Summer School Planetary Health

Our well-being is heavily dependent on healthy and resilient ecosystems, however, the impact of human disruptions on earth and climate change is severely affecting all living species. Planetary Health is studying these interactions, asking for collaboration across disciplines to address climate change and to develop and apply strategies to safeguard our health. 

The Summer School does not only aim at educating participants on planetary health concepts and the interconnections and interdependences between human health, the environment and ecosystems but focuses on teaching how to acquire practical skills to address planetary health challenges. It is is a solution-oriented, transdisciplinary event willing to contribute to societal change. 

Therefore, developing an own project idea tackling a self chosen planetary health issue is a core element of the course. Its intention is to empower participants, and to increase their confidence in taking transformative action.

We welcome

• 35 international participants
• with diverse professional background
  (in the past participants came from) 
  • public health
  • nutrition
  • pharmacology
  • medicine
  • physiotherapy
  • education
  • biogeochemistry
  • midwifery
  • anthropology
  • geography
  • veterinary medicine
  • dentristry
  • health promotion
  • psychology
  • health economics
  • nursing
  • environmental medicine
  • and more!
• from various countries
  (in the past from Germany, Italy, Austria, Kenya, Tanzania, Afghanistan, Nigeria, Gambia...) 

We will share perspectives from Eastern Africa as well as Europe and explore different global as well as local challenges in the context of climate change and other planetary boundaries. By applying a planetary health lens the aim was to identify solutions for mitigation and adaptation relevant in European and African contexts.

The summer school offeres a mix of educational methodologies and activities inside and outside the classroom with local and international experts, empowering participants to become agents of change and develop their own projects for transformative change. The aim of the summer school is to help students gain and develop knowledge, attitude, skills and confidence.

The aim of the summer school is for students to

• explore different topics from a planetary health perspective, such as nutrition, biodiversity, agriculture, mobility, sustainable health care, heat and urban planning, ethics, and many more
• get inspired by case studies in a variety of settings
• develop analytical and communication skills to engage with different stakeholders and trigger change
• develop their own ideas and projects & exchange and network with other participants
• develop their own transformative potential and become an agent for change in climate change mitigation, adaptation and planetary health whereever they study, work, and live.

To gain a deeper understanding of planetary health we recommend to have a look at the final report of the Lancet Commission on Planetary Health from 2015 and yearly updates of the Lancet Countdown on Climate Change and Health

The Summer School is organized by the University and the University Hospital of Würzburg, the Catholic University for Health and Allied Sciences (CUHAS) Mwanza, Tanzania and the University of Eldoret (UoE), Kenya in cooperation with the German Alliance Climate Change and Health e.V. (KLUG) and the Else Kröner Center Würzburg-Mwanza. It is part of the project SOPHEA (Strengthening One Health and Planetary Health In Eastern Africa), a project running 2022-2025 with many different (educational) activities in Eastern Africa, funded by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD).

Watch this 10-minute video from our colleagues the Planetary Health Alliance at Johny Hopkins University for a short introduction to the concept of Planetary Health: