Wellbeing conference at Dundee

The usefulness of the term 'wellbeing' for thinking about improved health and quality of life will be discussed at a 'mini-conference' to be held at the University on Wednesday 15th November.

Organised by the Space and Society Research Group in the School of the Environment, with the support of the Social Dimensions of Health Institute, the event will bring together four renowned researchers on wellbeing, and an audience of academic staff from a range of disciplines, postgraduate and undergraduate students, and colleagues from NHS Tayside with an interest in public health.

The speakers include Dr. Tim Schwanen (University of Oxford), Dr. Sarah Atkinson (Durham University), Dr. Thilo Kroll (Director of the Social Dimensions of Health Institute) and Dr. Ed Hall (School of the Environment). The talks and discussion will address questions including what it means to 'live well', how an evidence base on wellbeing can be developed, and how wellbeing is embodied and 'performed'.

The event is on Wednesday 16th November, from 1pm to 4pm (with tea/coffee). It willbe held in Dalhousie 3G02. Contact Dr. Ed Hall (e.c.hall@dundee.ac.uk x88073)

Event details:

'Wellbeing' is a widely used term in geographies of health and across the social sciences, and in policy discourse. The concept offers a way of moving beyond the often limiting biomedical understandings of health, allowing for a broader sense of being 'healthy' and 'unwell'. Geographers have become interested in the ways in which wellbeing is shaped by interrelations between people and within places (including home, natural environments, and care contexts). However, there is concern about the lack of definition of the concept and, further, the ways in which it has been adopted by neoliberal welfare states (as with the notion of 'social inclusion'). A more critical engagement with the concept and the usage of 'wellbeing' is therefore needed.

The seminar will discuss and debate the concept of 'wellbeing', with contributions from three academics who have written extensively on the subject:

• 'Rethinking wellbeing: towards social geographies of living well'
  Dr. Tim Schwanen (School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford)
• 'Performance and Improvisation: alternative readings of embodying wellbeing'
  Dr. Sarah Atkinson (Department of Geography and Centre for Medical Humanities, Durham University)
• 'Wellbeing, quality of life, and health: Understanding their complex pathways and interactions and their implications for constructing the evidence base'
  Dr. Thilo Kroll (Director, Social Dimensions of Health Institute, University of Dundee)
• Discussant: Dr. Ed Hall (Geography, University of Dundee)