PhD Program "Santé, Médecine et Société / Health, Medicine and Society"

The Ph.D. program Health, Medicine, and Society offered by the Institute of Health Law at the University of Neuchâtel is designed to expand the methodological skills of doctoral students across law, natural sciences, and social sciences, with a unique interdisciplinary approach to contemporary health challenges. The theme for the 2024/2025 academic year is Health Law and Gender, focusing on the intersection of gender issues with health law and policy.

Organized by the Institute of Health Law at the University of Neuchâtel, the program aims to 3broaden the methodological skills of doctoral students (mainly in law, and other fields such as natural and social sciences) who participate in it and integrate an interdisciplinary and interprofessional perspective on “Health, Medicine and Society” to understand contemporary health problems and challenges. The program's objective is to introduce participants to different legal theories and extralegal tools, methods and theories of the social sciences and humanities. The theme chosen for the 2024/2025 academic year is Health Law and Gender. The interdisciplinary emphasis is the signature strength of the program and constitutes an original and unique offer. The program is designed to train participants to diversify their research focuses and skills and realize original contributions in their disciplinary fields as well as in the broad area of public health and medicine.

This call for applications is open to Ph.D. students from different disciplinary backgrounds in the social sciences and humanities, who tackle questions related to health and medicine in their research, and doctoral students in medicine, nursing sciences, or public health.

The different seminars take place on December 19, 2024, March 06, 2025, and in June 2025 (date to be determined with program participants)

• First Seminar (19 December 2024): The first seminar on December 19 will provide an introduction to feminist reinterpretations of judicial decisions and explore their significance in the context of health and medicine. Following the introduction, participants will engage in rewriting judicial decisions from a feminist perspective, specifically within the health and medicine fields. The seminar will be led by the program's co-directors, Professors Mélanie Levy and Sandra Hotz.
• Second Seminar (6 March 2025): The second seminar on March 06, will delve into the interdisciplinary nature of the subject. This seminar will feature a diverse panel of speakers from various fields, including public health, sociology, and medicine. The discussions will focus on how these different disciplines intersect with health law and gender.
• Third Seminar (June 2025, date to be confirmed): The third seminar on June 2025 (date to be determined with program participants) will be an interactive writing session during which the participants will together produce two or three texts rewriting key judicial precedents in the context of health and medicine from a feminist perspective, with the purpose of publishing these texts in a relevant format and outlet.

Program directors: Prof. Sandra Hotz and Prof. Mélanie Levy
Coordinator: Alice Bryk Silveira
Information and registration: Coordination.SMSuninech
Deadline: November 20, 2024