We are delighted to announce the inaugural Planetary Health Equity Future Leaders program. The Planetary Health Equity Hothouse will welcome a small group of early career researchers and PhD students to join us in Canberra in September 2023.

The thematic focus of the 2023 Planetary Health Equity Future Leaders program is “structural drivers of planetary health inequity”. Through an intensive fortnight of structured workshops and masterclasses related to theory, transdisciplinary research, and knowledge mobilisation, plus time for writing and conversations with the Hothouse team members and wider ANU community, the program offers an opportunity to develop new research skills, spark new collaborative ideas, and create new opportunities for knowledge mobilisation that aims to improve planetary health equity. The Future Leaders program will also involve interaction with the Hothouse 2023 Distinguished Visitor Thinker in Residence and participation in the Hothouse’s Annual Governance for Planetary Health Equity Policy Symposium, where the Hothouse research will be presented alongside insights from policy makers, NGOs, and business groups, including members of the Hothouse Advisory Board.

The program is open to early career researchers and PhD students at institutions across Australia and globally. The selected candidates will join the Hothouse between 4th-15th September 2023. Participants are welcome to remain at the Hothouse to think, write, and discuss for up to 13th of October.

Stay tuned to hear about the program, and the 2023 participants.

A series of webinars created by the Hothouse at ANU, discussing the intersections between climate change, inequity, and human health. The focus is on actions that enable transformative change away from the harmful consumptogenic system to systems that promote good health, social equity and environmental wellbeing.

This episode features Carl Rhodes, Dean and Professor of Organization Studies at the University of Technology Sydney Business School.

Economic inequality is a growing scourge on today’s world. At the apex of this massively unfair system are the global billionaires – an ultra-elite social class who have sequestered the world’s wealth while others languish in poverty and hunger. The immense social and political power billionaires possess cannot be explained by their wealth alone. Coupled with the financial resources billionaires command is a set of inter-connected myths that portray them as a ‘force for good’. This webinar reviews the myths of the good billionaire and how they serve to vanquish the democratic promise of shared prosperity and human flourishing. The webinar also discusses how undermining the myth can lead to a new moral and political vision for a future where the wealth created by human activity is shared by the many rather than hoarded by the few.

Event Speakers

Nick Frank

Nick Frank

Nicholas Frank is a Laureate Research Fellow with the Planetary Health Equity Hothouse in the School of Regulation and Global Governance. Prior to this, he was an Associate Lecturer in the School of Politics and International Relations at the Australian National University. Nicholas specializes in the political economy of trade and investment governance.

Sharon Friel is an ARC Laureate Fellow and Professor of Health Equity.

A series of webinars created by the Hothouse at ANU, discussing the intersections between climate change, inequity, and human health. The focus is on actions that enable transformative change away from the harmful consumptogenic system to systems that promote good health, social equity and environmental wellbeing.

This episode featured Dr Annabelle Workman, Research Fellow at Melbourne Climate Futures.

The health and other impacts of climate change highlight an imperative for urgent climate action. The health community continues to increase its efforts in raising the alarm on climate-related health impacts and emphasising the health and economic benefits of ambitious and timely action. Yet, projections based on the analysis of current policies and action see us remain on a dangerous path of global warming over 2°C. Using insights from the political economy literature, this seminar will explore what strategies might exist to secure the urgent action needed to develop healthier climate policies.

Event Speakers

Photo of Annabelle, smiling.

Annabelle Workman

Belle is a social scientist driven by the urgent need to develop healthier climate policies. With a background in political science and public health, Belle is now a Research Fellow at Melbourne Climate Futures, co-leading the Health, Wellbeing and Climate Justice Research Program with Professor Kathryn Bowen.

Meg Arthur smiling in front of plants

Megan Arthur

Megan is a Laureate Research Fellow with the Planetary Health Equity Hothouse. She is an interdisciplinary qualitative researcher working at the intersection of social policy and public health. She studies the politics of governance for health and wellbeing at multiple levels, with a particular interest in the social and environmental determinants of health equity.

Sharon Friel is an ARC Laureate Fellow and Professor of Health Equity.

A series of webinars created by the Hothouse at ANU, discussing the intersections between climate change, inequity, and human health. The focus is on actions that enable transformative change away from the harmful consumptogenic system to systems that promote good health, social equity and environmental wellbeing.

This episode featured Susan Park, Professor of Global Governance in Government and International Relations at the University of Sydney.

Do international grievance mechanisms work? These non-legal, non-binding mechanisms are increasingly used to provide recourse for people suffering environmental and social harm from internationally funded development projects. But, to date, there have been no studies to show how these mechanisms make a difference to people using them.

Susan's research examines whether international grievance mechanisms provide redress for the environmental and social impacts of international development projects, with implications for planetary health. The World Bank lends approximately $20 billion annually to developing states to fund energy, telecommunications, and infrastructure projects to address poverty and improve peoples’ lives. Yet development projects may have dramatic and irreversible environmental and social impacts: loss of lives, livelihoods, and land, a breakdown in community cohesion, species extinction, habitat loss, and irreparable damage to local ecosystems. Despite the World Bank’s Inspection Panel operating for 30 years, we still do not know how it – or any other international grievance mechanism – contributes to improving development conditions. Many people harmed by international development projects choose these non-legal international procedures to have their voices heard often because legal and political options may not be available to them. Indeed, around the world people put themselves in grave harm from state and corporate reprisal for speaking out to protect their environment.

Identifying the use of international grievance mechanisms for addressing injustice is imperative given the rise of conflicts from development projects globally and the increasing number of environmental ‘defenders’ being killed to protect themselves and their environment. International development practices are also contributing to the crossing of known ecological system boundaries globally, such as climate change, habitat loss, and species extinction, the outcome of which is likely to “surpass known experience and which alter …almost all human and natural systems” (UNDRR 2019: 32).

Susan presented uses of an eco-justice frame to analyse grievances against international development projects financed by Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) to investigate whether they lead to improvements for people and ecosystems. An eco-justice approach combines the right of nature (to exist, repair, and regenerate) with environmental procedural rights for humans (to have access to information, to participate, and to have access to justice in environmental matters). Using an eco-justice frame for addressing grievances against development arguably can bring us closer to recognising both human and planetary health.

Event Speakers

Nick Frank

Nick Frank

Nicholas Frank is a Laureate Research Fellow with the Planetary Health Equity Hothouse in the School of Regulation and Global Governance. Prior to this, he was an Associate Lecturer in the School of Politics and International Relations at the Australian National University. Nicholas specializes in the political economy of trade and investment governance.

Sharon Friel is an ARC Laureate Fellow and Professor of Health Equity.