University hosts European public health summer school and symposium

Asymposium and summer school bringing together global participants to share ideas, practices and gain new knowledge will be hosted by the University of Chester. 

The ETC-PHHP (European Training Consortium for Public Health and Health Promotion) Network event will take place on Monday, June 19 in the Binks Building on the University’s Exton Park site. The international symposium titled Strengthening Community Health and Wellbeing – Putting Art back into Public Health, is open to all and places can be booked for £50 before April 30 here. 

The summer school will take place between June 19 and 30 2023 at the University of Chester, with the one-day Symposium as the first day of the course. The ETC summer school, titled European Perspectives on Health Promotion, is open to those from different fields of health promotion, public health, local government, NGO and health care backgrounds, including people from sectors such as urban planning, (arts) academia, social work, research, management, practice and policy. To find out more or to book a place visit here.

The ETC has been successfully delivering international capacity building programmes since 1991.Targeting Public Health and Health Promotion practitioners, academics and policy makers, the ETC focuses on the process of health promotion using strength-based approaches and developing lasting professional networks across the globe.  

Following the global pandemic, public health and health promotion efforts have been focused too heavily on the science of preventing disease. Society, including the economy, has started the process of re-building and strengthening communities and as part of this process, communities are also re-considering what their community should look like and function in the future, to promote their best health and reduce inequalities in health.

The agenda is interactive with several national and internationally renowned speakers delivering presentations alongside community examples of the arts used in community strengthening initiatives. 

Sessions at the symposium include Professor John Ashton, Public Health Consultant and former President UK Faculty of Public Health discussing The Importance of Arts for Public Health – a Local Perspective and Professor Ian Ashworth, Director of Public Health Cheshire West and Chester Council and Visiting Lecturer at the University of Chester giving an overview and history of arts, culture and the ETC. 

Professor Bengt Lindstrom, Professor in Salutogenesis (Emeritus) from ETC will discuss Salutogenesis and Strength-Based Approaches. Salutogenesis is the study of the origins of health and focuses on factors that support human health and well-being, rather than on factors that cause disease. 

Karen Cregan, Senior Lecturer, Centre for Professional and Economic Development (CPED), Chester Business School at the University of Chester, said:

“We are extremely pleased to be hosting the ETC summer school and symposium which brings together interdisciplinary expertise from across Europe to shape the future of health promotion.”