20.10.2025
Your ASPHER Secretariat is not only working for public health as our regular workday, but we also make efforts to improve health in our local community outside of the office! Here in Brussels, my family helps organise regular bike rides with Kidical Mass. Kidical Mass is an initiative aimed at promoting an inclusive and accessible cycling culture for young people and their families, with key missions focused on getting them on the bike, supervised learning to cycle in the city, social cohesion at the municipal level, and strengthening cycling culture and sustainable development. In collaboration with citizens, associations, and local authorities, Kidical Mass supports (future) cyclists at every stage of their journey: learning to ride from a young age, traveling safely and confidently, adopting cycling in everyday life, and inspiring those around them to do the same. Kidical Mass rides are an opportunity for children to practise riding on public roads and cycling paths, taking advantage of visibility and safety in numbers. They create awareness of children's mobility rights and promote the idea that kids should be able to go by bike to school or to their leisure activities, calling for safer cycling infrastructure. The Brussels Kidical Mass started in 2020 and organises festive cycling events for children to encourage more children (and parents) to get around by bike. Accompanied by music along the way, we cycle to the children's rhythm and respect the traffic rules. Our approach is inclusive and supportive with over 5500 participants in Brussels Kidicals in 2024. We find tailor-made solutions for children in need or with disabilities and we help children/parents without a bike find their own for a small budget or even for free. By being visible on the streets of Brussels, the Kidical Mass promotes a more child-friendly city in a fun way while reiterating our demands: respect for the 30 km/h zone, secure school areas, the creation of family-friendly bike parking (longtails, cargo bikes), and more separate bike lanes. Kidical Mass rides take place in cities around the world so look out for your local event or consider setting up your own Kidical if your city is not yet involved. Kidical Mass grew out of the Critical Mass movement which is a form of direct action in which people travel as a group on bicycles at a set location and time to call for proper and thoughtful design in the safety of all road users, including those who would prefer to walk and cycle, instead of prioritising motor traffic above all else. Do you have a fun or interesting activity contributing to public health – either as part of your work or leisure? Why don’t you tell us about it with your own blog here at ASPHER! Register as a user and start posting! Lore Leighton ASPHER Secretariat
30.09.2025
ASPHER is thrilled to welcome you to our new website! The goal of our newly designed site is to create a member driven ASPHER online community where individual users affiliated with ASPHER member institutions (schools leadership, faculty, students, alumni...) will be able to interact with each other, network and share their work, engage in Association's activities, and so much more – expanding together to unlock the ASPHER community’s full potential! We would like aspher.org to be a landing page each morning for members of the ASPHER community to share and learn about news relevant to their work. Our aim is to make the site a true focal point of their web presence within a trusted space of likeminded colleagues connected through ASPHER work and values. The direction of the website development is to create an online environment fully interoperable with members' digital identies across other professional, organisational and social media realms. Visitors are always welcome to the site, but in order to take full advantage of being part of the ASPHER community, please sign up for your individual account here. In order to sign up for an account you must be affiliated with an ASPHER member institution and your account must be verified. If you don’t find your institution on the current member list and you are affiliated with an institution involved in public health education and training, then you may want to encourage your institution to become a member of the Association. Contact us at community@aspher.org to learn more about how your institution can join ASPHER. The website design is meant to be as intuitive as possible for your user experience, but in order to discover all the functionalities a manual is needed. The office is hard at work developing a user manual to be available soon. Moving archived content from the previous ASPHER website is also a work in process. We will be steadily updating the current page as well as digitizing historically important paper documents in time for 60th anniversary celebrations in 2026. This is only the beginning! We are planning to enrich the web community further over the coming months, adding hub functionalities for additional interaction and sharing to include: Public Health Training Hub bringing together available education and training offers, pool of experts and trainers, and competency-based curriculum creation toolkit. Public Health Practical Knowledge & Engagement Hub to support projects implementation including bringing together partners for bids and joint publication efforts, community outreach and a good practice repository. Public Health Career Development & Advancement Hub including system capacity and individual career planning toolkit, guidance for funding and employment opportunities. We hope you will be as excited as we are to build closer community at aspher.org! If you have questions, ideas or feedback, please contact us through the feedback form on the homepage.
29.09.2025
On 10th October 2025 Maastricht University is celebrating an official launch of two WHO Collaborating Centres as a hybrid conference at the Maastricht Convention Bureau. 1) The WHO Collaborating Centre Regions for Health and Cross-Border Public Health led by the Department of Social Medicine. 2) The WHO Collaborating Centre for Public Health Leadership and Workforce Development led by the Department of International Health. In March 2025 the WHO has designated two Departments at Care and Public Health Research Institute (CAPHRI), Maastricht University as WHO Collaborating Centres. These are the Department of International Health as the WHO Collaborating Centre for Public Health Leadership and Workforce Development, led by prof. dr. Katarzyna Czabanowska and the Department of Social Medicine (Living Lab Public Health Mosa) as the WHO Collaborating Centre Regions for Health and Cross Border Public Health led by prof. dr. Christian Hoebe. It is a great honour and responsibility for both departments. Through the work of the Collaborating Centres, we will support the WHO within the European Region and beyond in generating scientific evidence, developing tools and methodologies, and capacity building interventions for public health workforce as well as advancing infectious disease control, youth mental health, and environmental health across Europe. Download the programme here. To join the hybrid meeting online, please register through the following link: https://www.aanmelder.nl/who-collaborating-centres-conference
29.09.2025
PHAM 2025: Planetary Health Annual Meeting 7-10 October 2025, Rotterdam, The Netherlands Hosted by Erasmus School of Health Policy & Management (ESHPM), Erasmus University Rotterdam https://pham2025.com Join us from Tuesday the 7th until Friday the 10th of October 2025, for a comprehensive program of events. Pre-event activities will take place on Monday, October 6, setting the stage for an engaging and enriching experience at PHAM 2025. Building upon the groundbreaking achievements of Planetary Health Annual Meeting (PHAM) 2024 in Malaysia, we are delighted to announce the upcoming PHAM in Rotterdam, themed “Planetary Health for All and In All: Boosting Urgency and Agency for Systems Change." This prestigious event will bring together esteemed speakers from across the globe, offering a rich tapestry of opportunities for attendees. Participants can look forward to cutting-edge scientific presentations, integration of arts, extensive networking opportunities, and engaging social events. As we continue the vital work initiated at PHAM 2024, this year's meeting promises to be a pivotal gathering for the global planetary health community, with special attention for the crucial role of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in innovation for sustainability. We eagerly anticipate your participation in this transformative event, where we will collectively address the pressing challenges facing our planet and chart a course for a healthier future. ASPHER is proud to sponsor PHAM 2025 and will host a special lunch session: Lunch session: Bridging Frameworks and Shaping the Future of Planetary Health Education: Priorities, Audiences, and Action Thursday 9 October, 13:00 - 14:00 Room 5-8 (Van der Vorm, Plate, Van Rijckevorsel, Ruys Rooms) This session bridges Planetary Health with One Health, Climate & Health, Environmental Health, and Eco-Health to build a shared roadmap for education. We will: assess how to measure the availability and quality of Planetary Health learning offers, identify priority audiences for the coming years, and spotlight strategies that make education transformative, shaping skills, agency, and intent to act. Short impulse inputs from invited experts will frame a focused discussion aimed at concrete next steps and collaborative opportunities across academia, practice, and policy.
29.09.2025
ASPHER recently participated at the European Health Forum Gastein (EHFG) where we brought Schools of Public Health to the table with a series of events on Public Health Diplomacy in partnership with the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health (ASPPH). Urgent global health threats must be tackled through increased collaboration, coordination, cooperation and communication across multiple stakeholders. Policy makers, practitioners and scholars have increasingly recognised the importance of health in relation to other political issues such as trade, security, equity, development, and human rights. However, in the current environment, good health and well-being has been challenged due to increased geopolitical tensions and a rise in nationalism, fuelling competitiveness rather than cooperativeness. Countries need to design and negotiate frameworks and agreements that can address global health challenges in a collective manner. The regional Schools of Public Health associations, ASPHER and ASPPH, are working toward meaningful and bold solutions to prepare a cadre of committed Public Health Diplomats, facilitating data driven dialogue, evidence-informed communications and implement training programmes in a complex environment. Schools of Public Health must be ready to take responsibility and build needed capacity! Events at EHFG included a Young Forum Gastein Skills Building Workshop, a lunch with high-level stakeholders, and a lively fishbowl discussion as part of the Main Conference: Public health diplomacy - Cooperativeness and collaboration vs disagreement and division. Watch the session recording here. Participants at EHFG debated a background policy brief (McKee M, et al. Public Health Reviews, 2025, in press) that will soon be available through a special collection on Public Health Diplomacy in a Complex World in the journal Public Health Reviews edited by Ashish Joshi (ASPPH) and Ramune Kalediene (ASPHER). If you have something to contribute to the topic consider submitting your manuscript to the call for papers! As a priority of the Presidency of Henrique Barros, ASPHER under the leadership of Ramune Kaldeine is taking the work forward to establish Public Health Diplomacy living labs in Europe while engaging other key stakeholders to build momentum. Stay tuned for the ASPHER/ASPPH/EHFG outcome statement and much more!
29.09.2025
Thursdays: September 4 - November 13, 2025 09:00 - 10:30 AM ET (Eastern Time) via Zoom DOWNLOAD THE COURSE FLYER | FREE REGISTRATION Organisers: Global Network for Academic Public Health (GNAPH) & Global Consortium on Climate and Health Education (GCCHE) | Contact: mo3040@cumc.columbia.edu Audience: Faculty members from schools and programmes of public health worldwide. Climate change presents an unprecedented threat to human health and wellbeing. Public health experts occupy a distinctive position in addressing the climate crisis - one that extends to encompass population-wide protection, system strengthening, and evidence-based advocacy. Faculty at schools and programs of public healthare responsible for ensuring their students attain the competencies needed to address these critical issues. This free, online comprehensive 11-week course, led by experts from around the world, is designed to equip public health faculty with the knowledge, skills, and tools necessary to integrate climate change into public health degree education and to train the next generation of professionals who will lead climate-informed health interventions. Following up on the course, there will be an exciting opportunity for participants who are affiliated with members of GNAPH Schools Associations, including ASPHER, to join a regional community of practice to reinforce and build education and training in climate change and public health. Look out for the announcement later this year! If you are interested, please send us an email at community@aspher.org so you don't miss out on your chance to apply. Certificate available to those who meet the requirements. * * * Global Network for Academic Public Health (GNAPH) is an alliance of seven regional associations that represent schools and programmes of public health worldwide. Global Consortium on Climate and Health Education (GCCHE) unites health professional training institutions, health societies, and regional health organisations to create a global climate-ready health sector, prepared to mobilize and lead health promotion and response in the era of climate change, while restoring the health of the planet. ASPHER and GCCHE have been working together to build capacity at scale in climate change and public health with two previous courses for Europe in climate change and health: European Climate and Health Responders Course; and European Climate-Resilient Health Systems. More is to come - check back for announcements!
29.09.2025
The society journal Public Health Reviews has several open collections, many initiated and edited by ASPHER Members and Partners. We hope you will consider submitting your manuscript! PUBLIC HEALTH DIPLOMACY IN A COMPLEX WORLD Guest Editors: Ashish Joshi, Ramune Kalediene & Rodrigo Siquera Reis Global health issues such as the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, misinformation, conflicts, and humanitarian emergencies create complex health, economic, and geopolitical challenges. Addressing these crises requires integrating public health into all policy areas and more equitable international cooperation. Lessons from the pandemic stress the importance of combining formal diplomacy (e.g., health attachés and diplomats) with informal diplomacy, involving non-state actors like Non- Governmental Organizations and private enterprises. Strengthening Public Health Diplomacy requires multidisciplinary approaches and cross-sector training to prepare public health professionals to navigate the sociopolitical and cultural complexities of global health. We need more practitioners as public health diplomats who can effectively communicate, facilitate, negotiate and build consensus using systems thinking, evidence based, community-informed approaches, based on equity-focused and human-centered values to improve health and well-being for all. ARMED CONFLICTS, WARS AND MENTAL HEALTH Guest Editor: Jutta Lindert Armed conflicts and wars continue to affect millions of individuals and communities worldwide, with profound and enduring consequences for health physical and mental health. War not only causes immediate psychological trauma but also disrupts social cohesion, displaces populations, fragments health systems, and exacerbates cycles of poverty and violence. These intersecting challenges—often protracted and multigenerational—are reshaping the priorities of public mental health research, policy, and practice. URBAN HEALTH IN TRANSITION: ADVANCING EVIDENCE AND POLICY FOR HEALTHIER CITIES Guest Editors: Ana Ribeiro, Nino Kuenzli, Ricardo Almendra & Mirko Severin Winkler More than half of the global population lives in urban areas, with this figure expected to grow markedly in the coming decades. Cities are hubs of opportunity but also of complex public health challenges, including deepening inequalities, environmental degradation, population displacement, and the pressures of climate change. These interconnected phenomena, deeply embedded in urban life, are reshaping the landscape of public health practice and research. ADVANCES IN PUBLIC HEALTH LEADERSHIP Guest Editors: Geneviève Chene, Kasia Czabanowska, Didier Koumavi Ekouevi, Joao Breda & Odessa Petit dit Dariel Effective leadership is crucial for advancing public health and facilitating coordination, initiatives, and responsiveness to community needs. Enhancing leadership competencies in the public health workforce has an important role in responding to acute emergencies such as pandemics, conflict and war, as well as long-term challenges such as climate change and migration. Attention to public health leadership, encompassing communication, science, practice, and training, is gaining traction globally. Governments, public health organizations, and educational institutions must now come to a shared definition and explore innovative approaches to developing leaders. Training and capacity building in public health leadership remains poorly integrated into graduate or post-graduate programs, with only limited access to courses such as the annual WHO European Public Health Leadership Course. DISASTER HEALTH CONVERGENCE: BETTER INTEGRATION OF PUBLIC HEALTH AND DISASTER MEDICINE Guest Editors: Paul Barach & Raquel Lucas This special issue will explore and promote the integration of public health and disaster medicine, responding to the growing needs for active, vibrant, and novel collaboration between these fields in addressing the wicked challenges of modern global health threats. Recent pandemics, climate change fueled disasters, and armed conflicts have exposed critical gaps in the current training, resilience, and implementation frameworks of public health and disaster health. The importance of close coordination between public health and disaster health entities became highly apparent during the COVID-19 pandemic. For most jurisdictions, the lack of an integrated epidemic response model impaired the ability of both entities to respond in a timely and effective manner to mitigate the high rates of COVID-19 transmission and its subsequent morbidity and mortality. There is a need for transformational change to bring these disciplines closer together, restore trust in public health leadership, and facilitate a learning systems’ approach based on meaningful and sustained coordination across systems.
29.09.2025
ASPHER congratulates our 2025 Award winners! Prof. Dr. med. Reinhard Busse, MPH FFPH ASPHER Andrija Štampar Medallist 2025 Professor Reinhard Busse is the head of the Department of Health Care Management in the Faculty of Economics and Management at the Berlin University of Technology. He is also a faculty member of The Charité, Berlin's university hospital, is Associate Head of Research Policy and head of the Berlin hub of the European Health Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, is a member of several scientific advisory boards, as well as a regular consultant for the WHO, the EU Commission, the World Bank, OECD and other international organizations within Europe and beyond, in addition to national health and research institutions. His research focuses on the methods and contents of comparative health system analysis (with a particular emphasis on reforms in Germany, the social health insurance of other countries including those in Central and Eastern Europe, the role of the EU, financing and payment mechanisms, and disease management), health services research and health economics including cost-effectiveness analyses, and health technology assessment (HTA). His department has been designated as a WHO Collaborating Centre for Health Systems Research and Management. He is the director of the annual Observatory's summer school in Venice and was the coordinator of the EU-funded project "EuroDRG: Diagnosis-Related Groups in Europe: towards Efficiency and Quality" (2009-2011). He has been Editor-in-Chief of the international peer reviewed journal Health Policy since 2011. Professor Busse studied medicine in Marburg (Germany), Boston (USA), and London (UK), as well as public health in Hannover (Germany). Prof. Dr. Oliver Razum, University of Bielefeld, Germany ASPHER Research Excellence Award 2025 Professor Razum’s research is focussed primarily on social epidemiology and migration and health. With over 750 publications , a h-index of 48 and more than 11,500 citations, he has published extensively on a vast array of topics. He has been a leading expert on research in migrant health in Germany for the past 20 years, including being the lead author of the first national report on migrant health. He has researched the health of refugees, asylum seekers and international migrant workers in which he is a leading international figure. His areas of interest include screening and access barriers to health care. In recent years he has also spoken out and published extensively on the public health impacts of conflict and war. Department of Public Health and Community Medicine, Medical University Gdansk ASPHER Teaching and Practice Excellence Award 2025 The Department of Public Health and Community Medicine is located at the Faculty of Health Sciences of the Medical University of Gdansk (GUMed). The Department conducts scientific and didactic activities in the field of public health and organises public health classes for the majority of faculties conducted at the University. The Department is also the initiator and creator of the public health courses (undergraduate and postgraduate studies), whose students learn about the full spectrum of topics covered by public health. Academic staff continuously improve their competences through participation in further education courses offered at the University, as well as in external courses. The Department innovates and continuously modifies teaching content and teaching methods. For several years, an internal system of teaching evaluation has been in place, as well as methods to activate students. Between 2022 and 2025, the Medical University of Gdansk implemented activities in teaching and practice of public health in the face of new challenges such as the war in Ukraine, the “new reality” and mental health. The Department also implemented a succussful NAWA project from September 2022 to July 2024, entitled “Improving public health education in response to pandemic and post-pandemic challenges”, which had the highest impact on the further activities undertaken by the Department and its recognition. The long-term effects of the cooperation are the internationalisation of the unit and lasting relations with the Partners, enabling the creation of further projects in the area of science and teaching. ASPHER Early Career Excellence Awards 2025: Rami H. Al-Rifai, United Arab Emirates Beate Jahn, Austria Jwenish Kumawat, Ireland Pier Mario Perrone, Italy Anna Tyranska-Fobke, Poland
29.09.2025
The ASPHER Secretariat is delighted to announce the outcome of the recent election process at the ASPHER Annual General Assembly (AGA) 2025 in Berlin which took place at the Charité Campus Mitte on 25 June ahead of the ASPHER 2025 Deans' & Directors' Retreat at Berlin School of Public Health. ASPHER Presidency election Prof. Mary Codd has been elected as President-elect for the 2025–2026 term. Prof. Codd will assume the office of ASPHER President for the 2026–2028 term. In addition, Prof. Nadav Davidovitch has been proposed for election as President-elect for the 2027–2028 term, to take up the office of President for the 2028-2030 term, subject to ratification of his candidature by the ASPHER Membership at the AGA 2027. We warmly congratulate Prof. Mary Codd on her election to the Presidency of ASPHER, and acknowledge Prof. Nadav Davidovitch's candidacy for election in 2027. We look forward to their continued contributions to ASPHER's mission and values. ASPHER Executive Board election Prof. Polychronis Kostoulas, University of Thessaly, Greece was elected for his second term in the ASPHER Executive Board. Prof. Oleg Lozan, School of Public Health Management, Republic of Moldova; and Prof. Judit Simon, Medical University of Vienna, Austria were elected for their first terms in the ASPHER Executive Board. We congratulate and enthusiastically welcome the new and returning members of the ASPHER Executive Board. We look forward to working productively with the Board to continue to strengthen ASPHER, its members, and the contributions of the public health education and training to improving and protecting the public's health.
24.03.2025
18TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE: HEALTH IN THE FUTURE: VISIONS AND CHALLENGES OF CURRENT AND FUTURE PRACTICES When: 5 Jun 2025 Organiser: Angela Boskin Faculty of Health Care Contact: center@fzab.si, www.fzab.si 5 June 2025, Hotel Astoria, Bled, Slovenia The aim of 18th international scientific conference is to promote researches that address the acceptance of and knowledge on technologies among health and social care workers. A transformation of health and social care is needed. The mosaic of today is made up of fragments of staff shortages, the introduction of new technologies into work and everyday life, highly informed patients who require a different approach, dealing with a challenging demographic facts, new generations entering the labour market, lack of time and interpersonal relationships. Current and future health and social care practices are closely related to society, people and technologies. Many areas are at the same time the vision and challenge: inter-institutional and international cooperation and exchange of good practices, accessibility of health and social services and materials, general health promotion, prevention of inequality and vulnerability in society, retaining health care workers in the profession, prevention of corrupt practices, accessibility of data on the health of citizens and data of the health system functioning, flexibility, coordination and cooperation, management of health and social care institutions, politically independent management of the health and social care system and many more. Health in the future is inextricably linked to the successful integration of knowledge and modern technologies into health care. Welcome! Sanela Pivač, PhD, Assistant Professor Dean THEMES: CLINICAL RESEARCH LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT - Retaining health care workers in the profession - Intergenerational cooperation - Preventing corrupt practices - Factors for ensuring a sufficient number of doctors and nurses - Accessibility of data on the health of citizens and data of the health system functioning - Flexibility, coordination and cooperation - Qualified management for managing health care institutions - Politically independent management of the health care system - Acceptance and knowledge of telecare, telehealth, and socially assistive robots among (future) healthcare professionals EDUCATION, INNOVATION, MODERN TECHNOLOGIES - Inter-institutional and international cooperation and exchange of good practices - Accessibility of health services and materials - Promotion of health in the population - Prevention of inequality and vulnerability in society PARTICIPATION FEE Active and other participants: 150 € The participation fee includes lectures, lunch, snacks during breaks, a participation certificate, and proceedings of lecture. The participation fee must be transferred to the Angela Boskin Faculty of Health Care, bank account: Fakulteta za zdravstvo Angele Boškin, Spodnji Plavž 3, 4270 Jesenice, IBAN: SI56 0700 0000 1033 819, SWIFT: GORESI2X (Gorenjska banka d.d. Kranj, Slovenia), reference number 20250605. Invoices will be issued after the conference. Additional info: center@fzab.si, www.fzab.si or 00386 4 5869 368
24.03.2025
As part of ASPHER's 60th Anniversary year celebrations, we are launching the first European Congress on Public Health Education & Training. Members who would like to learn more about getting involved can contact us at community@aspher.org. We'll be happy to meet over zoom or at the upcoming EPH Conference in Helsinki. If your institution is not yet an ASPHER member, contact us to learn how to join so you don't miss out! Please share this announcement with your networks and keep an eye out for the 2nd announcement coming in November with registration information and call for abstracts!