The Safety Almanac

Virtual Pre-Conference Global Injury Prevention Showcase 2021

With the conference pushed from 2020 to 2022, the organisers ran a five-day online event from Monday 22 to Friday 26 March 2021 to keep the injury prevention community connected. Presenters came from more than 50 countries. The theme carried over from Safety 2020: 'Innovation, Engagement, Action: for a safer future'.

What it was

The Virtual Pre-Conference Global Injury Prevention Showcase ran online from Monday 22 to Friday 26 March 2021. Its purpose was to hold the momentum of the 14th World Conference across the two-year gap the postponement created, and to give the global safety community somewhere to meet, network and keep sharing work in between. Presenters came from more than 50 countries.

It was run by the Public Health Association of Australia as virtual host, with the World Health Organization as co-sponsor.

  • Dates: Monday 22 to Friday 26 March 2021
  • Format: fully online, five days, live and on-demand sessions
  • Theme: 'Innovation, Engagement, Action: for a safer future'
  • Presenters from more than 50 countries
  • Virtual host: Public Health Association of Australia
  • Co-sponsor: World Health Organization

Theme: Innovation, Engagement, Action: for a safer future

The showcase kept the theme that had been developed for Safety 2020. The organisers set it against a world where technology was changing how people work, where low- and middle-income countries faced a growing injury burden — road traffic above all — and where new solutions were needed, including on violence and self-harm. Their argument was that evidence keeps accumulating faster than it gets translated, so the gap to close is between pilot projects and large-scale action.

Engagement was the second half of that argument: with communities, politicians, researchers, policy makers and other stakeholders. Research builds the evidence base, but the organisers held that action is what turns it into policy, program delivery, funding, collaboration and the next generation of injury prevention practitioners.

Objectives

  • Facilitate virtual international information sharing and cooperation, and further develop the science of injury prevention and safety promotion
  • Provide evidence on good practices by which national progress in planning and developing injury prevention initiatives can be measured
  • Create a virtual environment for knowledge sharing, collaboration and relationship building — a 'global injury prevention and safety promotion community' leading into Safety 2022
  • Encourage young researchers and health promotion practitioners to begin a career in injury prevention
  • Recognise and encourage inter-sectoral liaison and collaboration, including encouraging and embracing diversity
  • Develop the knowledge base of injury prevention practice
  • Connect a growing number of professionals and stakeholders to WHO policies for violence and injury prevention

Program structure

Live and on-demand presentations ran across the five days: showcase plenary sessions, concurrent sessions, e-posters and workshops, with satellite events and networking functions alongside them. The site counted more than 80 sessions in total. Interaction ran through question-and-answer sessions, live polling, discussion forums, a virtual meeting hub and a virtual exhibition hall.

Because the audience was spread across every time zone, the organisers published program maps in seven zones — AEDT, WAT, CET, EDT, EET, IST and PHST — so delegates could see which live sessions and networking slots fell inside their own day. Sessions were labelled live, simu-live (pre-recorded but streamed at a set time) or on demand.

The opening session on Monday 22 March carried the showcase welcomes, an opening address and a keynote from Professor Rod McClure. The first day then ran a seven-stream concurrent block on demand — child safety, drowning strategy, falls, road, intimate partner violence, emergency services and work health and safety impact — a live special guest session, two live workshops, a welcome networking session of short small-group conversations, and an e-poster session on disaster, emergency services and safe communities.

  • Opening Showcase Session, Monday 22 March — keynote: Professor Rod McClure
  • Concurrent Session 1 streams: 1A Child (General); 1B Drowning (Strategy); 1C Falls; 1D Road; 1E Intimate Partner Violence; 1F Emergency Services; 1G WHS (Impact)
  • Nine registered workshops across the week
  • E-poster sessions with live discussion with presenters
  • Networking sessions in ten-minute rounds of up to four people
  • Virtual exhibition hall and meeting hub
  • 7th International Safety Media Awards presented during the showcase
  • Early Career / Young Professional Award announced in the closing session, Friday 26 March 2021

Workshops

  • Workshop 1 — 'Systems to support community falls prevention: a research, policy, and practice model', hosted by Injury Matters
  • Workshop 2 — 'Drowning prevention policy & planning, lessons from across the globe', hosted by the Australian Water Safety Council
  • Workshop 3 — 'Big Data in Road Safety Monitoring and Evaluation', hosted by Johns Hopkins International Injury Research Unit
  • Workshop 4 — 'Innovative Approaches to Capacity Development for Injury Prevention in Low-and Middle-Income Countries', hosted by the Global Road Safety Partnership and Johns Hopkins International Injury Research Unit
  • Workshop 5 — 'Meet the Editors'
  • Workshop 6 — 'International Safety Media Awards - Using Research to Guide Practice'
  • Workshop 7 — 'ECR Workshop - Shut up and write'
  • Workshop 8 — 'Using Data to Action through the Violence Against Children Surveys'
  • Workshop 9 — 'Come on a Virtual Playground Tour - What Makes an Award-Winning Playground?'

Supporters by tier

The showcase listed its supporters by tier. Organisation names below are as printed on the 2021 supporters and exhibitors page.

  • Virtual Host — Public Health Association of Australia
  • Co-Sponsor & LMIC Scholarship Supporter — World Health Organization
  • Supporting Host — Australasian Injury Prevention Network
  • Associate Supporter — Australian Government Department of Health
  • Showcase Supporter & Official Journal — BMJ (Injury Prevention)
  • Showcase Supporter — Australian Institute of Health and Safety
  • Stream Supporter — Royal Life Saving Society – Australia
  • Global Engagement Patron & LMIC Scholarship Supporter — Safety Governance Institute; Manage Damage
  • Virtual Exhibitor — Johns Hopkins International Injury Research Unit
  • Virtual Exhibitor — Health & Safety Index

The original page, as the Internet Archive captured it on 25 March 2021

Sources

  1. Pre-Conference 2021 Event — web.archive.org, read 15 September 2026.
  2. About the Showcase — web.archive.org, read 15 September 2026.
  3. Showcase Virtual Program — web.archive.org, read 15 September 2026.
  4. Showcase Workshop Sessions — web.archive.org, read 15 September 2026.
  5. 2021 Showcase Supporters & Exhibitors — web.archive.org, read 15 September 2026.
  6. Showcase Abstract Award — web.archive.org, read 15 September 2026.