Call for Papers: Medical Humanities at Peking University China, 15-17th October, 2015
Convenors Professor Guo Liping (PKU) and Dr Vivienne Lo (UCL)
During Peking University’s annual Medical Humanities Week PKU and UCL are convening an
exciting 3 day conference and workshop to explore key challenges facing the discipline with
particular emphasis on the view from China. Medical Humanities was established in China in the
1980s as an interdisciplinary collaborative initiative dedicated to fostering creative relationships
between doctors and patients. As elsewhere in the world, there is currently a crisis of identity with
a particular issue arising from efforts to integrate theoretical perspectives with practice. What is
needed now is new vectors through which medical professionals and students can reflect on their
practice, as well as a broadening of the field of vision to include more investment in the Medical
Humanities through arts, literature and film. We invite contributions to five panels convened by
leading academics from the universities:
Panel I: Madness and Society
Chairs: Professor Sonu Shamdasani (UCL) Prof.HUANG, Yueqin (黄悦勤 PKU)
Suspended between science, medicine, religion, art and philosophy, the advent of modern
psychotherapies represents one of the distinctive features of twentieth century Western societies.
Yet their historical study lags behind their societal impact. This panel invites presentations that
explore how this and other historical conceptions and practices of madness and psycho-emotional
disorder continue to shape contemporary notions of well-being and identity itself.
Panel II: Public Health Ethics
Chairs: Dr James Wilson (UCL) Prof. CONG,Yali (丛亚丽 PKU)
Public health ethics. This panel focuses on ethical and political questions about the role of the
state in protecting and promoting health. Topics for the panel could include: Who bears
responsibility for reducing the harmful effects of air pollution? When are inequalities in health and
life expectancy are unfair? What is the fairest way to move towards universal health coverage?
Should tobacco be more tightly regulated? And ethical issues posed by emerging infectious
diseases, or by the the rise of antimicrobial resistance.
Panel III: Culture and Health Professor David Napier (UCL) and Prof. ZHANG,
DAQING(张大庆 PKU)
This panel examines key areas identified by the Lancet and University College London
Commission on Culture and Health as in need of attention at the levels of research, policy, and
implementation. The Commission makes twelve recommendations around changes it considered
essential to the future of health and health delivery. These twelve general areas of concern fall
into four key domains: cultural competency; communities of care; health inequalities; and human
wellbeing. In this panel participants will be asked to respond to each of the twelve
recommendations and to recommend strategies for taking them forward in China.
Panel IV: Global Health and the Medical Humanities
Chairs: Professor Therese Hesketh (UCL) and Prof. GUO, Yan (郭岩 PKU)
This panel will consider the role of the humanities in determining and delivering global health
messages. Papers are invited on the following themes: Old Age and Frailty, Environment and
Climate Change, Death and Dying, Women’s Health, Child Health, Sexual Health.
Panel V: Film and the Body
Chairs: Professor Chris Berry (KCL) , Dr. Vivienne Lo (UCL), Prof. Chen Xuguang (陈旭光
PKU) , Prof. Guo Liping (郭莉萍 PKU)
This panel will ask, what is the role of film in the Medical Humanities? To understand better
social and cultural issues related to health, medicine and the body in twentieth and twenty-first
century China? To deliver health messages? To reflect on health and medical practice? We
welcome presentations on film as it relates to any of the themes of our conference.
Panel VI: The Transcultural History of Medicine
Chairs: Dr. Vivienne Lo (UCL), Prof. Chen Ming (陈明，PKU)
In recent decades there has been a revolution in the field of the History of Medicine. This has been
driven by new attention to Transnational History and for the ancient and medieval worlds by new
research into medical manuscripts. Presentations on any related subject are welcome on this panel.
Student Forum: on the above six topic areas (student chairs)
Paper Submission Guidelines:
Requirements for Abstracts Submission: Abstract should be submitted in both Chinese and
English (no more than 500 words each, English only for non-Chinese nationals) with subjects
relevant to the six panels. Both languages will serve as working languages, and it is at the speakers’
discretion to use either of them. Outstanding papers will be published in full text in the upcoming
edition of the Chinese Medical Humanities Review.
Deadline for Paper Submission: July 20, 2015.
Submission by email: mhwpku2015@163.com. Please indicate your name, title of paper and
targeted panel number in the subject of your mail. Please also include in the abstract submission
your name, affiliation, address, email address and phone number.
Registration:
Register for the Conference: Please fill out the registration form below and send it to
mhwpku2015@163.com.
Registration Fee: RMB 1,000 (including registration, materials, lunches and dinners, and closing
banquet). Transport and lodging are not included in the registration fee, but the conference
secretariat can help with hotel booking. Full-time students can register free of charge.
Contact Information: Miss Zhao Xinyi (赵忻怡) & Ms. Li Runhong (黎润红), Institute for
Medical Humanities, Peking University. Address: 38, Xueyuan Road, Haidian District, Beijing
100191, CHINA. Tel/Fax: 86-10-8280-2512.
Appendix：
Registration Form
Name
Gender
Affiliation
Address
Title/Post
Tel.
E-mail
Need for Hotel
Booking (shared
room unless
otherwise
specified)
Time of Arrival
Time of Departure
Title of Paper in
Chinese
Title of Paper in
English
REMARKS