The School of Public Health Sciences (SPHS) is delighted to be hosting the Research and Practice in Health Sciences Conference (RPHS). The conference will take place Wednesday, April 1, 2026 at Conrad Grebel. There will be no livestream of the conference.
Registration is not required to attend the in-person conference. However, tickets must be purchased in advance if you would like to attend the lunch.
About the conference
The aim of this student-led conference is to expose current undergraduate and graduate students and postdoctoral fellows to a range of career paths, including research and practice related to public health. The conference will offer an opportunity for the community to reflect on skills needed for health research and practice and provide graduate students and postdoctoral fellows with presentation experience.
The conference is open to all UWaterloo graduate students conducting research or working in public health, and all SPHS undergraduate students, faculty and staff.
All undergraduate thesis (HLTH 432) student poster presentations are automatically included in the conference.
If you have any general questions about the conference, please email us.
Important dates
- March 2, 2026 - Notification of review results (accepted/not accepted)
- March 17, 2026 - Deadline for purchasing lunch tickets
Presenter information
- Oral presenters: Sunday, March 29 at 5 p.m., Powerpoint slides due
- Graduate poster presenters:
- Printed posters due Wednesday, March 25 at 5 p.m., poster .pdf due
- Virtual posters due Sunday, March 29 at 5 p.m.
HLTH 432B Undergraduate posters
- Printed posters due Wednesday, March 25 at 5 p.m., poster .pdf due
Lunch tickets are now available
Lunch tickets are now available! Purchase your lunch ticket.
Lunch tickets must be purchased by March 17th at 11:59 pm so we can place our food order with Conrad Grabel.
Lunch - regular price: $17 plus tax for Faculty and Staff; $5 for Undergraduate and Graduate Students
Limited subsidized tickets are available:
- HLTH 432B Undergraduate Students: Please use discount code that was shared with your class (Subsidized by Applied Health Sciences Endowment Fund)
- Graduate Oral and In-Person Poster Presenters: Please use the discount code that was shared via email (Subsidized by Graduate Students Endowment Fund)
Attendance at the a.m and p.m sessions is FREE and does not require a ticket.
Organizing committee
Co-Chair: Grace Okusanya
Incoming Co-Chairs: Rachel Deshpande and Afreen Nagra
Financial Officers: Helena Godinho Nascimento and Ziting Shen
Peer Review Coordinators: Makenna Nunes Gomes, Carly Wheelans and Salma Mohammed
Logistics Officers: Rachel Deshpande and Sadie Gomes
Workshop and Panel Coordinators: Ava Kucera, Syntheya Leslie, and Lisa Blank
Communications Officers: Elizabeth Wang and Afreen Nagra
Faculty of Environment Contact: Joan Kaburia
Event Co-op Students: Lauren Vanderlinde & Quinn Douglas
Floater: Pam Hopwood
Past conferences
See past conference proceedings and presenters: