Published on January 20, 2022 – On 4 and 5 November 2021, ACHC researchers and colleagues from Radboud University, the University of Antwerp and the Hogeschool Utrecht organized the third European Conference on Health Communication (ECHC). The theme of this conference was “Health communication dynamics in turbulent times”.
The online conference attracted 150 participants from more than 15 different countries. The program consisted of 90 research presentations on the role of health communication in the context of technological developments and the rapidly changing media landscape. The best PhD presentations were awarded a prize during the festive closing session of the conference.
The two keynote lectures were delivered by Dr. Wyke Stommel (Radboud University Nijmegen) and Koen Wauters (VRT). Stommel spoke about the influence of video technology in postoperative consultations. Wauters described how his work as a science journalist in Flanders changed due to the corona crisis.
In addition to traditional presentations, there was also plenty of room for presenting work in progress. In addition, there were two PhD sessions; one on ‘learning from failure’ (by Prof. Elena Semino, Lancaster University) and one on publishing (with editors from Mobile Media & Communication, Patient Education and Counseling, and the European Journal of Health Communication). In addition, EACH (International Association of Communication in Healthcare), TWG Health Communication of ECREA (European Communication Research and Education Association) and the Health Communication division of ICA (International Communication Association) presented themselves.
Conference participants were also able to meet informally during the conference. There were ‘breakout coffee rooms’ and participants could test their knowledge about communication, health and coronavirus during the Pub Quiz night.
More information about the conference, including the complete program and book of abstracts, is available at www.echc2021.eu.
We look back upon a successful and inspiring conference and thank our sponsors: NeFCA and ECREA!
We also thank the organizing committee, existing of Hanneke Hendriks, Gudrun Reijnierse, Gert-Jan de Bruijn, Enny Das, Heidi Vandebosch, Hans Vehof en Julia van Weert, and all the other people who supported the conference.