CONVENORS’ WELCOME

We were honoured to be co-convening the 2025 National Cancer Survivorship Conference hosted by COSA in partnership with Flinders University, the Australian Cancer Survivorship Centre (based at Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre), and the VCCC Alliance.

For over 10 years, there have been two Australian cancer survivorship conferences, hosted by different organisations, based in different cities. For the first time, these two events came together to deliver a unified Australian event.

The 2025 National Cancer Survivorship Conference was held

6-7 March 2025 | Rydges Melbourne | 186 Exhibition Street | Melbourne, Victoria

Together with the Program Committee, an exciting program was created which showcased innovation in survivorship care, research, advocacy and policy.

With the theme ‘BUILDING CAPABILITY AND CAPACITY IN SURVIVORSHIP CARE AND RESEARCH’ we highlighted the importance of advancing survivorship care from the individual to the health system perspective.

Plenary sessions included:

• What is capability and capacity in survivorship and how to build it explored capacity and capability at the individual and system level from patients and providers perspectives, with a focus on how we can build this, collectively.

• Building capacity at home focused on patients and caregivers, and considered support in and outside of the ‘home’ including within community settings.

• Implementation and health system planning looked at implementation of survivor-centred, coordinated and accessible care that is acceptable, safe, effective and sustainable. 

• The basic science of cancer survivorship session explored how our understanding of survivorship in the lab can improve outcomes for cancer survivors and care in the clinic.

• Global survivorship considered Australia’s role in the global survivorship community with focus on how global partnerships can be harnessed for the greater good of survivors.  

• And the increasingly important topic of metastatic cancer survivorship was discussed as an exemplar of effective advocacy which has expanded the focus of cancer survivorship, and how this enhanced focus should translate to improved care and outcomes.

We accepted abstracts in all these categories as well as abstracts on any other topics of relevance to cancer survivors and survivorship care. As always, we particularly welcomed submissions from survivors themselves and those whose work is in partnership with survivors.

The Conference prompted bold discussions and lively exchange of ideas among clinicians, researchers, policymakers, and consumers to truly advance survivorship care and truly strengthen capability and capacity in this important field.

We thank you for joining us in Melbourne.