In this inaugural webinar, BISI’s world-class faculty will discuss how behavioural and implementation scientists have engaged with the epic global health and healthcare challenges of recent years and ways in which this singular collective experience has transformed the research enterprise itself. Drawing on their diverse international backgrounds, our speakers will share successful instances of how policymakers and researchers have worked together in the COVID era to protect population health and strengthen health systems, what we can collectively learn from failures and missed opportunities, as well as their own views on future directions for evidence-based policy and practice.