Chair

Dr Tim Riswick
Radboud University

Members

Prof Ciara Breathnach
University of Limerick
Alain Gagnon
Université de Montréal
Dr Raquel Pollero
Universidad de la República, Uruguay
Lucia Pozzi
Università degli Studi Di Sassari
Dr Diego Ramiro Fariñas
Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)
Dr Alice Reid
University of Cambridge
Prof Lone Simonsen
Roskilde University, Denmark
Dr Kaspar Staub
University of Zurich

IUSSP Secretariat

Mr Paul Monet
International Union for the Scientific Study of Population (IUSSP)

Council Liaison

Dr Géraldine Duthé
Institut National d'Études Démographiques (INED)
Description

The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrates that the history of epidemic and contagious diseases is far from over. It has revealed deep-seated, structural inequalities in health as well. Still, we know surprisingly little about the historical roots of these contemporary inequalities in health, and if the impact of epidemics and contagious disease changed over time due to societal changes. Furthermore, it is unclear what the social, economic, environmental or epidemiological drivers are for divergences in mortality resulting from epidemics and contagious diseases over time and place.

Workshops will be organized on specific historical epidemics and contagious diseases (such as tuberculosis, influenza, smallpox, plague, malaria) and methodological issues. The scholars invited will be drawn from a great variety of disciplines because research on the historical legacy of epidemics and contagious diseases has tended to be far too fragmented by disciplinary boundaries.

Programme of activities

 

Workshop: From Influenza to COVID. Continuity and Discontinuity in the Factors of Inequality
Madrid, Spain, 14-15 November 2024

 

Workshop: Tuberculosis: The White Death as a Social Disease
Alghero, Italy, 26–28 September 2024

 

Virtual workshop: Toward the Elimination of Cholera Epidemics: from the Past to Contemporary Societies
Online, 19 April 2024

 

The IUSSP Panel at the European Society for Historical Demography Conference

Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands, 30 august-2 september 2023

 

Hybrid Workshop: "From influenza to COVID-19"

Madrid, Spain and Online, 2024

 

Online Meetings: "New ways of transcribing, visualizing, publishing, and providing access to data on epidemics and contagious diseases"

3 times a year starting October 2023, and leading up to a workshop at the University of Zurich, Switzerland in 2025.

 

Session on ‘Epidemics and Contagious Diseases: The Legacy of the Past’ at the 2025 International Population Conference (IPC2025), Brisbane, Australia.