Abstraktikutsu nyt avoinna: Mental Health Matters Workshop, Tampere, Finland, 10.6.2026
Keynote: Dr. Jacinthe Flore (University of Melbourne, Australia)
What can new materialisms offer to mental health research in social sciences and humanities? How can we put the inspiration of new materialist perspectives into action when conducting research on mental health?
We are inviting abstracts for the international Mental Health Matters Workshop, to be held at Tampere University, Finland, on 10th June 2026. We are excited to have Dr. Jacinthe Flore (University of Melbourne, Australia) as our distinguished keynote speaker. In addition to the keynote, the workshop entails presentations by scholars working at the intersections of new materialist approaches and mental health, providing a unique platform for bringing together researchers. This event is in-person; however, the keynote talk will be livestreamed.
This event is built upon the premise that new materialisms have the potential to broaden the understanding of mental health and bring novel perspectives to studying the phenomenon that is inherently complex and multifaceted. Rather than seeing mental health as a fixed attribute of an individual, new materialisms urge us to approach mental health as a dynamic becoming of more-than-human agencies.
Engaging with a new materialist orientation bears particular implications for research. We are challenged to reconsider our research questions, concepts, the methods of engaging with our research data, and the relationship between theory and practice. There are a multitude of pivotal questions to be asked and possible pathways to explore within this emerging field.
There is an emerging body of work that explores mental health related matters from new materialist perspectives. The field of new materialist mental health research is however scattered across disciplines as well as geographically. The motivation to host this event is to become inspired from each others’ work, to receive feedback, foster networking, and discuss possible future collaborations.
We welcome contributions from scholars (from senior academics to PhD students – all career stages welcome), who utilize new materialist and sociomaterial approaches in their research. For oral presentations, we invite you to submit an abstract (max. 300 words) and a short bio by 15th April to jarkko.salminen@tuni.fi and tuuli.innola@utu.fi.
We encourage empirical, theoretical and methodological contributions and invite presentations on themes including, but not limited to:
Mental health and the materialities of
- digital technologies and social media
- intersectional inequalities related to e.g. race, class, age, gender or sexuality
- health care services and settings
- environmental issues and climate change
- working life
- politics, policy and everyday resistance
- art-based and other innovative and creative methods
The decisions about acceptance are sent by the end of April. Participation is free of charge; however, participants are responsible for their own attendance expenses.
The event is part of a two-day seminar Caring Technologies & Mental Health Matters, at Tampere University, Finland, on 9–10th June 2026. The seminar is jointly organized by the project Networked Care: Intimate Matters in Online Mental Health Support at the University of Turku (funded by the Research Council of Finland) and TaSTI – Tampere Centre for Science, Technology and Innovation Studies at the University of Tampere.
All participants are also welcome to attend the first day of the seminar on June 9th. The detailed programme will soon be confirmed. The keynote speakers for this day include Professor Jeannette Pols (University of Amsterdam, NL) and Professor Ian Tucker (University of East London, UK).
Find this CFA also in LinkedIn.
For further information, please contact:
Tuuli Innola, University of Turku, tuuli.innola@utu.fi
Jarkko Salminen, Tampere University, jarkko.salminen@tuni.fi
