DETAILED PROGRAMME

Tuesday, 13 May

Click for detailed programme

Click for detailed programme

Click for detailed programme

12:30-13:30

Arrival and registration

13:30-15:15

Programme

Introductory music
with saxophonist Martin Lidström.
Introduction
Kattis Ahlström, moderator and Olivia Wigzell, Director General of The Public Health Agency of Sweden, welcomes all participants
Opening speech
Jakob Forssmed, Minister for Social Affairs and Public Health, the Swedish Government
Welcome to Gothenburg
Introduction to Gothenburg by the region’s representative Renée Bengtsson, President of the Regional Council

Public health in action: prescriptions for a healthier future

Invited speaker: Maria Neira, Director of the Department of Environment, Climate Change and Health, WHO

Health is shaped by systems, not just symptoms. Proactive prevention must be embedded across all policies—not only in health, but in urban planning, energy, food, housing, and climate. Health offers a compelling, unifying argument to drive transformation: toward healthier cities, cleaner energy, sustainable food systems, and climate resilience.

Nordic Public Health in Focus: Shared Priorities and National Insights from Finland
Invited speaker: Taru Koivisto, Director at the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, Finland.

This presentation will highlight Finland’s 2025 Presidency of the Nordic Council of Ministers, with a focus on public health priorities and opportunities for Nordic collaboration. Drawing on indicators and examples from Finland, the presentation will address key public health challenges through the lens of the conference’s four sub themes: building resilient communities, promoting health equity, prioritising investment in health and wellbeing, and navigating public health in the digital age.

15:15-16:00

Pause

Including mingling and a chance to explore the poster exhibitions.

Social Sustainability Forum, 15:30–15:50: Introduction and poster speed dating.

16:00-17:45

Programme

Public Health in a Complex World

Invited speaker: Naja Hulvej Rod, Professor of Epidemiology and Director, Copenhagen Health Complexity Center.

How can we improve our ability to understand and act on complex health challenges? This talk presents a new, systematic scientific approach. It argues that instead of isolating single risk factors, we need to understand complex health problems in context by understanding their patterns, their interconnected mechanisms, and how they change over time.

Healthy Cities, Healthy Futures: Driving Equity Through Local Action
Invited speaker: Kira Fortune, Regional Advisor Healthy Cities, Health Promotion and Wellbeing, WHO.

The presentation will offer a comprehensive overview of the WHO European Healthy Cities Network, its key functions, and its critical role in promoting health equity and wellbeing. It will spotlight the transformative power of the Network in building fairer, healthier societies, starting from the ground up. Rooted in the principles of health equity, the network connects local realities to global action, showing how the everyday choices of cities can shape a more fairer and healthier world. It will highlight the importance of the Healthy Cities approach as a whole-of-society approach, uniting communities, policymakers, leaders and diverse sectors to tackle the drivers of inequality and ensure no one is left behind. The presentation will showcase the impact of this approach across European cities, with a particular emphasis on Nordic cities, which have pioneered innovative policies and practices to address urban health challenges. These examples will illustrate how cities can leverage collaboration, policy integration, and community engagement to advance health and wellbeing for all.

Wellbeing economy – a tool to enhance public health
Invited speaker: Dora Gudmundsdottir, Director of Public Health at the Directorate of Health in Iceland

In this talk, Dr. Dora will discuss how wellbeing economy can be seen as a tool to enhance public health with special focus on creating sustainable wellbeing for both people and the planet. Today we are facing big challenges like global warming and burn-out among people along with decline in happiness and wellbeing and increase in loneliness. Dora will argue that in order to change this development we need to do things differently and one way forward is make sustainable wellbeing for people and the planet as our final goal through wellbeing economy.

Mingle Dinner

19:30