UK Biobank Symposium
February 11 – 13, 2026
We are pleased to host a 3-day UK Biobank Symposium, showcasing the transformative power of the UK Biobank and bringing together collaborators from across the Australia-Asia Pacific region.
Below is the provisional program for the symposium, along with the selected abstracts for both platform and poster presentations. Poster presentations that have been selected for a lighting talk are displayed in blue under their respective theme. Individual abstracts can be viewed by clicking on the title of each presentation.
Click here to download the program symposium.
Day 1: Wednesday, February 11, 2026
| 08:00 – 09:00 | Registration |
| 08:50 – 09:00 | Welcome and Housekeeping |
| 09:00 – 09:40 | Opening Address: Sir Rory Collins (Remote) – The UK BioBank: Past, Present and Future |
| 09:40 – 11:00 | Session 1: Genetic Epidemiology |
| 11:00 – 11:30 | Morning Tea Break |
| 11:30 – 13:00 | Session 2: Epidemiology |
| 13:00 – 14:00 | Lunch |
| 14:00 – 15:20 | Session 3: Genetic Architecture |
| 15:20 – 16:00 | Break |
| 16:00 – 17:20 | Session 4: Epigenetics Keynote Speaker: Sam Morris – Population and Complex Trait Analyses in the China Kadoorie Biobank |
| 17:45 – 19:45 | Welcome Mixer |
Day 2: Thursday, February 12, 2026
| 09:00 – 10:20 | Session 5: Imaging Data Analysis I |
| 10:20 – 11:00 | Morning Tea Break |
| 11:00 – 12:20 | Session 6: Biobank Applications I Keynote Speaker: Jonathan Emberson – The Mexico City Prospective Study: An Open-Access Biobank for 150,000 Admixed Mexican Adults |
| 12:20 – 13:30 | Lunch |
| 13:30 – 14:50 | Session 7: Statistical Genomics |
| 14:50 – 15:30 | Afternoon Tea Break |
| 15:30 – 16:50 | Session 8: Imaging Data Analysis II Keynote Speaker: Naomi Wray – Lifelines: a 3-generation biobank of 165,000 adults from the Netherlands |
| 17:00 – 17:30 | Information Session – Hosting 2028 Australian Biobank Symposium |
| 17:30 – 21:00 | Symposium Dinner |
Day 3: Friday, February 13, 2026
| 09:00 – 10:20 | Session 9: Biobank Applications II Keynote Speaker: David Hunter – Our Future Health: A New Biobank with Millions of Participants |
| 10:20 – 11:00 | Morning Tea Break |
| 11:00 – 12:40 | Session 10: Mendelian Randomisation Applications |
| 12:40 – 12:50 | Concluding Remarks |
Conference Abstracts
|
Name |
Title |
|---|---|
|
Rory Collins |
The UK Biobank: Past, Present and Future |
|
Sam Morris |
Population and Complex Trait Analyses in the China Kadoorie Biobank |
|
Jonathan Emberson |
The Mexico City Prospective Study: An Open-Access Biobank of 150,000 Admixed Mexican Adults |
|
Naomi Wray |
Lifelines: a 3-generation biobank of 165,000 adults from the Netherlands |
|
David Hunter |
Our Future Health: A New Biobank with Millions of Participants |
William Schierding
University Of Auckland
Temesgen Fiseha
UQ
G J M Shanika R Jayasinghe
QIMR
Beilei Bian
University of Sydney
Babatunde S. Olasege
IMB, UQ
Ruolan Zhao
IMB, UQ
Valentin Hivert
IMB, UQ
Utpala Nanda Chowdhury
IMB, UQ