Humanities Rising webinars with Nordic health and EHFF
Webinar 1 Health and Humanity. February 11th 2021
This is the first of a series of five webinars examining different aspects of the theme of health in its widest sense, from the perspective of two European health NGOs – the Nordic Health 2030 Movement and the European Health Futures Forum – both committed to supporting social change. The theme is respecting healthcare professionals’ expertise but acknowledging the importance of prevention, promotion of wellbeing and getting the community voice articulated and able to shape the future of health in society.
We start by considering health in the context of society, of communities working together, sharing collective and individual responsibility both to preserve and improve health and well-being but also supporting transformational change within society, for the betterment of the planet, the environment, for our children and for those who depend on us.
Convener:Lars Muenter, Director, Danish Committee for Health Education
Presenters:Cormac Russell, MD of Nurture Development on Asset Based Community development, Kristine Sorensen, Director of the Global Health Literacy Academy on the power of health literacy, Jim Phillips, Director of the Centre for Patient and Community Empowerment on tools to support community empowerment, Matthijs Zwier, Utrecht HealthPact on Dutch approaches to community action on health, Professor John Drury of Sussex University on the social psychology of coping with the pandemic.
Organizers: The Nordic Health 2030 Movement (www.nordichealth2030.org ) is a network of 30 or more Nordic organisations supporting better health through an equal balance between care and prevention. They are value driven, committed to trust and openness, creativity and innovation, the concept of individual responsibility and finally, to cultivation: building on these principles through social movements. Represented here by Lars Muenter who leads for Communications as part of his ‘day-job’ on international health projects with the Danish Committee for Health Education, in Copenhagen.
The European Health Futures Forum is a network organisation registered in Ireland, but with Directors and Board reflecting its international focus. EHFF seeks to transform healthcare and improve the well-being of European citizens by highlighting and addressing prominent factors impacting health and wellness. EHFF is also value driven, seeking to address, through the lens of health and wellbeing, issues such as social cohesion, dysfunctional financial models, environmental sustainability and education with an open-source, inclusive and inter-generational approach. David Somekh, Network Director, on behalf of his EHFF colleagues, has co-produced these webinars. https://youtu.be/iDhsFDAPGIQ
Webinar 2. Healthy by Design. February 18th 2021
Continuing the series of webinars with Lars Munter of http://nordichealth2030.org/ and David Somekh of EHFF, the focus moves from the community basis of health to a view of health as a consequence of good (or bad) design.
Morten Nielsen of the Copenhagen based International Federation for Housing and Planning talks about designing cities to promote a healthier life for citizens. Robert Rubenstein, founder of TBLI explains the triple bottom line for company investment: people, planet and profit; and how that approach can contribute to a healthier society. From a health planning perspective, Hans Martens, Senior Advisor, European Policy Centre (EPC) discusses the issue of resilience of health systems and lessons to be learned from the COVID pandemic. Finally, Daniel Steenstra, formerly Professor of Disruptive Innovation at Cranfield University, and a member of the EHFF Advisory Board, and his colleague Veron Lai bring insights from engineering and applied design on the inherent weaknesses and challenges in current health service design and implications for the future. You can view the full webinar below.
Webinar 3. Health and the wider ecosystem. February 25th 2021
Continuing the series of webinars with Lars Munter of Nordic Health 2030 and David Somekh of EHFF the focus moves from the design of health to a view of health in the wider context of its ecosystem: the interaction of factors such as current economic models, environmental issues and social inequality.
We present a systems thinking approach to modelling the future of health from one of the pioneers of the Third Horizon method, Bill Sharpe of the International Futures Forum, an introduction to the concept of the Wellbeing Economy from Gary Gillespie of the Scottish Ministry of Finance and an Irish perspective on the relevance of a sustainable environment from Caroline Whyte of FEASTA, the Foundation for the Economics of Sustainability . We get a Nordic viewpoint from Bogi Eliason of the Copenhagen Institute for Future Studies and Niina Aagaard of Nordic Innovation on the Circular Economy. Finally, we offer two case studies: applying the 3H model to the future of European Health from Ian Kendrick of 3H University and the Wellbeing Economy in action in New Zealand, from Kirsten Jensen, New Zealand Ministry of Finance. watch the full webinar here: https://youtu.be/72k0vhjaNDg
Webinar 4. Our digital health. March 18th 2021
This week Lars Munter from Nordic Health 2030 and David Somekh from EHFF move on from looking at the overall Health ecosystem to examining different facets of a topic that is attracting a great deal of attention at the moment – digital health. While digital may have the capacity to transform the way healthcare is delivered (and has already started to do so) as with any innovation, there are a host of new issues that come with it.
Firstly, Jaana Sinipuro : Project Director digital health hub, SITRA provides an overview from the leading innovation foundation in Finland. Then Prof. Mike Bewick, former Deputy Medical Director, NHS England, talks about his work on digital literacy and Kieran Walsh Clinical Director, British Medical Journal, provides a perspective on use of digital health during the COVID pandemic.
Dipak Kalra: as President of the European Institute for Innovation through Health Data offers a European view on how better health data can transform care and Victoria Betton: MD, PeopleDotCom.Ltd shares her experience of how to create bottom up digital innovation.
There will also be practical examples from Anders Tunold-Hanssen from the Nordic Interoperability Project and Nicolaj Holm Faber: Chief Advisor, the Danish Committee for Health Education. https://youtu.be/ASg1iGWvJi4
webinar No.5 Mental health, longevity and a working future. March 25th 2021
In the final session of this series, Lars Munter from Nordic Health 2030 and David Somekh from EHFF look to the future of mental health and wellbeing as it is evolving, work and productivity and the implications of increased longevity. Seeing these three issues as overlapping challenges.
Nicolas Schmit, EU Commissioner Jobs & Social Rights starts our session by providing an insight into his current brief in relation to the skills agenda and other workforce issues.
Carsten Obel, Department of Public Health, Aarhus University, Denmark gives a view on health and healthcare at work, while Lene Soevold, Norwegian University of Science and technology talks about her work on mental health and Katie Rizvi representing the European Health Coalition, talks about re-skilling after major illnesses.
In addition, Kristine Sorenson, Specialist Advisor, DCHE presents the Danish National Partnership on Mental Health. Finally, David Wood,(CEO London Futurists) challenges us with a view from the future.
To wrap-up, a reflection between Jim Garrison, Lars and David on health within the context of the Humanity Rising adventure and where else we might go.https://youtu.be/sqlamuBSmCI
Humanity Rising webinars with Nordic Health 2030 and EHFF (second series) ‘Challenging the model’
May 20th: The transformative power of health literacy – can we tame the infodemic beast? (HR day 252)
Understanding health, health information, healthy choices, treatment options, and much more has proven to be a core competence for Humanity Generation 2020 and after.
Working strategically with health literacy across the life course, sectors, and borders is one of the most effective ways to build trust, a sense of safety and agency, and – in the end – health and wellbeing.
But how do you build it, maintain it, inspire for self-care, empowerment, patient involvement, and much more. And how to deal with the rising challenge of floods of poor or wrong information, the so-called infodemic?
The power of health literacy – challenges and opportunities (Health literacy, infodemic, echo chambers and epistemic bubbles):
Kristine Sørensen: President of the International Health Literacy Association and Executive Chair of Health Literacy Europe’
Transforming societies for better health literacy, health and wellbeing: Michelle Ashen: Founder of Africans United, a non-profit learning and self-development organisation based in South Africa, but reaches across the African continent.
Transforming systems – new community health models as a pathway towards more resilient health systems:
Marion Birnstill: Johnson and Johnson Foundation, is currently collaborating on the delivery of their Global Community Impact strategy in EMEA and for realizing its vision of supporting and championing the people on the front lines of delivering care there and now in Europe also.
Convenors Lars Münter: Nordic Health 2030 Movement, David Somekh: European Health Futures Forum
Website link: https://ubiverse.org/events/humanity-rising-day-252
May 27th European Health Union – Political Pipe Dreams or Time for Next Level in Health Politics around the world? (HR Day 257)
The global pandemic continues to create financial and cultural shockwaves through all kinds of communities across the globe. And while some countries feel they’re seeing light at the end of the tunnel, fresh waves of both new and old challenges await that could rock the boat. So maybe it’s time for political evolution too? Can health politics and the role of health in politics – nationally and internationally, be transformed towards a new reality?
Learn more from
- Vytenis Andriukaitis:
WHO Special Envoy for the European region, former European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety.
- Ilona Kickbusch:
Adjunct Professor, Interdisciplinary Programmes at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva and founder of the Global Health Centre. She acts as Council Chair to the World Health Summit in Berlin and is program chair of the leaders in health network SCIANA.
- Bogi Eliasen:
Director, Health, Copenhagen institute for Futures Studies, Co-chair: Sciana – The Health Leaders Network, Head of Denmark Unit, UNESCO, Chair in Bioethics
Website link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMpPZKOLC9o
June 3: Cradle to Grave – Health-tech to the rescue? (HR Day 262)
It often seems that digital health is proposed as the single most important solution for improving European health and healthcare now and in the foreseeable future. Of course, there are other exciting things like genomics, the use of big data and so forth, but we ask, putting aside the ‘silver bullet’ fantasy for a moment (as after all, healthcare is also about people, if we recall correctly!), what are the realities, potential draw-backs as well as tremendous opportunities this phase of health and healthcare technical innovation represents?
Looking outside the silo with:
Artur Olesch: Digital Health journalist, Founder & Editor-in-Chief of aboutDigitalHealth.com
Victoria Betton: author and public speaker, specialised in digital strategy, policy and transformation for social impact. Founder of PeopleDotCom.
Margareta Wallentén: Project Coordinator, pitch coach and NABC guru: HealthTech Nordic – Helping entrepreneurs grow their vision and business
David Wood: Convener and founder of London Futurists – a pioneer of the smartphone industry – including co-founding Symbian – and now a full-time futurist speaker, analyst, commentator, and writer
Website link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cX1yCPxL0RA
June 10: Mental health in a time of COVID? (HR day 267)
This Thursday we connect experts on one our most elusive challenges, mental health. The pandemic has radically changed the landscape and nature of dialogue about the issue, but are we any closer to understanding and agreeing what we mean when we talk about mental health?
Never since the last World War in Europe (and elsewhere in the world) have so many seen such a radical day-to-day shift in their daily routine, been exposed to extreme levels of stress, anxiety and more – and yet it still seems we fail to grasp how we can actually improve our mental stamina. Can we change this dynamic?
And likewise – while everyone’s busy talking about the virtues of mental health, our mental health institutions and hospitals are experiencing the same financing problems as ever, the same stigma, and the same lack of research. Can’t we change this old narrative?
Presenters:
Bob Grove: Senior Policy Advisor, Mental Health Europe
Prof Peter Falkai: President European Psychiatric Association
Jonathan Munro: Associate Director for Criminal Justice & Secure Care Services, Rethink Mental Illness, UK
Meri Larivaara: Director, MIELI Mental Health Finland
Website link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8lZEC4QNGw
June 17: 5. Diversity and inequality – two woes of long-covid? (HR day 272)
In our final session of this series, we have a fascinating group of contributors on a theme which troubles all of us, and remains over the past years a major issue that won’t be resolved without major changes. During the pandemic, the existence of inequality, whether of income, of health or of opportunity, highlighted the dire consequences it can have on a significant portion of society. It had been there before: the pandemic simply amplified the effects on those lives.
It’s also true to say that our societies have never been so diverse. Mass migration through all sorts of factors during the last decades has accelerated this trend, but often there are real barriers to integration of the new-comers. Cohesion within our affluent society has been weakening anyway and this problem of integration increases this fragmentation. Even in a different sphere, where there has been some progress, regarding sexuality, gender identity and the rights of specific groups it’s all been too slow.
Our contributors examine these issues from a variety of directions.
Presenters: Bob Fullilove: Prof in Sociomedical Sciences, Columbia University NY: on working with vulnerable African-American men
Stephen Brien: Director of Policy, the Legatum Institute (London): COVID and social justice
Anna Myrup: Programme Manager for Public Health Services, WHO Europe: strategic leadership in the time of the pandemic
Rebecca Malby: Professor Health Systems innovation, London South Bank University: perspectives on inequality in the UK NHS services
Website link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grY_Cgnxb-c&t=3s
Humanity Rising webinars with Nordic Health 2030 and EHFF (third series) ‘’Conversations with leading edge practitioners on the art of transforming health’
For their third series of webinars for Humanity Rising, Lars Munter, here representing Nordic Health 2030 and David Somekh representing EHFF decided to adopt a ‘fire-side conversation’ format, to allow more discussion and dispensing with formal presentations. Here are the five flyers, with after each, the link to the YouTube recording.
September 9th: The transformative power of co-creation – professionals and citizens working together
Lars Munter and David Somekh are again your hosts, and we are delighted to welcome , for our first ‘fireside conversation’, two experts from opposite sides of the Atlantic Ocean (the Pond) to talk about their personal approach to this vital topic.
Professor Louise Jane Phillips is head of the Research Group in Dialogic Communication in the Department of Communication and the Arts at Roskilde University. Roskilde is on the Island of Zealand, about 30 km from Copenhagen, Denmark. She is especially interested in the democratic relevance of genuine conversations.
Olga Elizarova runs her own business on the East Coast specialising in design in healthcare , formerly working for a number of years in Boston with the behaviour change experts at the Mad*Pow strategic design consultancy. Olga has recently been interested working at grass roots level with disadvantaged communities in the area of co-design and co-production.
We look forward very much to hearing about their work and sharing our views on how this field can contribute to transforming the way we as a society orient our approach to health and healthcare.
Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVdNKQ9XAuk
September 23rd: Health and the environment. A view through the lens of environmental sustainability
Lars Munter and David Somekh are again your hosts, and we are delighted to welcome , for our second ‘fireside conversation’, three experts from Europe and the US who have a common link through FEASTA (the Foundation for the Economics of Sustainability: https://www.feasta.org/ ).
John Sharry is a Social Worker and Child and Family Psychotherapist with almost 30 years’ experience working with individuals, families and organisations and is the co-developer of the Parents Plus Programmes (https://www.parentsplus.ie/ ) . John is also an adjunct professor at the School of Psychology in University College Dublin and is a weekly contributor for The Irish Times, writing on parenting, relationships and mental health
Mike Sandler is a sustainability and climate change professional, based in Washington, DC. He is a Trustee for Feasta and hopes to increase Feasta’s presence in the U.S. He co-founded two non-profits, The Climate Center based in Northern California and Virginia Clean Energy, and runs the website CarbonShare.org. Mike’s blogs may be found on the Feasta website and previously on HuffPost.
Finally, Caroline Whyte has been involved with Feasta since 2002. She has studied ecological economics and written a master’s thesis on the relationship between central banking and sustainability. Along with four other Feasta climate group members she helped to launch the CapGlobalCarbon initative at the COP-21 summit in Paris in December 2015. She is a Director of the Irish Environmental Network, is Feasta’s alternate representative on the Environmental Pillar, and is one of three Pillar members of the Irish National Economic and Social Council (NESC). She lives in central France, from where she edits the Feasta website.
We look forward very much to hearing about their work and sharing our views on how this perspective can help transform our approach to creating a more sustainable health system for the future.
Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnZTCaQVUyc
October 7th: Bottom-up innovation in European health: tail wagging the dog?
Lars Munter and David Somekh are again your hosts, and we are delighted to welcome, for our third ‘fireside conversation’, two experts from different parts of Europe who will discuss the ways health policy and practice can be influenced from the bottom up direction to improve, despite the shackles of institutional structures.
Dr. Yvonne Prinzellner is a senior researcher focused on (e)Health- and Security-Research at the Research and Innovation Centre at Johanniter Österreich Ausbildung und Forschung gemeinnützige GmbH (a not-for-profit Company based in Vienna, Austria dedicated to health research and providing health education to the wider public). She has extensive experience as a researcher with a background in Communication Sciences and Media Psychology at Universities on a national and international level. Additionally, she also works as a lecturer and thesis supervisor at Applied Sciences Universities all across Austria. Her expertise and research interests include Health Communication, Online Communication, Gender and Sexuality Studies, ICTs as well as Digitization & Impact of Technological Innovations on society.
Jonathan Munro is Associate Director for Criminal Justice & Secure Care Services, Rethink Mental Illness, UK. He has extensive experience of working in a variety of Criminal Justice and Healthcare environments, in both operational and strategic roles. These include but aren’t limited to, working in a high security prison, assessing and addressing offending behaviour, substance misuse and mental health.
Currently responsible for the strategic direction and service delivery of numerous mental health services across England. The services are based in a multitude of environments including prisons, GP surgeries, community mental health hubs and accommodation services. With a history of working with the most marginalised members of society he’s passionate about delivering high quality care to all and working to influence system change to facilitate this.
Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FRLr8rZDuU
October 14th: The future in their hands? Seeking the views of young health professionals on where the European health ecosystem is heading
Lars Münter and David Somekh are again your hosts. For our last but one session of this series, we’ve invited a number of young health care professionals to come and share with us (and of course yourselves, the audience) their vision of how the future of healthcare in their countries, in Europe, the US, and globally might be emerging.
We’re delighted to welcome Zuzanna Cichon and Simone Mohrs from Belgium, and Nahida Abdulhamid, Rosie Atack and Brian Wong from England.
We feel that not enough dialogue occurs between older professionals and their young colleagues. This is something that happens across the board, not just in health and you could say its a reflection of the dominant paternalistic model still persisting in our society. At least in this webinar we hope to redress this and look forward to an interesting exchange of views.
Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KL0HzH5yHQw
October 21st: Transforming health and healthcare – do we need to think outside of the box?
Lars Munter and David Somekh are again your hosts, and we are delighted to welcome, for our last ‘fireside conversation’, some old friends, who have a wealth of experience behind them, although not necessarily entirely in the health sphere. In our previous session we had an impressive range of ideas presented from five younger health professionals on what their vision for the future was. We thought it would be of real interest to contrast those views with those from a group who might use a different lens to examine that question and then reflect with them on what we may have learnt from the five webinars about the transformation of the health ecosystem.
education, health systems reforms, health inequalities Charan Nelander -is Director/CEO of the Danish Committee for Health Education (DCHE), based in Copenhagen. He has 20 years of experience in administration (finance and operations), management, organizational development, business development, communication and implementation of both local, regional, national and international projects. He has extensive experience of the “tension” between government, political and private / non-profit organisations.. Charan is a Board Member for the Danish Hygiene Council, HOME-START-DK, Djof Privat, and co-founder of the European Network on Patient Empowerment.
Agnieszka Daval-Cichon is a director in charge of EU affairs at Philips Healthcare in Brussels. Before that, she worked as a senior policy officer at the European Commission where she was developing EU public health policies, in particular on patient safety, patients’ rights in cross-border healthcare and the health workforce. Before entering the European administration universe, she has been managing international projects mainly in the field of public health and an integrated approach to care. She was also editing a magazine, coordinating work between hospital and community care, co-designing a new urban district and ensuring smooth transfers of her family between different countries. Agnieszka is a founding Director of EHFF.
Sean Conlan now lives in County Leitrim in Northwest Ireland. He trained as an electrical engineer and moved on to become CEO of Excellence Ireland for10 years and was for four years President of the European Organisation for Quality (EOQ). He was a Board member of the ESB for several years (the National Electricity Utility for Ireland).He is a Trustee of FEASTA (an Irish charity, the Foundation for the Economics of Sustainability) and is also a founding Director of EHFF and acts as their Director for External Relations.
Lars and David feel that this is a fitting end to the series, as Charan and Bogi have been closely associated with the Nordic health 2030 project and both Agnieszka and Sean actively influence the direction and work of EHFF.
Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZJKCBp2lcY