Invitation to participate in a Business Sector World Café

You're invited to participate in a creative and innovative World Café conversation, intended to generate ideas about how Australia can restore the fair go, including the role of the business community in reversing the trend towards increasing economic and health inequities. 

Australia has long prided itself on being the land of the “fair go” yet in the last two decades and particularly since the onset of Covid-19, this claim has been under threat. While life expectancy has continued to grow in Australia, the distribution of health has grown more unequal. Rising health inequities are a result of inequities in social determinants of health, such as housing, employment, working conditions, income, and racism and discrimination. Health inequities are not just social issues – they represent significant business risks and missed opportunities. These social determinants of health are shaped by state and Federal public policy and the extent to which businesses enact social value. Research shows that companies addressing these inequities can unlock productivity gains, reduce healthcare costs, expand market opportunities, and strengthen their social license to operate. This research seeks to understand what policies and practices would help reverse the increase in health inequities, and potentially create sustainable value for businesses.

We are holding a World Café interactive workshop with around 20 people from the Australian business community to explore how future policy directions and business practices in Australia may reduce Australian health inequities and create value through social impact. We are interested in a broad range of public policies including education, housing, health, urban planning, and employment – all areas where business leadership can drive both social outcomes and commercial returns.

Participation would involve you taking part in a day long (10am - 3:30pm) workshop, with lunch provided. World Café is a style of interactive workshop for creating collaborative dialogue and provides opportunities for people to move in several rounds of conversation to reflect on the research findings and suggest recommendations. This format encourages dynamic networking and cross-sector collaboration, allowing you to connect with other business leaders while contributing to meaningful policy discussions.

The workshop will be opened by Professor Jodie Conduit, Acting Executive Dean, Faculty of Arts, Business, Law and Economics at the University of Adelaide. Professor Fran Baum, Stretton Health Equity, the University of Adelaide will then present the evidence on increasing social, economic and health inequities in Australia, including a business case for action, followed by attendees participating in World Café conversations.

The event will be catered with food and beverages. The workshop will be audio recorded. Please note that personal information will not be asked for during the workshop and any data used in publications from the workshop will be de-identified. However, as this is a group discussion, anonymity cannot be assured. As a workshop group participant, we ask you to respect the confidentiality of discussion and not share anything said by another participant outside of the group.

Participation is voluntary and, if you agree to participate, you can withdraw from the study at any time. However, once you have participated in the World Café it is not possible to remove individual data from the transcript, the transcript can only be de-identified.

Download the Participant Information Sheet, which provides further information about the research project itself, what participation would involve, how your anonymity would be protected, and how information gathered in interviews will be used. 

Download the Consent Form, for if you participate.

This research project has been approved by the University of Adelaide Human Research Ethics Committee (approval number H-2023-099).