ETC Summer course 'Health & Place'

In 2016, the 25th residential Summercourse were held at Wageningen University, The Netherlands, hosted by Dr. Lenneke Vaandrager and Prof. Maria Koelen of the Health & Society Group.

Health & Place. Connecting People, Environment & Health

The first day of the ETC Course was dedicated to our Spanish Co-founder of ETC-PHHP, Concha Colomer (1958 — April 9, 2011). The Concha Colomer Symposium was held at August 1st, 2016.

Central in this special 25th ETC Summer School was the everyday-life perspective of Health and Place. Health is a complex and highly subjective concept created in everyday interaction between people, their particular lifestyle behaviour, the social and physical environment, and societal structures and systems. It is well-known in research and practice that the place in which we live, work and age influences the opportunity for health. Additionally, in response to the key global challenges such as sustainability, climate change and food security there is increasing attention for the combined effort of multiple disciplines to jointly improve the health of humans, animals and plants within sustainable ecosystems using an integrated systems approach.
The aim of the residential Summer School in Wageningen was to provide an international and multidisciplinary forum for the exchange of knowledge and skills and opportunities to explore:

  • People-environment interaction in relation to the promotion of health and wellbeing (health promotion)
  • Internal and external resources and mechanisms that enable people to participate fully in society
  • System approaches to create synergy between EcoHealth and holistic approaches of health

The 2016 Summer School consisted of eight learning weeks: the first six weeks were delivered as a distance learning module, followed by a two-week intensive course.
The course methods included introductory presentations from the course team, self-study, group work, problem solving and other forms of peer-based learning. Expert briefings and field visits were included.

The 26th residential Summercourse will be held at the University of Alicante, Spain (Click on picture below to enlarge).

Summer course 2017 – Alicante