s leading rural health event, featuring more than 70 presenters, workshops and posters.
The University of Waikato team at the 2025 National Rural Health Conference.
The University of Waikato works closely with Hauora Taiwhenua Rural Health Network, a dynamic that Professor Ross Lawrenson, Director of Medicine and Professor of Population Health, says is important to both sides.
“Working with Hauora Taiwhenua enables the University to provide community-engaged health programmes, from undergraduate training to postgraduate training and research,” he says.
“This sees us working together to support rural communities’ access to healthcare through various initiatives and projects.”
Waikato’s presenters and panellists at the interprofessional conference gave updates on ongoing projects and explored pressing issues, including enhancing access to rural clinical placements for nursing students and co-designing pathways for students from rural high schools to study health programmes at university.
“By helping us to connect with rural communities, Hauora Taiwhenua brings the University closer to the people our research and training aims to help,” Professor Lawrenson says.
This year’s conference had record attendance, including a wide range of rural doctors, nurses, pharmacists, midwives and other health and community groups. Professor Lawrenson says the conference brought people together with a common interest in addressing the challenges and opportunities in delivering better rural health outcomes.
National Rural Health Conference sessions (University of Waikato staff and students in bold)
-
Empowering Future Nurses: Enhancing Access to Rural Clinical Placements
Jewel Barlow-Armstrong, Senior Lecturer in Nursing, Melanie Wilson, Samara Simpkins
-
Building Relationships and Sharing Knowledge for Equitable and Resilient Rural Health Systems: Catalysing a Japan-Aotearoa Research Collaboration
Dr Jesse Whitehead, Senior Research Fellow in Te Ngira Institute for Population Research
-
Panel: What are the opportunities and barriers in leveraging new technologies to support the training of “for rural, by rural, in rural”?
Dr Rod Martin, Dr Sam Murton, Professor Jo Lane, Pro Vice-Chancellor of the Division of Health, John Macaskill-Smith, Erin Currie
-
Diagnostics in Rural Aotearoa – From Mobile to Point of Care and System-Wide Reform
Mark Eager, Dr Jo Scott-Jones, Honorary Associate Professor in the Division of Health, Rachel Pearce, Marie Daly
-
Examining climate change impacts on health service access in Aotearoa New Zealand: An experimental proof-of-concept
Mitchell Pincham, third-year Bachelor of Science student
-
Exploring service awareness and resilience in rural New Zealand: Insights from focus groups
Stefan Heinz, Lecturer in Nursing
-
Community Perceptions of Community Health Workers Delivering Primary Health Care: What Do We Know?
Niaz Ahmed, doctoral candidate
-
Co-Designing Pathways to Health Careers: Empowering Rural Students to Build a Sustainable Health Workforce Dr Veronique Gibbons, also involved in the project are Professor Ross Lawrenson, Director of Medicine and Professor of Population Health and Jessica Smith, Student Outreach and Engagement Coordinator
-
Improvements in mortality following SGLT2i and GLP1RA use in high-risk type 2 diabetes – does rurality matter? (Poster)
Dr Lynne Chepulis, Associate Professor of Health Equity and Innovation, Dr Sara Mustafa, Research Fellow in the School of Health Equity and Innovation, Mark Rodrigues, Research Fellow in the School of Health Equity and Innovation, Dr Ryan Paul, Associate Professor – Medicine, Dr Jo Scott-Jones, Honorary Associate Professor in the Division of Health, Professor Ross Lawrenson, Director of Medicine and Professor of Population Health
