Vital Waters: Reimagining Planetary Health through Critical Social Sciences

What can the social sciences and humanities contribute to the emerging field of planetary health? How can critical perspectives on water-health relationships help address the compounding health challenges of the 21st century?

You are warmly invited to participate in this interdisciplinary symposium exploring how planetary-scale transformations of water — through climatic changes, infrastructural expansion, extraction, contamination, and purification — are reshaping health futures.

This symposium examines water-health connections through infrastructure, governance, and lived experiences, drawing on empirical social science research in an unequal world.

Through cross-disciplinary dialogue, it seeks to reimagine how we conceptualise and respond to water-related health challenges on a rapidly changing planet.

Please register by 13 April if you want to receive lunch.

After this deadline, you are welcome to join but we cannot book your lunch at Café Alma.

Programme:
9:00-15:45 Vital waters symposium
Location: Sal IV, Universitetshuset, Biskopsgatan 3, 753 10 Uppsala

8:30-9:00 Registration

9:00-9:10 Welcome and opening remarks
Sarah Dickin and Camelia Dewan (Uppsala University)

9:10-9:30 Introducing critical planetary health
Sarah Dickin, Edward Stevenson, and Camelia Dewan

9:30-10:30 Session 1: Histories of extractions and abstractions
Ipshita Basu (University of Westminster) and Efua Prah (University of Johannesburg). Discussant: Rob Gioelli (Environmental Humanities Lab, KTH Royal Institute of Technology)

10:30-10:45 Coffee Break

11:00-12:00 Session 2: Infrastructural diversions
Edward Stevenson (Durham University); Jenny Lindblad (KTH) & Kristina T. Hallström (Stockholm School of Economics). Discussant: Stephanie Leder (SLU, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences)

12:00-13:00 Lunch for registered participants, Café Alma, at the University Main Building

13:00-14:00 Session 3: Purification and limits of public health interventions
Sarah Dickin (Centre for Health and Sustainability, Uppsala University) and Sophie Haines (University of Edinburgh) Discussant: Elijah Bisung (Queen’s University, Canada)

14:15-15:15 Session 4: Contamination, ill-health, and uneven toxic worlds
Raffaele Ippolito (University College London) and Camelia Dewan (Uppsala University). Discussant: Efua Prah, University of Johannesburg

15:15-15:45 Closing discussion

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The symposium continues with an exploratory workshop. For more information, please follow the link.

16:30-19:00 Explorative workshop on planetary health futures and temporalities with mingle
Location: Övre Slottsgatan 6, 753 10 Uppsala

This interactive workshop will explore alternative ways of navigating planetary transformations and futures in health. Drinks and canapées will be served for registered participants.