Reproduction in Context(s): Norms, Resources, and Inequalities

SwissRepro 2027 Conference, University of Lausanne, 23 April 2027

This conference is the third edition of the annual meeting organized by SwissRepro, the leading research network for reproductive studies in Switzerland. This event will be held on 23 April 2027 at the University of Lausanne and will present current research conducted in Switzerland on reproduction in the social sciences and humanities. Two keynotes will be given by Marcin Smietana, Postdoctoral Fellow (University of Venice) and Affiliated Lecturer (University of Cambridge), whose work focuses on the sociology of reproduction, queer kinship, and reproductive justice, and Corinna Sabrina Guerzoni, Associate Professor (University of Bologna), specializing in the anthropology of reproduction, kinship and reproductive governance.

Studies on reproductive health, practices, technologies and rights are a rapidly growing field of research that examines the social, cultural, political, legal, and economic dimensions of reproduction and their intersection with gender, class, race, and sexuality. Until recently, dialogue across linguistic regions in Switzerland has been limited. The overall aim of the conference is to create an opportunity for researchers from different disciplines within the humanities and social sciences and from various linguistic regions to meet, exchange ideas, network, and strengthen social studies of reproduction in Switzerland.

Under the title Reproduction in Context(s): Norms, Resources, and Inequalities, this edition will examine the conditions under which reproduction takes place. Reproductive experiences, choices, and constraints are shaped by social norms, by unequal access to material, institutional and symbolic resources, and by the broader contexts in which people live. The conference will explore these conditions through five main lenses:

• Reproductive justice: the right to have children, not to have children, and to parent in safe and sustainable conditions, and the structural inequalities that shape these possibilities.
• Gender and sexuality: how sexuality and gender norms, roles and relations shape reproductive experiences, responsibilities and decision-making.
• Environmental issues: how environmental conditions, climate change and ecological concerns affect reproductive health, knowledge (science), practices, experiences and trajectories.
• Spirituality and values: how religious and spiritual beliefs, moral values, institutions and practices inform, regulate or contest reproduction.
• Science and technology: how scientific knowledge and biotechnologies shape reproductive possibilities, practices, and pathways.

Contributions addressing the intersections between these lenses, or approaching them from comparative, historical or interdisciplinary perspectives, are particularly welcome.

This conference will be an opportunity for Swiss-based researchers to present their latest research project and/or to give a follow-up on the research presented at previous editions.

We invite contributions from all researchers (PhD candidates, postdocs, professors, etc.) working on reproduction. Applications are welcome from researchers based at Swiss universities and universities of applied sciences. If you are based abroad but have strong links with Swiss academia (e.g., on academic mobility abroad), please feel free to apply as well.

To submit an abstract (250 words), please send it to us by email at SwissRepro2027 unil ch, including your affiliation and contact details by 10 December 2026. Please also indicate which of the five axes your submission addresses (1-2 max). The presentations will be given in English.

If you have any questions, please contact SwissRepro2027 unil ch.