These public lectures are part of a broader initiative of the Preventive Healthcare Research Cluster that aims to develop new thinking on theory in preventive health. The initiative is designed to consider theories shaping preventive health today, and to critique and re-imagine these theories. Developing a robust theoretical base for preventive health and improving our capacity to apply theory in practice are significant challenges of our time and generate considerable debate among researchers and practitioners. Through this initiative we hope to make an important contribution to this debate. Other components of this initiative include a colloquium of invited academics and production of a special issue of Australian Health Sociology Review.