Interview to Luis Salvador-Carulla in the National Press Club


Last week, Luis Salvador-Carulla, head of the Centre for Mental Health Research at the Research School of Population Health in the Australian National University (ANU) in Canberra and SRAP-IEAP member, was invited to the National Press Club to talk about mental health and suicide as priority issues to be tackled in this term of parliament.

The title of the event was ‘Mental health: how to fix Australia’s crisis’

With the federal government nominating mental health and suicide as priority issues to be tackled in this term of parliament, what do some of Australia’s most respected thinkers on mental health think should happen? Despite billions being spent on this area, the suicide rate is heading in the wrong direction and in indigenous communities it’s leaving a terrible legacy. Last August 7ththe National Press Club hosted an important discussion outlining ideas for change with three well-known experts: Luis Salvador-Carulla (SRAP past president and head of the centre for mental health research), Georgie Harman CEO of Beyondblue and John Mendoza, CEO of ConNetica. The Forum was hosted by Sabra Lane President and Host of the ABC’s AM program. Prof Salvador-Carulla provided an overview of the main problems facing mental health systems research and planning in Australia.

More info about the event in the National Press Club webpage.


Angel.Lopez-Sanchez

About Angel.Lopez-Sanchez

A/Prof Ángel R. López-Sánchez is an astrophysicist and science communicator working at the School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, Macquarie University (MQ). He is a recognised expert in the study of how the gas is converted into stars in galaxies and how this affects galaxy evolution. He graduated in Theoretical Physics at the University of Granada (2000) and completed his PhD Thesis in Astrophysics at the prestigious “Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias” (IAC, Spain) and the University of La Laguna (Spain) in 2006. He moved to Australia in 2007, joining CSIRO “Astronomy and Space Science” to perform radio-interferometric observations of gas-rich galaxies at the Australian Telescope Compact Array. In 2011 he joined the Australian Astronomical Observatory and Macquarie University combining instrumentation support, research, lecturing, and outreach. He was appointed as a full-time research academic at the School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences at Macquarie University in May 2023. He is the president of the association of Spanish Researchers in Australia-Pacific (SRAP), the vice-president of the Astronomical Association of Córdoba (AAC, Spain), representative in the Andalusian Astronomy Network (RAdA), and member of the International Astronomical Union (IAU), the Spanish Astronomy Society (SEA), and the Australian Astronomy Society (ASA). He is a globally-recognised science communicator, with visibility in Spanish and Australian printed, broadcast, and social media. He is also a passionate amateur astronomer that uses his own equipment for capturing the beauty of the Cosmos. His stunning astronomy time-lapse videos and photos have received +1/2 million views in YouTube and have been seen in TV channels in USA, Australia and Spain, science museums worldwide, and textbooks.