Our 2018 program, Canmore Canada
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After the success of our 2018 meeting in Alberta (where we rebranded to 'inVIVO' to better reflect our agenda), we are thrilled to continue to display our 2018 Program which brought together a fantastic line-up of incredible international speakers. It was packed with diverse topics and new data from a broad range of perspectives and disciplines – bringing together all the key elements we need to ‘Unify Personal, Public and Planetary Health’.
In Canmore we continued to pursue our expanding vision which recognises the vital importance of approaching complex environmental issues from a more holistic and integrated perspective. This extends and combines the typical focus on the biological and psychological level, with the wider sociological and environmental determinants of human health, and understanding how these are inter-related to societal health.
One important dimension of our meeting in Canmore was the opportunity to discuss these the relationships between climate change, mental health, and ecological grief, using case studies from First Nations communities. This extends our interest in how human health challenges are the culmination of a ’dual burden’ - increasing adverse exposure (e.g. fast food, toxins and stress) coupled with loss of much that was protective in ancestral environments. The facets of ‘loss’ extend from the physical (loss of biodiversity, species, local foods and produce) to the loss of community (loss of language, tradition, and stories) and the far less tangible aspects of loss (such as loss of value systems, loss of purpose, peace, respect, spirituality, compassion, awe and wonder). Canmore provided an ideal backdrop to explore impact of disconnection from natural environments and loss of appreciation for traditional cultures - which extends from effect on individual mental and physical health to unsustainable social, economic and environmental consequences. As always, we had ‘platform talks’ by leading international experts, as well as our highly popular ‘short and snappy’ campfire presentations, which allowed almost all participants to provide a taste of their work to the whole group without the need for any parallel sessions. Together, these elements provided the basis for collaborative discussions and many new opportunities! We are very proud of our tremendous network of like-minded people from diverse fields and many regions who collaborate to address these modern health challenges and, importantly, how they link to wider global challenges. Our interests span from planetary/population/ environmental health to microbial ecology/ systems biology and the deep biological mechanisms - basically working ‘symbiotically’ to connecting the siloes through an integrated systems framework. Our meetings are highly productive and interactive with as much emphasis on meaningful collaborations and productive friendships as on the data and opportunities we generate. |
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Program:
DAY 1: Wednesday 4th April (Cornerstone Theatre)
Day 2: Thursday 5th April
Day 3: Friday 6th April
