The roots of the Asia Pacific Academy for Psychosocial Risk Factors at Work date back to 2010, beginning with an expert meeting in Darwin, Australia. This was followed by a series of expert workshops and meetings across the Asia-Pacific region, including Johor Bahru (2011) and the formal founding of the Academy in Tokyo (2012).

In 2013, a key milestone was achieved in Bangkok, where agreement on the Academy’s constitution was reached. Subsequent meetings continued to consolidate the Academy’s mission and regional collaboration, with gatherings held in Adelaide (2014), Seoul (2015), and Shanghai (2016). The Shanghai meeting culminated in the development of the Shanghai Stress Statement, a foundational contribution to the Academy’s work on psychosocial risk factors.

The final meeting in this formative phase took place in Mexico City in 2017, marking the transition from a series of expert-led workshops to formal international conferences. The first official conference of the Academy was held in Auckland, New Zealand, in 2018, signalling a new phase of structured global engagement.

Following this, the Academy convened in Ho Chi Minh City in 2018 and later hosted its second conference virtually from Malaysia in 2021 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. As global conditions improved, the Academy returned to face-to-face conferences, holding the third conference and first Joint Congress in Tokyo in 2023, followed by the fourth conference and second Joint Congress in Ho Chi Minh City in 2025.

Looking ahead, the Academy is scheduled to host its fifth conference and third Joint Congress in Taipei, Taiwan, in 2027, continuing its commitment to advancing psychosocial risk research and practice across the Asia-Pacific region.