European Conference on Social Medicine

Datum
20. Juni – 22. Juni 2025 

CfP for a Con­fer­ence in Oslo

CfP for Euro­pean Con­fer­ence on Social Medicine
20th-22nd of June
Uni­ver­si­ty of Oslo

Call for papers dead­line is the 7th of February

Call for papers:

Approach­es to health and health­care have long been at the heart of debates on the nature and prac­tice of flour­ish­ing soci­eties. Today, much of what has been held as wide­ly shared truth is fac­ing renewed back­lash and con­stric­tion. A con­tin­u­ing onslaught of per­ceived and expe­ri­enced crises has mar­gin­al­ized dis­cours­es of sol­i­dar­i­ty to the ben­e­fit of indi­vid­u­al­ized and nation­al­ized rhetoric on health. Schol­ars ask whether sys­tems, knowl­edge, and research put in place to secure health and well­be­ing might rather do the oppo­site. Social med­i­cine as a field in Europe has strug­gled to find sol­id ground upon which to engage these cri­tiques and go about the col­lec­tive work of build­ing health­i­er futures. Yet, in the face of fas­cist, xeno­pho­bic, and oth­er­wise exclu­sion­ary vic­to­ries across Europe and the US, social med­i­cine is as vital as ever before.
To find a path for­ward for a social med­i­cine with an eye toward health for all requires prac­tice, the­o­ry, and action that tran­scends tra­di­tion­al dis­ci­plines and approach­es. The human­i­ties and social sci­ences pro­vide frame­works for ques­tion­ing, ana­lyz­ing, and the­o­riz­ing issues affect­ing soci­eties, health, and well­be­ing today. Health pro­fes­sion­als trained in the human­i­ties and social sci­ences may have unique per­spec­tives on these ques­tions in their own fields. We seek to bring to the fore three cen­tral modes of the work of social med­i­cine – prac­tice, the­o­ry, and action – to ask how they, either inde­pen­dent­ly or in inter­play, serve the build­ing of alter­na­tive futures. By prac­tice, we mean approach­es to work­ing in health­care pro­fes­sions in ways that uphold the val­ues of equi­ty and jus­tice, as well as sit­u­at­ed, reflex­ive research engage­ments with health­care prac­tices. By the­o­ry, we mean crit­i­cal epis­te­molo­gies and social the­o­ries that con­front entrenched par­a­digms and con­struct new approach­es to health. By action, we mean engage­ment with and cri­tique of attempts – inter­ven­tions, advo­ca­cy, and sys­temic shifts – to build health­ful, nour­ish­ing futures. Cog­nizant that social med­i­cine reflects on, ana­lyzes, and requires all three, we ask how and when these modes best may be interwoven.
The ECSM will be an are­na for health pro­fes­sion­als with dual train­ing in the social sci­ences or human­i­ties whose work engages one or all of these three modes: prac­tice, the­o­ry, and action. Schol­ars across dis­ci­plines com­mit­ted to nur­tur­ing health for all are also wel­come. We seek to ground our con­fer­ence in the shared pur­pose of build­ing healthy futures and invite con­tri­bu­tions that approach prac­tice, the­o­ry, and action with curios­i­ty. In com­ing togeth­er, we hope to cre­ate a com­mu­ni­ty of schol­ars who strive to address the inter­con­nect­ed chal­lenges that our col­lec­tive health and health sys­tems face as well as sug­gest solu­tions and ini­tia­tives by call­ing upon meth­ods from the health pro­fes­sions, social sci­ences, and the humanities.
We invite sub­mis­sions on any top­ic at the cross-sec­tion of the health pro­fes­sions and social sci­ence and the human­i­ties, and wel­come a range of dis­ci­pli­nary approach­es, time peri­ods and geo­graph­i­cal con­texts. We par­tic­u­lar­ly encour­age pro­pos­als that address aspects of the con­fer­ence theme – prac­tice, the­o­ry, and action – in the work of con­tem­po­rary social med­i­cine. Abstracts are wel­come from all fields in the health pro­fes­sions, social sci­ences, and human­i­ties, includ­ing inter- and trans-dis­ci­pli­nary projects.

Please do not hes­i­tate to reach out if you have ques­tions regard­ing the call or our con­fer­ence more generally.

Emma Lengle MD MPH
Insti­tute of Health and Soci­ety, Uni­ver­si­ty of Oslo
Depart­ment of Glob­al Health and Social Med­i­cine, Har­vard University
emmajle@uio.no / emma_lengle@hms.harvard.edu