The Weight Stigma Conference is an inter-disciplinary event that brings together scholars and practitioners from a range of backgrounds (e.g., public health, government and public policy, psychology, medicine, sociology, anthropology, allied health professions, education, sports and exercise science, social sciences, media studies, business, law, activism, and the lay public) to consider research, policy, rhetoric, and practice around the issue of weight stigma. For more information, visit: stigmaconference.com

We are honoured to present our keynote speakers for this year's Weight Stigma Conference:

• Dr Lindo Bacon is an internationally recognized authority on topics related to nutrition, weight and health. A professor and researcher, for almost two decades Dr. Bacon has taught courses in social justice, health, weight and nutrition. Dr. Bacon is author of the iconic and bestselling Health at Every Size: The Surprising Truth about Your Weight and co-author, with Lucy Aphramor, of Body Respect: What Conventional Health Books Get Wrong, Leave Out, or Just Fail to Understand about Weight. They are committed to centralizing the ways in which power, privilege and disadvantage complicate our experience of our bodies. lindobacon.com

• Dr Isaac Warbrick (Ngāti Te Ata, Te Arawa, Ngā Puhi) is an exercise physiologist, Senior Research Fellow and Co-Director of Taupua Waiora Centre for Māori Health Research at AUT University. Dr Warbrick’s research has focused on the impact of physical activity on the health and well-being of Māori with a particular focus on Māori men. Much of his research is conducted at the interface between biomedical, lab-based, and indigenous approaches to research. His most recent publications have questioned whether ‘weight’ and ‘weight loss’ are appropriate ‘health’ measures for Māori, suggesting that outcome measures should better reflect cultural values.

• Kimberly Dark is a writer, professor and storyteller, working to reveal the hidden architecture of everyday life so that we can reclaim our
  power as social creators. In her new essay collection, Fat, Pretty and Soon to be Old, Kimberly navigates her experience of being fat since childhood—as well as queer, white-privileged, a gender-conforming “girl with a pretty face,” active then disabled, and inevitably aging, blending storytelling and social analysis to create a deeper understanding of how appearance privilege and stigma function in everyday life and how the architecture of this social world constrains us, and how we can each build a more just social world, one interaction at a time. kimberlydark.com

Bursary Fund – Supporting Accessibility

The Weight Stigma Conference is a not-for-profit event. Although we try and keep prices down, we realise that the conference will nevertheless be beyond some people's means. Rather than raising the cost of tickets, we will make every effort to raise additional funding through donations and sponsorship to allow us to give bursaries to individuals who otherwise wouldn't be able to attend. A Donation option is available for both delegates and non-attendees who are in a position to contribute a little extra to help us provide financial assistance where needed. Last year, individual donations allowed us to provide twelve full bursaries and we hope to at least match that again this year. Thank you so much for your generosity. If you are interested in formal sponsorship of the event, please email us: stigmaconf@gmail.com.