CfP: Research at the intersection of public health and the humanities

When: 19th and 20th of September 2024

Where: The University of Southern Denmark, Odense

What can public health policy and practice gain from arts and humanities research? Indeed, should the two be considered as separate? How and where do public health and the humanities combine, and what can be done to promote further interaction? We invite proposals for a two-day conference to explore these questions.

Public health’s focus on population-level measurements and interventions, and prevention rather than treatment, means that its practice requires understandings of human health and behaviour that go beyond biomedicine and the doctor-patient relationship. As a result, it is inherently multi- and inter-disciplinary, frequently drawing on expertise from fields including epidemiology, demography, statistics, sociology, psychology and many more. Arts and humanities methods, concepts, and findings are well positioned to deliver rich insights into the health-related and health-shaping experiences, behaviours, beliefs, and outcomes of populations and individuals. Yet it is much rarer to see within public health the explicit inclusion of the arts and humanities: research on language, literature, linguistics, philosophy, religious studies, history, law and legal studies, politics, media, visual and performing arts.

This two-day conference will bring together researchers from a range of arts and humanities disciplines and from more ‘traditional’ public health fields. We invite proposals for 20-minute presentations on: public health research in which arts and humanities methods have been integrated;
arts and humanities research which brings something new and necessary to a public health issue;
examples of direct dialogue between arts and humanities researchers and practitioners or researchers based in other disciplinary fields;
case studies of arts and humanities researchers working with public health departments / authorities, locally, nationally, or transnationally.

Public health issues might include (but are not limited to):

Addiction, substance (ab)use • Interpersonal violence • Welfare systems • Housing and homelessness • Climate crisis • Road safety • Nutrition • Education • Food safety • Mental health • Exercise • Poverty • Pollution • Race/racism • Sanitation • Pain • Health workforce • Occupational health • Inequality • Infectious disease • Non-communicable disease • Gender-based violence • Disability • Care • Data science • Conflict, war, and humanitarian crisis • Health systems • Health insurance • Health financing • Vaccination • Oral health • Migration • Mis/Disinformation • Sexual and reproductive health • Disease surveillance and screening • Anti-microbial resistance • One Health

The conference will take place at the Danish Institute for Advanced Study at The University of Southern Denmark’s Odense Campus on 19-20 September 2024. We encourage participation in person wherever possible. Some funding will be available to cover travel and accommodation for those who would otherwise be unable to attend. We can also accommodate remote participation if needed.

Proposals of up to 500 words should include: 
  • Paper title
  • Paper summary
  • Name(s) and email address(es) of presenters
  • Short biography/ies
  • Whether the presenter(s) would like to attend in person.

This conference is supported by the Wellcome Trust (grant 222203/Z/20/Z) and The University of Southern Denmark.