"Rooms for research" for the fourth time

Interest was greater than ever. The spokespersons of the Public Health Centre Fulda, Professor Dr Katharina Rathmann and Professor Dr Jana Rückert-John, were able to report a record number of visitors at the start of the fourth "Rooms for Research". Around 100 researchers and people interested in research came this year to present public health projects, gather information and engage in discussions. The concept of offering an interdisciplinary platform for all researchers - students, doctoral candidates and active participation employees as well as established researchers - was obviously well received.

The fact that projects from five departments with a health-related research question took part in the course may also have contributed to the pleasingly large response. "The Spaces for Research have developed into an interdisciplinary meeting place," said the management team happily. The networking potential was also evident time and again during the presentations, where starting points for future cooperation emerged. The extended program is also likely to have made the course even more attractive. With three parallel formats in some cases - from keynotes to the World Café - the selection was even greater than in previous years.

In terms of content, the specialisation was on planetary boundaries. For good reason: Planetary Health, i.e. the connections between human health and the political, economic and social structures under planetary conditions, is the research focus at the PHZF - and the interdisciplinary interface.

Complex interrelationship: humans, animals, nature

In her keynote speech at the start of the conference, Professor Dr Antje Risius from the Department of Nutritional, Food and Consumer Sciences used the One Health approach to illustrate the extent to which human, animal and natural health are interdependent. "Everything is connected to everything else," she emphasised. It is therefore necessary to bring together different solutions in a systemic way in order to develop viable approaches for a more sustainable life. Although there is great interest in a sustainable way of life, this is not yet reflected in our actions.

New solutions are therefore needed to break up the institutionalised network that is currently making a sustainable way of life more difficult and make other patterns for sustainable production systems possible. For example, can the retail sector act as an ecological gatekeeper? Or does it perhaps make sense to put a price tag on the climate performance of a whale, which can bind carbon dioxide for centuries? "We have the opportunity to renegotiate these questions," emphasised the Professor of Sustainable Nutrition and Supply.

Posters, presentations, world café: an opportunity for young researchers

Afterwards, young researchers were in demand. During poster sessions and presentations, students, doctoral candidates and academic employees presented their research projects and took part in discussions with their project managers. Others worked on specific questions from their research projects in word cafés - also accompanied by the respective programme directors. "With this approach, we are offering students in particular a low-threshold opportunity to gain their first conference experience," emphasise the PHZF speakers. To provide the best possible support for young researchers, Julia Halbig, who organised the course, even offered a workshop on writing abstracts in advance.

Global climate crisis, individual health

The course concluded with a second keynote speech focussing on the effects of climate change on individual health. Professor Dr Sandra Parisi from the Department of Health Science showed how participatory approaches can help to make the concept of planetary health tangible. "When we talk about the climate crisis, we have tunnel vision," she noted. It's mostly about carbon dioxide and heat. What climate change does to chronic illnesses in everyday life, on the other hand, is hardly considered.

The Professor of Global and Planetary Health is investigating the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular diseases in the Chagas high-endemic area of Monteagudo, Bolivia. She not only wants to record the disease burden and care situation, but also empower those affected, carers and decision-makers to actively participate in improving care. After all, care has long been challenged by climate change, for example by increasingly frequent mudslides and landslides. The rows were still well filled for this last item on the programme. "We are very pleased about the great interest," emphasised Katharina Rathmann and Jana Rückert-John.