Indiana University is soliciting proposals from junior scholars for participation in an interdisciplinary workshop, “Therapeutic Encounters: Emerging research in health and medicine in Eastern Europe,” to be held April 13-14, 2012 at Indiana University in Bloomington, IN. 

Eligibility: Graduate students and recent PhDs from any field who are engaged in health- and medicine-related research in Eastern Europe. We particularly invite submissions from scholars in the public health fields, medical sociology, medical anthropology, disability studies and medical education.

Workshop rationale:

The former state socialist systems of health care in Eastern Europe, along with the broader economies in which they are now embedded—are still being restructured.  The challenges posed by the transition from a command to market economy have long attracted the attention of scholars in the United States and in the region.  Social services, particularly health care, have been directly and deeply impacted in response to the political collapse and concomitant privatization and globalization of medical systems.   The organizers of this workshop seek to bring together scholars who have been exploring the changes occurring in health care systems and medical and social service provision in the region from different disciplinary perspectives, to encourage cross-disciplinary collaboration in understanding these complex issues.

Junior scholars will present their research to peers, as well as a group of senior scholars, and exchange ideas for future research and collaborations.  We especially hope to foster interdisciplinary collaboration under topics such as

• Changing notions of patient-consumer and human rights in health and medicine
• Trends in training and professional preparation
• Health policy transformations and implementation
• The role of NGOs and religious groups in service provision

The primary goal of the workshop is to provide a scholarly environment in which junior scholars working at the cutting edge of this emerging research field can present their work in order to gain broader insight and benefit from critique of their work.  The interdisciplinary nature of the workshop will provide participants the opportunity to explore a variety of methodological and theoretical approaches to understanding current medical and social service delivery trends.  The organizers plan to develop a special journal issue based on the workshop papers.

Funding is available to support domestic travel and accommodations at the workshop.

Workshop organizers are Bryan McCormick (Recreation, Park, and Tourism Studies), Sarah D. Phillips (Anthropology) and Heidi Bludau (Anthropology) at Indiana University, Bloomington.

Interested applicants should submit a 300-word abstract describing your research to Heidi Bludau [hbludau AT indiana DOT edu] by January 27, 2012.

The workshop is sponsored in part by the College Arts and Humanities Institute at Indiana University.