Pandemics are a pressing global threat to human life and security, and they have especially serious impacts on Indigenous people throughout the world.

The Centre for Advanced Study (CAS) funded project Social Science Meets Biology: Indigenous People and Severe Influenza Outcomes, to be held from August 2022 to June 2023, will bring together interdisciplinary researchers to foster conversations that integrate medical, epidemiological and social perspectives in order to increase understanding of Indigenous experiences when faced with pandemic diseases and better appreciate the diversity of pandemic consequences faced by Indigenous vs. non-Indigenous peoples.

The project will also seek to identify policies to improve prevention and control of pandemics with a particular focus on lessoning their impacts of Indigenous peoples and recommending future research priorities in this area.

Please register for the event here:

Registration deadline: 15 March 2023

As part of this project, a conference will be held 15-16 May 2023, at The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters in Oslo. Attendance is limited to 100 participants due to space capacity at the Academy. There will also be a pre-conference workshop on 13 May for Indigenous researchers with an interest in pandemics (limited to 30 participants).

Key-note speaker, Prof. Malcolm King, University of Saskatchewan (title TBA).

Papers are welcome from any region of the world and from researchers who study any Indigenous group and pandemic (e.g. the 1918 influenza, 2009 swine flu, or Covid-19). We especially encourage papers from Indigenous researchers.

If you are interested in participating in the conference, please submit a 250-300 word abstract by 1 December 2022 to masv@oslomet.no. Abstracts should be written in English and structured into the following four sections: Background & Aims; Methods; Findings; Conclusions & Implications.

Please indicate if you are interested in attending the pre-conference workshop and if so, the Indigenous community with which you identify.   

Scholarships

A limited number of scholarships are available for students (masters or PhD) and early-stage researchers, covering the conference fee, flights and hotel. To apply, please send a 0.5-1 page essay explaining your need for a scholarship to masv@oslomet.no. Preference will be given to individuals with Indigenous backgrounds and/or those living in low-income countries. The deadline for scholarship requests is 1 December 2022.

Please direct any questions or inquiries about the scholarship to masv@oslomet.no.

Important dates

• Deadline for submission of abstracts & scholarship requests is 1 December 2022
• Notification of acceptance: 15 January 2023
• Registration for the conference and booking of hotel rooms opens on 15 January 2023 and closes on 15 March 2023