Exclusive invitation · Limited places
The Inaugural Conclave on Integrative Global Health
A week in Sydney for senior Indian academic leaders working in integrative health and natural products, hosted by NICM Health Research Institute at Western Sydney University and co-convened with NexELabs.
Already received an invitation? Use the nomination link in your invitation document.
About the Conclave
Five days that give your research a route out of the laboratory
The Conclave brings NICM, the Australian industry partners it works with, and a selected group of Indian institutions into the same room for a week. It exists because the research, the manufacturing capability and the material rarely sit in the same country, and because partnerships of this kind are usually built one slow conversation at a time.
Delegates do not attend as an audience. Each brings one research area from their own faculty and works it through the week alongside NICM researchers and the companies that would have to make and sell the result, leaving with a translational plan that has been presented to, and questioned by, Australian university leadership.
The week
Day by day
Timings are indicative and will be confirmed with delegates.
Sun 28 FebArrive
Transfers and check-in, an optional walk through Parramatta, and a welcome dinner.
Mon 1 MarKnow NICM
The Institute, its GMP manufacturing facility, and hands-on time in the analytical and formulation laboratories.
Tue 2 MarShowcase your research
Each institution presents its research area to a NICM research panel, with matched conversations between blocks.
Wed 3 MarConnect, then see it made
A morning with NICM researchers working toward an agreed project idea, an afternoon with a licensed manufacturer.
Thu 4 MarSee how it reaches the market
A drug delivery company, a deep-technology incubator, and a working session drafting a joint grant outline.
Fri 5 MarShowcase your plan
The Westmead Health Precinct, then each institution presents its plan to NICM academics, University leadership and industry.
Sat 6 MarDiscover Sydney
The Blue Mountains in the morning, the Opera House and the harbour in the afternoon.
Sun 7 MarDepart
Breakfast, a last morning in Sydney, and transfers timed to each flight.
The cohort
The fields we are inviting from
Deans, Directors of Research, Heads of Department and Principals with the authority to set research direction, and senior academics leading active research programmes. The cohort is composed so the whole chain from plant to medicine is represented, across 7 fields.
Places are limited, with 1 delegate per institution. NICM sets the selection criteria and confirms each institution before an invitation is issued.
The longer-term goal
A standing alliance between India and Australia
The week is the beginning of something longer. The Conclave exists to establish a joint research alliance between NICM and a group of India’s strongest institutions in this field, built to do what no single partnership between two universities can.
- Translational research. Taking work through to use rather than publication, on projects that reach a product, a practice or a change in policy.
- Research capability. Building methods, standards and research management across member institutions, so the work meets what regulators and journals expect.
- Funding between the two countries. Opening the bilateral schemes and the national research agencies on both sides, which exist but are rarely used well.
- Policy and standards. Contributing to the evidence on which policy in this field is made, in India, in Australia, and through the World Health Organization's traditional medicine agenda.
- People. Doctoral co-supervision and researcher mobility between member institutions and NICM.
The concept is developed during the Conclave with the institutions that would form it. Nothing is signed in the room.
What your institution takes home
Six things that outlast the week
A citable publication
Your abstract in the Conclave volume, edited by a NICM academic and deposited in Western Sydney University's research repository with a permanent address.
Joint recognition
A certificate issued jointly by NICM and NexELabs, presented at the awards dinner in front of the cohort and Western Sydney leadership.
A place in shaping the Alliance
A seat at the working session that develops the joint research alliance, and first standing when membership opens.
A plan your board can act on
A translational research plan for your own faculty, built across the week and examined by a NICM and Western Sydney panel.
Named collaborators
Research contacts at NICM matched to your field, with introductions made during the week rather than promised afterwards.
Evidence for accreditation
International research engagement, a presentation abroad and a documented collaboration, for NAAC and NIRF.
Your hosts
Who you work with during the week
Professor Dennis ChangDirector, NICM Health Research InstituteProfessor of Pharmacology. He has led major clinical trials of herbal and complementary interventions in dementia, coronary heart disease and type 2 diabetes. His research has attracted over $10 million in external funding.
Professor Kamal DuaProfessor of Pharmaceutical SciencesAn award-winning drug delivery researcher, recognised among Australia’s Top 250 Researchers and ranked first in Pharmacology and Pharmacy. He works on delivery systems for inflammatory disease and on phytoceuticals and nutraceuticals.
Convened by
Vignesh Vijayaraghavan is a senior executive with over 19 years in international higher education across 5 Australian universities. His work has spanned the full range of international engagement, across recruitment, marketing, research, industry and government, alongside digital transformation, AI model implementation and building workforce capability. A biotechnologist by training, he designed the Conclave and leads the week.
Key dates
What happens when
| 5 December 2026 | Nominations close |
| December 2026 | NICM reviews nominations and confirms institutions. Invitations issued. |
| 15 January 2027 | Balance of the delegate fee due |
| January and February 2027 | Visa documentation coordinated. Two online sessions held with all delegates. |
| 28 February 2027 | Delegates arrive in Sydney |
| 1 to 5 March 2027 | The Conclave |
| 7 March 2027 | Delegates depart |
Register your interest
Places are limited and every institution is confirmed by NICM before an invitation is issued. Tell us about your institution and we will come back to you.
Questions
Who to ask
Questions about the nomination, the programme, the research summary or the cost are welcome at any point, before or after you submit.