Women’s mental health – what are the issues?

Mental illness is becoming one of the biggest, most costly societal issues of our time. Women, particularly during the reproductive years, are overrepresented regarding affective disorders.

At Uppsala University´s Center for Women´s Mental Health, WOMHER, unique interdisciplinary work is done with the goal of developing evidence-based knowledge for future strategic decisions regarding mental health issues in working life and society.

The center has around 50 senior researchers from all faculties of Uppsala University and a research school for 17 interdisciplinary PhD-students.To strengthen the inter/national collaborations of WOMHER, develop new ideas and increase dialogue between researchers and society, we will arrange a two-day conference in Sigtuna on May 4-5 2023.

This interdisciplinary conference will gather 60-70 participants, mostly senior researchers from approx. 20 disciplines (from history of science, gender studies, literature studies to biochemistry, gynecology, psychiatry etc.). About 25% of the participants will be international, and 10-15 will represent various Swedish NGOs and IGOs.

In order to effectively stimulate exchange of knowledge and interdisciplinary collaboration, the conference has a strong focus on workshop activity and discussions.

Five internationally well established researchers will give introductory keynotes linked to specific aspects of women’s mental health, followed by various workshops and discussions in both small and larger groups. The invited researchers have strong histories of research within the field of mental health and/or women’s health.

The conference will be an arena for these people to interact and create new collaborative processes.

Participants will be given a summary of the large-group discussions as well as contact information from all other participants.

The conference is planned to recur on a biannual basis, with the discussions fromthe previous year serving as a substrate for the following year’s topic.