Webinar to focus on health promotion leadership in challenging times
Registrations are now open for our online workshop (webishop) ‘Health promotion leadership in times of global and 
national challenges’ to be held on June 12 from 11am to 12.30pm.
Our panel of speakers will include New Zealand health promotion leaders, who participated in the 25th International Union for Health Promotion and Education (IUHPE) World Conference on Health Promotion in Abu Dhabi (UAE) from May 13-16.
The conference was an opportunity for them to join health promotion and public health professionals, partners, researchers, policymakers, and stakeholders from around the world to help shape health promotion initiatives and strategies.
This webishop is timely as Aotearoa and the world are facing an unprecedented polycrisis of geopolitical wars, economic crises, environmental catastrophes and pandemics.
The speakers will reflect on how their insights from the conference, as well as our Aotearoa experience, can contribute to enhancing the role and efficacy of health promotion in helping to tackle these unparalleled challenges that we face as a nation.
Joining our panel are Professor Louise Signal a Director of the Health Promotion and Policy Research Unit at the University of Otago, Wellington, and Co-Director of Te Rōpū Rangahau ō Te Kāhui Matepukupuku: Cancer Society Research Collaboration, and Dr Viliami Puloka, a Research Fellow in the Health Promotion and Policy Research Unit, Department of Public Health, University of Otago, Wellington.
Prof Louise Signal
Prof Signal has been a member of the Department of Public Health for over 20 years and has previous experience
Dr Viliami Puloka and Prof Louise Signal at the 25th IUHPE World Health Promotion Conference which was held in Abu Dhabi from May 13 - 16, 2025.
working at central and local government in health promotion and community development.
Her research focuses on identifying and addressing environmental determinants of health and has a strong focus on equity for Māori, Pacific, and low-income communities.
Prof Signal was principal investigator on an innovative research project that studied the world children live in – Kids' Cam, which used automated cameras to record children's worlds.
Dr Viliami Kulikefo Puloka
Dr Puloka is currently a Research Fellow in the Health Promotion and Policy Research Unit, Department of Public Health, University of Otago, Wellington.
Dr Puloka served as HPF’s Senior Health Promotion Strategist (with Pacific portfolio) for 10 years before retiring in May 2024.
A Public health physician with a special interest in diabetes and obesity, Viliami brings with him a wealth of Pacific experience; combining his clinical skills and his public health knowledge. He supports and facilitates Pacific research in New Zealand and in the Pacific, and in 2023 was awarded, alongside Otago University’s Dr Andrea Teng, a Marsden Fund Standard grant to investigate the effects of Tonga’s world-leading, comprehensive taxation on unhealthy foods.
He worked with the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) based in New Caledonia before joining HPF. During that time, he supported and worked with the 22 Pacific Island countries and territories, helping to lead the fight against non-communicable diseases.
Viliami’s extensive experience allows for effective and meaningful engagement with Pacific communities, and he has a strong multi-sectoral experience and programmatic approach in capacity-building, project management and community development.