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Forum

Natural Products Futures Forum

Date
Thursday, 15 October 2026 - Friday, 16 October 2026
Time
9:00 AM (NSW Time)
8:00 AM (QLD Time)
Location
Other
Audience and presenters at the Natural Products Futures Forum 2025

Categories

Hosted by:
National Centre for Naturopathic Medicine
Event cost:
$100

The strategic standard-setting event shaping the future of Australia’s natural products sector—across policy, production, and practice.

The Natural Products Futures Forum is the annual flagship event hosted by the National Centre for Naturopathic Medicine, bringing together visionaries and innovators in natural products research and development. This premier event serves as a vital platform for collaboration, learning, and advancing the field by uniting researchers, government representatives, industry leaders, and global stakeholders. 

The Forum offers a dynamic program featuring networking opportunities, social gatherings, keynote talks, and panel discussions led by international thought leaders and industry pioneers. It fosters dialogue on the latest trends, discoveries, and challenges in natural products, emphasising their importance in advancing health, sustainability, and economic growth. 

Beyond just connecting individuals, the Forum actively cultivates partnerships within the natural products sector, with a strong focus on stakeholders and key leaders from the Western Pacific region while bridging connections with global counterparts. Attendees gain unique insights into cutting-edge research, market innovations, and emerging policy frameworks shaping the future of natural products. 

By facilitating these interactions, the Natural Products Futures Forum empowers participants to collaborate on transformative solutions, strengthen their professional networks, and drive progress in natural products research, development, and application worldwide. 

Registrations opening soon!

“This unique gathering brings together researchers, clinicians, practitioners, industry representatives, and regulatory bodies to discuss all aspects of natural products. I highly recommend this event to anyone working in the field of natural products.”

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Professor Jo Barnes Professor in Herbal Medicines, Deputy Head of School of Pharmacy, University of Auckland
Marcus Blackmore speaking into a microphone at a conference

Elevating excellence

"The goal of this conference is to raise the bar for everyone" Stephen Daniells. PhD, Editor-in-Chief of NutraIngredients.

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Strengthening Today, Building for Tomorrow

This year’s theme highlights the evolving landscape of natural products, where culture meets discovery to shape the future of health and sustainability.

Our four sub-themes explore key areas driving this transformation:

  • Patient-Centred Care: Collaboration for Better Health: How collaborative practice, multidisciplinary health teams, and self-care initiatives can improve patient outcomes and reshape modern healthcare.  
  • Healthy Policy for Healthy People:  Exploring how research, evidence and sector advocacy influence policy design, public health outcomes, regulation and community wellbeing
  • Harnessing Traditional Knowledge on the Road to Health: Recognising and amplifying Indigenous and traditional knowledge, ethical engagement, and culturally grounded approaches to natural health innovation. 
  • Diversification, Growth and the Future Workforce: Preparing the sector for sustainable growth through leadership development, responsible innovation, and diversification. 

This year's event will be held once again in the beautiful NSW coastal town of Ballina.

Become a Sponsor of the NPFF

Strengthen your brand with national and international industry, academia, government and other key stakeholder groups within the natural products sector. 

Download our 2026 Sponsorship Prospectus

Speaker Profiles

Profile shot of Chris Ashton

Chris Ashton

Chief of Staff, Southern Cross University

Chris is Chief of Staff at Southern Cross University, where he heads up the institution’s policy and government relations work. Prior to joining SCU, he was a ministerial adviser across six portfolios in the NSW Government, including senior policy adviser for a Treasurer and chief of staff to a senior minister.

Profile image of Jo Barnes

Professor Jo Barnes

Professor in Herbal Medicines, Deputy Head of School of Pharmacy, University of Auckland

Professor Jo Barnes’ research explores the use, safety, efficacy and, particularly, pharmacovigilance for these products. Jo is also a registered pharmacist in New Zealand and was elected Fellow of the Linnean Society of London (2003) and of the International Society of Pharmacovigilance (2020).

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Associate Professor Andrea Bugarcic

Deputy Director (Education), National Centre for Naturopathic Medicine

Associate Professor Andrea Bugarcic’s research interests focus around evidence acquisition and transferability into education and practice. Her research aims to understand the basic mechanism pathways involved in disease and is expanding to incorporate herbal molecular research by incorporating traditional herbal knowledge and contemporary naturopathic practice.

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Stephen Daniells PhD

Editor-in-Chief, NutraIngredients

Stephen leads the global editorial strategy for NutraIngredients and serves as editorial consultant and chair for major industry events, including Probiota and the Nutra Healthspan Summit, as well as the NutraIngredients USA Awards. He holds a PhD in chemistry from Queen’s University of Belfast and transitioned into journalism in 2005. His work has received multiple awards, and he is a regular speaker at international conferences across the natural products, probiotics, and nutrition sectors.

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Dr Kamal Dua

Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences, NICM Health Research Institute and School of Science, Western Sydney University

Kamal Dua is a Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the NICM Health Research Institute and School of Science, Western Sydney University. He has been recognised as one of Australia’s Top 250 researchers in 2026, 2025 and 2024, and ranked #1 nationally in Pharmacology and Pharmacy (2026, 2025) and Toxicology (2024). With more than 17 years of research experience, his work focuses on drug delivery, immunology and innovative therapies targeting inflammatory diseases.

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Luke Elias

Director, Primary Health Programs and Partnerships, Healthy North Coast

Luke Elias is Director of Primary Health Programs & Partnerships at Healthy North Coast PHN, with over 25 years’ experience across clinical practice, health management, and executive leadership in NSW. He leads commissioning and delivery of primary care programs for 540,000 residents, with a strong focus on patient‑centred care, collaboration, evidence‑informed policy, and outcomes for priority populations.

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John O'Doherty

Chief Executive Officer, Complementary Medicines Australia

John O’Doherty is the Chief Executive Officer of Complementary Medicines Australia – the peak industry body for the complementary medicines industry representing manufacturers, raw material suppliers, distributors, consultants, retailers, allied health professionals and educators. John is passionate about natural health and has worked in the complementary medicines sector since 2018.

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Dr Michael Osiecki

Managing Director, Bio Concepts and Vice Chairman, Complementary Medicines Australia

Dr Michael Osiecki is a second-generation biochemist, he combines scientific expertise with industry leadership to advance evidence-based complementary medicine. With a doctorate in biological engineering, he is recognised for innovation, education, and thought leadership, receiving the CMA Young Achiever of the Year award in 2021.

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Dr Tobey-Ann Pinder

Head of Regulatory and Scientific Affairs, PharmaCare Laboratories

Dr Tobey-Ann Pinder (BScH, JD, ND) works at the intersection of regulatory, legal, scientific and policy issues in naturopathy and the complementary medicines sector. She is currently Head of Scientific & Regulatory Affairs at a major complementary medicines sponsor in Australia, leading product development aligned with regulatory compliance. She also holds senior roles across industry and the profession, contributing to policy, advocacy and standards development.

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Professor Michael Smith

Adjunct Professor, National Centre for Natural Product Research, University of Mississippi

An Adjunct Professor of NCNM, Professor Michael Smith is an internationally recognised leader in the regulation, policy development and research programs in natural health products. He has overseen natural products regulation for the TGA in Australia and for Health Canada. He was also one of the primary technical drafters of the WHO Global Strategy for Traditional and Complementary Medicine (2014-2023).

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Professor Amie Steel

Professor of Public Health, National Centre for Naturopathic Medicine

Professor Amie Steel is a Professor in Public Health and Director of the Australian Research Consortium in Complementary and Integrative Medicine (ARCCIM) at Southern Cross University. Amie has led the world's first global traditional medicine research strategy for the WHO Global Traditional Medicine Centre and is ranked as the #1 Traditional and Complementary Medicine Researcher in Australia (2021-present).

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Professor Evelin Tiralongo

Director, Clinical Trial Unit, Griffith University

Professor Evelin Tiralongo is a pharmacist with dual Australian and German registrations, specialising in pharmacognosy and biochemistry. She has 25+ years of research experience in complementary medicines securing over $1.8 million in funding, publishing 60+ peer-reviewed articles, and leading pharmacy education initiatives in integrative medicine. Evelin is the founding Director of Griffith University’s Clinical Trial Unit and chairs the TGA’s ACCM.

Profile photo of Judy Stenmark

Judy Stenmark

Chief Executive Officer – Consumer Healthcare Products Australia (CHP Australia)

Judy became CEO of CHP Australia in January 2025 after serving as Director General of the Global Self-Care Federation in Switzerland (2018–2024), where she led a major restructure and strategy shift, The Future of Self-Care Strategy, enabling self-care to be considered an integral part of global health policy. With degrees in physiotherapy and public health, she has over two decades leading health NGOs globally, building strong networks with WHO, academia, and international health organisations.

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Professor Marianne Wallis

Associate Dean of Health (Research), Southern Cross University

Professor Marianne Wallis AM is Associate Dean of Health (Research) at Southern Cross University and an Emeritus Professor of Nursing at the University of the Sunshine Coast. A highly respected clinical researcher, she has led major projects focused on improving nursing care and health service delivery. Her research focuses on vascular access, wound care and care of older adults, and she has published more than 200 scientific papers.

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Professor Jon Wardle

Foundation Director, National Centre for Naturopathic Medicine

In addition to clinical qualifications in nursing and naturopathic medicine, Jon has postgraduate qualifications in public health, law and health economics. Jon has worked on integrative medicine, public health and primary health care policy and regulatory initiatives with governments, non-government, organisations and international bodies.

2026 Program coming soon!

Forum Location

Ballina RSL Club
1 Grant Street
Ballina NSW 2478

Preferred Accommodation

Ramada Hotel Ballina
2 Martin Street
Ballina NSW 2478

Contact the National Centre for Naturopathic Medicine

ncnm@scu.edu.au +61 2 6626 9255