Public Policy calls for papers / meetings & conferences

Call for Abstracts: Tenth World Congress on Brain Injury

The IBIA International Scientific Planning Committee and National Scientific Planning Committee would like to invite you to attend the Tenth World Congress on Brain Injury, to be held in March 19 - 22, 2014, at the Hyatt Embarcadero in San Francisco, California, USA.

The deadline for abstract submission is October 11, 2013. 

Submissions must be data-driven or assessment/treatment model descriptions.

Abstracts will  be reviewed by the Congress’s International Scientific Committee, which  will determine the most appropriate presentation format (oral  presentation or poster) for each abstract accepted.

The 2014 abstract submission categories mirror the educational themes of the Congress as follows:

Neurotrauma – basic research

Neurotrauma – prevention and public health

Neurotrauma – case reports/clinical research

Neurotrauma – health services and outcomes

Technology – basic research

Technology – clinical research/applications

Neurorehabilitation – basic research

Neurorehabilitation – case reports/clinical research

Neurorehabilitation – activities and participation

Neurorehabilitation – public policy and advocacy

Please note that submissions will be further divided into adult and pediatric research.

Abstracts accepted for the Tenth World Congress on Brain Injury will be published in a supplemental issue of IBIA's official journal, Brain Injury.

Call for Papers: The Disability Experience: State of the Arts, Scholarship and Research

October 31st and November 1st, 2013 University of Pittsburgh Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Set aside the dates and submit an abstract! The Students for Disability Advocacy, a newly formed student group at the University of Pittsburgh whose mission is to advocate for students with disabilities, will be holding a conference  October 31st and November 1st, 2013 at the University of Pittsburgh William Pitt Union entitled The Disability Experience:  State of the Arts in Research, Scholarship and the Arts. The purpose of the conference is to highlight the arts, scholarship and research concerning the disability experience.  The conference will focus on panel presentations by students with faculty respondents.  A variety of submissions will be accepted from students with and without disabilities at the University of Pittsburgh and around the country. Panel presentations will draw from a variety of disciplines including: Assistive Technology across disability, Health & Wellness (disparities), Employment, Policy and Law, the Arts, Education, History, Philosophy, and English. A faculty-student round-table discussion is the final event of the conference with discourse concerning relationships between faculty and students with disabilities. Limited scholarships for travel may be available and food will be available free at the conference.

Purpose and objectives of the conference:

The aim of this first ever disability studies conference at the University of Pittsburgh is to bring together a wide spectrum of faculty, students, and other individuals – especially those from the University and its communities – whose interests capture the experience of disability and who wish to advance disability-related fields and further their integration into the curricula and in community life.  The conference will:

Invite students to present their field-specific disability-related work from across the curricula of science, the arts and the humanities to an interdisciplinary audience

Promote discourse across disability-related fields in order to integrate disability studies into the curricula

Provide networking opportunities by encouraging and enabling attendees to establish connections with individuals of varying fields

Create dialogue between students and faculty about issues and experiences students with disabilities have and to identify mechanisms for resolution of problems.

Submissions:

Abstract submissions should be no more than 500 words and up to three keywords for the paper.  Submissions must include 1) your name, contact information and discipline  2)  title of your presentation and 3) the panel (e.g. Assistive Technology, Health & Wellness, Employment, Policy and Law, Education, History, Philosophy, or English and the Arts) in which you would like to be included.  There will be three accepted abstracts for each panel.  Papers will be shared with other panelists in mid-September and power points will be due two weeks before the conference.    The authors will be asked to make a 15 minute presentation with 5 minutes for Q and A. If you want to display art or show a film, provide a description as well as space and other requirements.

Please submit abstracts by July 1st to Jonathan Duvall at sorc+disability@pitt.edu. Authors of accepted abstracts will be notified by August 15, 2013. Direct any questions or inquiries to Jonathan Duvall at sorc+disability@pitt.edu.  Please feel free to share this announcement with anyone who might be interested in participating.

This conference is supported by University of Pittsburgh, Students for Disability Advocacy and other organizations.

Call for Papers: Risk, Perception, and Response Conference

March 20-21, 2014 Harvard School of Public Health Boston, Massachusetts

Abstracts Due: June 10, 2013

Registration Opens: December 2013

How people react to scientific evidence of risk is mediated by many factors, including how risk information is perceived and communicated, how we react to social and cultural influences, and how choices are structured. Examples abound of situations where individuals’ risk perceptions lead them to act in ways that appear contrary to their own interests, overreacting to or neglecting risks. How can situations in which individuals are likely to respond poorly be identified, and what can be done to improve their responses? To increase our understanding of the factors that contribute to these behaviors and to develop better options for fostering sound decisions, the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis is commissioning papers for presentation at a March 20-21, 2014 conference and subsequent publication.

Limited attention, emotional reactions, and difficulties in processing risk-related information, among other factors, may lead individuals to act in ways that impair their health or welfare. For example, warnings about mercury in fish can lead people to decrease their overall fish consumption and hence their consumption of healthful omega-3 fatty acids. Concerns about autism can lead to vaccine avoidance, increasing the individual’s risk of disease and the risk of transmission to others. Such behaviors may result from incomplete, inaccurate, or ineffective risk communication, or may occur even if the risk is well-communicated. Choice architecture, popularized by Thaler and Sunstein’s Nudge, also affects behavior. To promote welfare-enhancing decisions, better understanding of these causal factors is needed, together with innovative approaches for overcoming them.

The Harvard Center for Risk Analysis is soliciting papers to explore these issues and develop methods for effectively addressing them. Papers may be theoretically or empirically oriented; case studies are encouraged but not required. Examples of topics that may be addressed include the following.

How can we identify and assess cases where reactions to risk have led, or are likely to lead, to harmful behaviors, from an ex post or ex ante perspective?

What factors affect the likelihood and severity of these adverse outcomes? To what extent are they attributable to the nature of the risk, the characteristics of the affected population, cognitive or affective responses, social or cultural considerations, or other factors?

How can we intervene to prevent such adverse reactions? What are the implications for risk communication, choice architecture, government policies, or other actions?

For each accepted paper, HCRA will cover travel expenses (including airfare, hotel, and other expenses) of up to $1,000 for one presenter. In addition, we will pay a $3,000 honorarium. The first $1,000 will be provided upon receipt of a complete draft of the paper, due no later than January 31, 2014. The remaining $2,000 will be provided when the final manuscript is submitted for publication. Authors will have the option of submitting their paper for peer-reviewed publication as part of a special series focused on the results of the conference.

Submissions must be provided as PDFs, and must include the following information:

Title (70 characters maximum).

Complete list of authors and institutional affiliations.

Full contact information for the presenter (email, postal address, and phone number).

All correspondence will be directed to this individual.

A statement certifying that the research represents new work that will not be submitted for publication prior to the conference.

A summary of the proposed research, no longer than 1,000 words, that clearly:

indicates the relationship of the research to the goals and objectives of this project; and,

describes the issues to be addressed by the research and how it will be conducted.

A bibliography including no more than 15 references.

Submissions that do not adhere to these requirements will not be considered.

Submissions must be emailed to riskperception@hsph.harvard.edu and received no later than June 10, 2013.

Completed papers must be submitted to the conference organizers no later than January 31, 2014.

Submission of an abstract is viewed as a commitment to complete the work, adhere to the schedule noted above, and attend the conference if selected.

Decisions will be provided no later than September 10, 2013.

Forum for Prevention: Call for Presentations--XX World Congress on Safety and Health at Work 2014--Global Forum for Prevention

24 - 27 August 2014 Frankfurt, Germany

The deadline for the receipt of abstracts is 30 November 2013. Late abstracts will not be considered.

The German Social Accident Insurance is proud to be the national organizer of the 2014 World Congress. Occupational safety and health has become a far-reaching task in our globalized world. People on all continents suffer under dangerous and unhealthy working conditions. Each year, well over 2 million people are killed in occupational accidents. Only by means of sustainable solutions we be able to prevent occupational accidents, occupational diseases and work-related health hazards.

Discussion – debate – action: this is the focus of the 2014 World Congress. Over 4,000 experts from all over the world will be discussing the latest OSH developments and trends. Our hope is that each and every delegate will return home with new ideas and newly forged contacts. In addition, we offer you the opportunity to experience practical prevention activity on-site during visits to companies in a range of sectors, and to learn about new OSH products at the accompanying trade fair.

What is the Forum for Prevention?

Like the Symposia the Forum for Prevention provides an opportunity for the presentation of current projects, topics and problem issues. The design of the Forum for Prevention is however different: it resembles a large marketplace – with a table or poster wall for every presentation that has been accepted. The visitors to the Forum will circulate among these tables and poster walls according to a predefined schedule. This will give the presenters at the tables and poster walls successive opportunities to make their point concisely by engaging in intense discussion of their issues with a wide variety of experts in a small group environment. The Forum for Prevention also provides an opportunity for the introduction of ongoing projects and enables the experts present to share their latest activities and results. Presentations can be made in any of the four congress languages. Please note: interpretation will not be provided.

Call for Papers: 43rd Annual Association of Black Sociologists Conference Social (In)Justice and Health Disparities: A Continuing Saga

August 8-10, 2013 New York, New York

Chronic illness and disease constitute major societal problems in the United States. These problems include, but are not limited to, obesity, diabetes, HIV/AIDS, and cancer.  Marginalized populations, and people of color in particular, are disproportionately affected by chronic illness. These populations are also less likely to have access to or receive appropriate and timely care and treatment. These health disparities are socially and economically detrimental to the health of society at large. Given the gravity of growing health disparities it is without question that serious investigation by sociologists, economists, psychologists, health care workers, and scholars and practitioners from other disciplines is needed.

It is within the Black sociology tradition of engaging in applied sociological research that we welcome the submission of papers for the 2013 Association of Black Sociologists conference. We aim to bring together professionals from multiple fields to develop solutions that will impact social policy. We especially welcome submissions focusing on problem solving and social policy initiatives aimed at eliminating health disparities in the United States and beyond.  Papers that examine traditional substantive, theoretical, and methodological topics are also welcomed.  All interested individuals are invited to submit formal papers, fully constituted sessions/panels, open refereed roundtables, and poster sessions.

To be considered, all submissions must be made on the 2013 ABS Conference Submission Form. Forms can be submitted electronically on the conference web site, or can be downloaded, completed, and e-mailed to President-Elect and Program Committee Chair Thomas Calhoun. All presenters, discussants, and session organizers must be current members of ABS and must register for the conference by the early registration deadline of June 30, 2013. The final deadline for paper submissions is July 15, 2013. No paper or session submissions will be accepted after this deadline.

Name and presentation information for individuals not registered for the conference by July 15, 2013 will NOT appear in the final program.