Uppsala Health Summit turned into an interdisciplinary policy arena on health

The first summit was held in June 2014. It had the title ‘Healthcare for Healthy Ageing’. The big question raised at that first summit was the rising older population and the accompanying increases in the diseases that come with older age. The following year, the summit dealt with antibiotic resistance.

Dealing with challenges – together

But it was as early as 2010 that ideas began to emerge about creating a policy arena to discuss the challenges around health and healthcare that we are facing and how we can best deal with them – together.

A decision by the Vice-Chancellor on 25 March 2025 means that the Uppsala Health Summit is now ending. The editorial team met Monika Gutestam Hustus and Hang Nguyen at the University Administration, who have been running the Uppsala Health Summit in recent years. Monika Gutestam Hustus:

“The initiative originally came from the World Class Uppsala network. Madeleine Neill was brought into the Communications Division as a project manager from there. Later Kerstin Stewart and Anna Ledin were brought in for a few years."

“The feasibility study conducted by World Class Uppsala on the need to bring together academia, the private sector and the public sector in an international forum on healthcare and health turned out to be a world-class initiative,” says Hang Nguyen with a grin.

Besides Uppsala University, the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Region Uppsala, the Swedish Medical Products Agency, the National Veterinary Institute (SVA), Uppsala Municipality and later also Örebro University have all been partners in the Uppsala Health Summit. The summits have consisted of workshops and lectures sponsored by companies and organisations in Sweden and abroad. The participants were specifically invited individuals.

“That meeting between people from different backgrounds – it’s just so exciting,” says Monika Gutestam Hustus. It created an interdisciplinary blend.

The work involved was to arrange summits that highlighted the broad knowledge about public health that is available here in Uppsala. Each year, a steering committee discussed and decided on a theme for the summit. The first theme was the ageing population. Other themes have included cancer, children’s health in cities, mental health, and food systems. International experts in the UHS Advisory Board have also contributed their ideas. A programme committee then arranged various workshops.

“Experts and researchers who had perhaps rarely met or known each other before have worked in the programme committee,” says Monika Gutestam Hustus. “Each workshop generated new knowledge.”

Reached many more during the pandemic

But in the midst of it all, the world was hit by a pandemic. Digital meetings had to replace in-person meetings, which did not mean any less work for Uppsala Health Summit. But people got tired of sitting in front of their screens.

“Once we lost that in-person encounter part, we really had to push hard to get people interested,” says Monika Gutestam Hustus.

“The positive thing was that we reached many more people, including people who were located elsewhere in the world,” says Hang Nguyen. “There could be 600 people attending a live broadcast compared to 150–200 people at a physical summit.”

The last summit was held in 2023 and was on the theme of chemical pollution. It was one that really stood out.

“For that summit, the programme committee all knew each other. One of the workshops had the goal of writing a submission to a science policy panel (SPP) that was part of a UN project. It was intended to contribute further to the healthy handling of chemicals and waste as well as prevent pollution,” says Monika Gutestam Hustus.

That was also part of the job.

“We generated new knowledge in our workshops,” says Monika Gutestam Hustus, “but in the final year we let different target groups meet in different places which allowed the programme committee to share new knowledge through seminars.”

“It was about us wanting to deepen the discussions from the workshops and discuss the same topic in a wider context,” says Hang Nguyen.

What are you going to do now?

Monika Gutestam Hustus has moved to Gotland and will start working as a project manager at Forum Gotland.

“I’ll also be running a bed and breakfast from May 2025,” she says. “We’re going to focus on locally grown produce and sustainable development.”

Hang Nguyen is moving on to a position as a project coordinator at the Department of Earth Sciences.

Ulrika Hurtig