2020 will be remembered as the year when a ‘simple’ virus affected all spheres of life of very many people, with disastrous consequences all over the world. In essence, the COVID-19 pandemic is an example of how systemic approaches to health and health problems are central not only to health research, but also to policymaking and the development of effective and equitable policies for the challenges we are currently facing in our societies.

ITM’s Ecohealth group is organising a webinar series in which speakers will discuss current challenges such as climate change, globalisation, urbanisation and emerging diseases, and illustrate how systems approaches can be applied to better understand the issues, analyse their root causes and inform solutions.

The webinar is open to ITM staff, students and alumni. Interested members of the public can participate upon registration.

Fifth webinar:

On 21 January, 2 – 3pm, Professor Gert Verschraegen will give a talk titled “Interdisciplinary research: trends and challenges“.

Gert Verschraegen is a professor of Sociology at the University of Antwerp, where he is currently serving as the head of the department of Sociology. His research interests cover the fields of cultural sociology, theoretical sociology and the sociology of science and knowledge. Gert took degrees in Sociology, Philosophy and Political Economy. He has held postdoctoral and visiting positions at the University of Leuven, the University of Luxembourg, the University of Alberta and Harvard University. He is co-chair of the Belgian Network for Science, Technology and Society.

About the EcoHealth group

The Ecohealth group brings together researchers from ITM’s 3 departments, from eco-epidemiology,  infectious disease control, clinical medicine, political science, anthropology and health systems). The group adopts a whole systems approach to making sense of health and health problems. Its starting point is the dynamic interactions between human, social, biological, ecological and political systems and how that affects the health of people. This in turn demands a transdisciplinary approach and the active engagement and participation of key stakeholders in order to co-create solutions for transformative, sustainable and equitable change.