The 3rd Conference of the Association for the Social Sciences and Humanities in HIV (ASSHH) will be held in South Africa. The goal is to ask the kinds of critical questions it is sometimes difficult to pose in other settings, and to contribute to new and creative ways of thinking about the HIV epidemic. The conference will critically examine the growing gap between rhetoric and reality in the national and international HIV response and will provide opportunities for wide-ranging discussion and debate on the following themes: (Re)-writing the history of AIDS: whose facts, whose visions, whose stories?, An ‘epidemic of signification - cultural and media representations 30 years on, in the era of PrEP and ‘universal’ access, Sexual orientation and gender identity - a new or enduring battleground?, The politics of 'practice': research and practitioner perspectives on intervention and programme development, Power, politics and resistance: the demise of agency in the face of constraint, Positive nostalgia(s) and the international HIV response and Renewing social sciences and humanities research.
Jobs and Announcements
This World Congress is a challenge to Action Learning / Action Research practitioners to explain how they are contributing to the creation of a fairer world. The ALARA World Congress 2015 will create a space for dialogue over questions such as: How do we know we are asking the right questions to promote sustainable learning? How do we capacitate people to address the intricate interplay of social, economic, political and cultural factors that combine to preserve injustice? How do we ensure authentic collaboration between stakeholders across all levels? How do we use AL/AR to forge innovative, sustainable responses to contemporary complex challenges? How do we know we are successful in mediating sustainable change? Delegates from developing countries should register before 28 July 2015.
The South African Health Review Emerging Public Health Practitioner Award is offered to South African candidates under the age of 35 to submit a chapter dealing with public health or policy in South Africa for publication in the South African Health Review. Click on link for further details.
The workshop and symposium are intended to develop and progress medicines utilization research in Africa. The workshop will cater for all personnel including those just starting research in this area and those already undertaking medicine utilization research. This will be achieved through two workshop streams (parallel sessions) and a one day symposium for researchers to present their projects and findings. Topics will depend on the content of the submitted abstracts. There will be both oral and poster presentations. Particular consideration will be given to abstracts describing current drug utilisation research and activities with ARVs.
The 11th Annual Conference of the Public Health Association of South Africa takes place between 7-9 October 2015 in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal. With 2015 being the target date for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals, the conference will provide an opportunity to reflect on the challenges faced by South Africa and Africa in trying to achieve the MDGs.
An annual RuDASA conference has been organised almost every year since 1996, and attracts a range of rural health professionals from all over the country. The conference is a much-anticipated, vibrant forum which combines a mixture of sessions ranging from clinical skills updates for and by a wide range of health professionals to emotive discussions and workshops on issues such as justice and equity.
The theme of this World Congress is a challenge to Action Learning / Action Research practitioners the world over, whether working in resource rich or more socio-economically challenged contexts, to explain how they are contributing to the creation of a fairer world. Abstracts should be emailed to conferencepl@gmail.com. Abstracts should be 250 words max, typed in single space Arial 12 using the following headings as a guide:
Background: an overview of the issue under discussion, the problem the research addresses and the purpose and objective of the research
Methods: the study period / setting / location, study design, study population, data collection and methods of analysis used. Results: the findings / outcome of the study. Please summarize any specific results.
Conclusions: the significance of findings / outcomes of the study and future implications of the results.
The Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) is pleased to announce its programme for the publication of textbooks for use in African universities. The programme is aimed at making available to teachers and students textbooks that are adapted to the African context and the research and learning environment on the continent. African researchers are invited to submit their textbook manuscripts to the Council. This programme is for senior scholars with a proven track record of academic achievement and a demonstrable knowledge of the domain in which they wish to produce a textbook. In selecting proposals, the Council will lay emphasis on the value which is likely to be added by the manuscript. Proposals can be submitted by single authors or by a team of contributors. Each textbook can be organised around a discipline, a body of disciplines, or a specific theme. The textbooks will cover the African continent, a sub-region or a specific country.
With 2015 being the target date for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals, the conference will provide an opportunity to reflect on the challenges faced by South Africa and Africa in trying to achieve the MDGs. The focus of the conference though will be on moving forward and identifying potential solutions both within and outside the health system in order to improve the health status of our population. This is reflected in the theme of conference “Health and Sustainable Development: The Future”. The 2015 PHASA Conference will be more interactive than previous PHASA conferences. A panel debate involving politicians, civil society and academics is set to be one of the highlights of the 2015 PHASA Conference. There will be a greater media and social media presence at the 2015 PHASA Conference ensuring that research findings and key issues reach a broader audience.
The ongoing Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) outbreak has brought to the fore many themes that often rise to the surface in debates on public health in Africa. Many of these issues, which had come up at the height of the HIV/AIDS pandemic are being reharshed with new undertones and inflections. They include questions of global inequalities and their impact on public health in developing countries, the challenges of public healthcare provision and problems of social welfare and social security systems in developing countries and the intricacies of intra and inter-state relations in the face of healthcare challenges. Through its conference on the theme ‘Public health governance in Africa’ CODESRIA wishes to seize on opportunities for debate presented by the ongoing EVD epidemic to rekindle wider conversations about public health governance in Africa. While acknowledging the biological dimension of diseases and the systems that are (supposed to be) put in place to deal with them at a societal level, this conference will deliberately seek to insert conversations about these in broader discussions concerning economics, politics, culture and spirituality. CODESRIA invites abstracts from scholars and practitioners that are interested in participating in this conference. Authors of abstracts selected should be ready to submit full papers by 31st August 2015.
All documents should be sent by email to grp@codesria.sn. Please use the subject line ‘Governance Research Program’ when sending your email.