Asia Pacific Social Marketing Conference
Event details
Location
- UWA Business School
- Map location
Date and time
- 21-23 October 2026
Registration
- Registration essential
Compassion, Complexity, and Change: Navigating a Polycrisis World
The premier regional conference of the Australian Association of Social Marketing.
KEY DATES
- 1 February 2026
- Call for Papers Opens
- 21 May 2026
- Submission Deadline
- 20 June 2026
- Notification of Acceptance
- 15 August 2026
- Early Bird Registration Closes
- 21–23 October 2026
- Conference
About the conference
The Asia Pacific Social Marketing Conference (APSMC) brings together academics, practitioners, policymakers, and doctoral researchers to advance social marketing scholarship and practice across the region.
APSMC 2026 is hosted by The University of Western Australia and convened under the auspices of the Australian Association of Social Marketing (AASM). It represents the revitalised evolution of the long-standing International Social Marketing Conference – strengthened in its Asia-Pacific identity, and broadened in its commitment to regional relevance, cultural diversity, and systems-level social impact.
This year's conference welcomes contributions spanning public health, sustainability, social equity, community resilience, behaviour change, digital technologies, and policy innovation.
Compassion, Complexity, and Change: Navigating a Polycrisis World
Social marketing is increasingly called upon to address interconnected crises – in public health, environmental sustainability, social inequality, and trust in institutions. The 2026 theme responds to this moment of heightened responsibility and opportunity, foregrounding three interrelated imperatives:
- Compassion
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Centring care, dignity, equity, and ethical responsibility in social change efforts.
- Complexity
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Recognising non-linear dynamics, power asymmetries, and unintended consequences within social systems.
- Change
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Advancing transformative, regenerative, and systems-level interventions, including the implications of digitalisation and AI for social marketing practice and governance.
Conference tracks
Submissions are welcomed across six thematic tracks:
- Social Marketing and Contemporary Social Challenges
- Ethics, Responsibility, and Inclusion
- Systems, Policy, and Institutional Contexts
- Digital and Emerging Technologies
- Advancing Social Marketing Theory and Methods
- Practice, Policy, and Knowledge Translation
APSMC 2026 is designed for:
- Academics and researchers working in social marketing, public health, sustainability, behaviour change, and related disciplines
- Practitioners and program designers seeking evidence-based approaches to social change
- Policymakers and government representatives engaged in upstream intervention and systems design
- Doctoral researchers looking to present early-stage work and connect with the field's leading scholars
- Industry and NGO leaders working at the intersection of social impact and behaviour change
Speakers and panellists
APSMC 2026 will feature keynote speakers whose work addresses compassion, complexity, and change in social marketing and related fields. Speaker profiles and session details will be announced here as they are confirmed.
Dr. Doug McKenzie-Mohr
For over four decades, Dr. Doug McKenzie-Mohr has worked to incorporate scientific knowledge on behaviour change into the design and delivery of environmental programs. He founded community-based social marketing, a framework for developing environmental behaviour change programs, which is now used globally. Doug is the author/co-author of six books on community-based social marketing, one of which, "Fostering Sustainable Behavior," has been recommended by Time Magazine and has become requisite reading for those who deliver environmental programs. His work has been featured in the New York Times, and he is the recipient of the American Psychological Association's inaugural award for innovation in environmental psychology, the World Social Marketing Conference's inaugural award for contributions to the field of social marketing, and he is a B.F. Skinner distinguished lecturer. More than 75,000 program managers have attended his workshops. Doug is a former Environmental Psychology professor. He lives in Victoria, Canada.
- The Host
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The University of Western Australia, Perth
APSMC 2026 is proudly hosted by the UWA Business School at The University of Western Australia – a leading research university with a strong commitment to translational scholarship, Asia-Pacific engagement, and research that serves society.
Perth, Western Australia offers a world-class conference destination: a vibrant, culturally diverse city with excellent international connections across the Asia-Pacific region.
- Conference Co-Chairs and Organising Committee
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APSMC 2026 Co-Chairs
Dr. Gauri Laud & Dr. Uwana Evers
Australian Association of Social Marketing | The University of Western AustraliaAPSMC 2026 Organising committee
Dr Emma Joenpolvi, UWA Business School
Dr Uwana Evers, UWA Business School
Dr Gauri Laud, UWA Business School
Luke van der Beeke, The Behaviour Change Collaborative - Sponsors and partners
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APSMC 2026 is grateful for the support of our sponsors and partners.
Asia Pacific Social Marketing Conference 2026
21–23 October 2026
The University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia
Organised by the Australian Association of Social Marketing (AASM)
- For enquiries: [email protected]
