The 1st Human-animal medical interactions conference, 18-19 June 2023

Keynote Speaker:   TBA

Abstract Due Date: 19 May 2023

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This conference brings together academics, researchers, psychologists, counsellors and humanists from a wide variety of fields, for a collaborative, multidisciplinary exploration of the risks and impacts of human-animal interactions. Abstracts are peer-reviewed. Themes and issues for the conference include, but are not limited to:

 

Stream A          Zoonotic diseases

The Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the role of animal-human contact in the spread of disease. Contact occurs from the use of animals as food, contaminated water or food sources, animal trafficking, poor disposal of dead animals, insect bites, human population mobility, and animal-to-human transmission. Animals and humans share susceptibility, due to our related physiology. Climate change and the growth of human populations into previously unpopulated areas are increasing the risk of zoonotic epidemics. We welcome papers exploring any outbreak of disease linked to animal-human contact. The last half-century has seen HIV, MERS, H1N1 and SARS. How can we reduce the risks factors involved in transmission? What are the implications for land use, city planning, habitat disturbance, farming methods, selecting and preparing food, urban and rural sanitary regimens, animal transportation and trafficking, and other factors? What changes are required both to reduce risk in everyday life, and to manage risk during an outbreak?

 

Stream B         Technical communication and risk

We welcome papers in any area of technical communication, whether websites, spoken language, documents, text messages, multimodal or communucation, or in any other context or using any other modality. How has the pandemic impacted the way we design and use documentation and reports, procedures and instructions? What are the risks, problems and negative outcomes, and how may they be addressed?

 

Stream C          Human and Veterinary Medicine and the pandemic

Covid-19 has generated intensive cooperation between human and veterinary medical researchers. Areas of shared interest include best practices for health care workers, sharing medical equipment, virus testing, vaccine development, drug therapies and clinical trials. How are humans, animals and the environment interconnected, and how does this impact disease, especially epidemics? We welcome papers exploring these or any other element of the interdisciplinary relations between human and veterinary medicine in understanding and fighting epidemic diseases.

 

Stream D          Data analytics and the pandemic

In order to explore these issues in their public contexts, we are soliciting research cooperation from academics and researchers, psychologists, people working in education and pastoral care, and others. These papers use data from structured interview questions, and evaluate this data with content analysis software. Conference participants interested in cooperating with this effort will publish papers in a journal special issue with HEDRA advisory board members.  If you are interested in this, please click here.

 

The conference welcomes abstracts from academics and researchers working in human and veterinary medicine, the sciences, and public health, as well as in interdisciplinary and interprofessional fields, and others. Participants will be able to watch a plenary session, and participate in a live-stream roundtable, and a conference roundtable discussions.

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