Call for Papers - Proposal Submission Deadline (15 May):

After 1918: History and Politics of Influenza in the 20th and 21st Centuries

24-26 August 2011
Rennes, France

Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Santé Publique (Paris/Rennes) and the Centre for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine (Manchester)

The threats of avian and swine flu have ignited extensive interest in the history of influenza. Public health analysts, scientists and policy-makers look to past pandemics for lessons and guidance. But available historical resources are limited. Most concentrate on the 1918-19 pandemic. Its history has been widely used for understanding, predicting, and increasing awareness of influenza. Yet this singular focus has meant that we know comparatively little about the epidemiology, politics, and social dynamics of the disease after 1918. 

This three-day international conference addresses the growing need for systematic studies of the complex and changing array of governmental, intergovernmental and non-governmental institutions, policies, and practices that have shaped approaches to influenza in the 20th and 21st centuries. It has three core objectives. First, it aims to foster comparative analyses of influenza in science, medicine, public policy, and national and international health. Second, it aims to explore the roots of key problems in current pandemic planning, including access to vaccines, virus surveillance, determinants of risk, biosecurity, and infectious disease governance. Finally, it seeks to examine the nature, value and limitations of historical analysis in disease policy-making.

Bringing together researchers from different disciplines and parts of the world, the conference will present new perspectives on the long durée of global challenges in understanding and controlling influenza. In so doing, it will lay foundations for an international research network dedicated to developing collaborative investigations that explore these and other dimensions of this global disease.

Invited speakers include:

•	Virginia Berridge (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine) 
•	John Barry (Independent Scholar) 
•	Claude Hannoun (Institut Pasteur)
•	Howard Phillips (University of Cape Town)
•	Andrew Noymer (University of California, Irvine) 
•	Nancy K. Bristow (University of Puget Sound)
•	Alexandra Stern (University of Michigan)
•	D. Ann Herring (McMaster University)
•	Donald H. Avery (University of Western Ontario)
•	Esyllt W. Jones (University of Manitoba) 
•	Carol Byerly (University of Colorado)
•	Mark Honigsbaum (University of London)
•	Kenton Kroker (York University) 
•	Carlo Caduff (University of Zurich)
•	Tamara Giles-Vernick (Institut Pasteur)

Paper Proposals

We encourage proposals for 30 minute papers broadly related to the topics listed below. The deadline for titles and abstracts is 15 May. Abstracts should be no more than 350 words, and include a title, summary of the paper, and full contact details. 

•	World Health Organisation and Influenza 
•	Challenges of surveillance
•	Influenza and International Health Regulations
•	Virus ecologies and emerging flu threats
•	Zoonotic connections: Birds, Pigs, and Humans
•	Biosecurity and influenza viruses
•	Politics of vaccines
•	Influenza and inequalities
•	Influenza and global health governance
•	Legacies of the 1918-19 pandemic
•	The other pandemics: 1957, 1968, 1976, 2009

Costs and Support

Local costs for 2 nights accommodation, including meals, will be covered by EHESP. Participants are asked to cover costs of travel to Rennes, drawing on their own institutional resources. Modest travel funds may be available to speakers who lack institutional support.

Contact and Submissions

Please contact Michael Bresalier ([log in to unmask]) or Patrick Zylberman ([log in to unmask])

http://www.chstm.manchester.ac.uk/newsandevents/conferences/influenza/