10:49 a.m.
Hi all,
This call might be of interest to someone, see below
All the best, Lena
Lena Sotevik<https://www.su.se/profiles/leso7478-1.811611>
Postdok genusvetenskap
Institutionen för etnologi, religionshistoria och genusvetenskap
Stockholms universitet
From: Eleanor Wilkinson <eleanor.wilkinson(a)sheffield.ac.uk>
Sent: den 26 november 2025 10:12
To: Ott Ad <ad.ott(a)hevs.ch>; Carri Christiane <christiane.carri(a)hevs.ch>;
Malena Gustavsson <malena.gustavson(a)gender.su.se>; Lena Sotevik
<lena.sotevik(a)gender.su.se>; Airi-Alina Allaste <alina67(a)tlu.ee>; Anna Ivanova
<a1vanova(a)tlu.ee>; Ames Clark <ames.clark(a)sheffield.ac.uk>; Rimoldi Elena
<elena.rimoldi(a)hevs.ch>; Justyna Struzik <justyna.struzik(a)uj.edu.pl>; Anna
Bednarczyk <anna.bednarczyk(a)uj.edu.pl>; elisa.raichmann(a)tlu.ee
Subject: Call for abstracts: ‘Social justice and the crisis of LGBTQI+ young people’s
mental health’ (ESHMS Conference, Hamburg, August 2026)
Dear all,
Please could you share the below call for abstracts around any potentially interested
people / networks / mailing lists / or via any of your professional social media accounts?
Thanks!
Eleanor
——
Call for abstracts: ‘Social justice and the crisis of LGBTQI+ young people’s mental
health’ (ESHMS Conference, Hamburg, August 2026)
21st Biennial European Society of Health and Medical Sociology Conference: “Mental Health
in Times of Uncertainty”
19th August – 21st August 2026, Hamburg, Germany;
www.uke.de/eshms2026<http://www.uke.de/eshms2026>
Submission deadline February 15th, 2026
Session convenors:
Professor Elizabeth McDermott, School of Social Policy, University of Birmingham, UK
e.mcdermott.1@bham.ac.uk<mailto:e.mcdermott.1@bham.ac.uk> and Dr Eleanor Wilkinson,
School of Geography & Planning, University of Sheffield, UK
eleanor.wilkinson@sheffield.ac.uk<mailto:eleanor.wilkinson@sheffield.ac.uk>
Young LGBTQI+ people across Europe are growing up in a period of instability and crisis,
shaped by a series of intersecting threats: from the backlash against LGBTQI+ rights,
populist ‘gender wars’, rising racism and xenophobia, and widespread online queerphobic
violence. This session seeks to build interdisciplinary dialogue around LGBTQI+ youth
mental health in times of uncertainty and violence, asking how we can better understand
the impact that these intersecting crises are having on the mental health of LGBTQI+
youth, and what can be done to promote LGBTQI+ young people’s mental wellbeing, resilience
and futures?
We are particularly keen to hear from those seeking to move beyond dominant biomedical
psychiatric (diagnostic) and psychological (‘minority stress’) frameworks that pathologize
LGBTQI+ youth as vulnerable ‘at risk’ subjects. We want instead to think sociologically
about the social, economic, cultural, environmental and political conditions that shape
LGBTQI+ young people’s mental health. We argue that to address the elevated rates of
LGBTQI+ youth poor mental health, we must adopt a youth-rights, social justice approach to
mental health that can promote social connection, resilience and collective resistance in
times of profound uncertainty.
We invite potential contributors to think about the following questions and other relevant
topics. Contributions can be empirical, methodological, theoretical:
• How might anti-LGBTQI+ political sentiments across Europe limit our capacity to
research the lives and mental health of LGBTQI+ youth?
• How might the state disinvestment in LGBTQI+ equality initiatives impact our
capacity for prevention and intervention?
• What forms of LGBTQI+ youth mental health support are already taking place beyond
the state through networks of care, friendship and solidarity?
• How can we collaborate with multiple minoritised queer youth to generate
possibilities to resist pathologization and create queer joy and mental wellness?
• Why might we want to think of LGBTQI+ youth mental health beyond dominant framings
of ‘positive feeling’ and ‘resilience’, why might we want to hold space for ‘bad
feelings’, pessimism, and retreat?
• How do our understandings of a social justice approach to queer youth mental health
work intersectionally, especially around addressing ableism, racism and white privilege in
mental health support services for LGBTQI+ youth.
• What are the potentials of de-pathologised mental health support for queer and
trans youth?
• What are the ethics of researching LGBTQI+ youth mental health at times of crisis
and uncertainty?
• What are the politics of queer youth co-production in mental health research?
• How can we conduct research around LGBTQI+ youth mental health with care?
(addressing questions of extraction, exhaustion, and failed promises).
Abstract Submission
Abstract submission is now open via https://www.conftool.org/eshms2026
Submission deadline is February 15th, 2026
Abstracts should not exceed 350 words and should adhere to the following structure:
• Title
• Names and affiliations of the authors, please highlight the name of the presenting
author
• Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion (if applicable)
• Keywords, three to five keywords
• References are optional
• Title, names, affiliations, keywords, and references are not counted in the word limit
Please contact the session convenors if you have any questions
e.mcdermott.1@bham.ac.uk<mailto:e.mcdermott.1@bham.ac.uk> /
eleanor.wilkinson@sheffield.ac.uk<mailto:eleanor.wilkinson@sheffield.ac.uk>