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EUPHA-LAW Newsletter May 2026
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Section News
European Public Health Week
From 4–8 May 2026, the public health community across Europe will once again come together for European Public Health Week (EUPHW) — a week dedicated to raising awareness, sharing knowledge and mobilising action for better health for all.
Organised annually by EUPHA, the European Public Health Week provides a platform for professionals, institutions, students and citizens to highlight the importance of public health and to collaborate on addressing today’s most pressing health challenges. This year’s EUPHW overarching theme is Investing for sustainable health and well-being. Below is a selection of the webinars contributed by EUPHA-LAW members.
Registration details and other webinars and events are listed in the EUPHW calendar.
4 May, 12.30-2:00pm CEST
Forever Chemicals, Lasting Harm: PFAS, Public Health, and the Fight for Justice
PFAS — per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances — are found everywhere: in food packaging, pesticides, drinking water, and our own bodies. Their persistence and toxicity make them one of the most pressing public health challenges of our time. Yet regulation continues to lag behind the evidence, leaving communities exposed and institutions struggling to respond.
This webinar brings together scientific and legal expertise to examine the PFAS crisis from complementary angles, exploring what it reveals about the state of chemical governance and the pursuit of justice for affected populations.
Speakers:
6 May, 11.30am-12.30pm CEST
New approaches to tackling drug driving – Lessons from the UK
Drug‑impaired driving is an escalating public health challenge across Europe, cutting across road safety, substance use, policing, and prevention. Hosted by the Global Law Enforcement and Public Health Association (GLEPHA) and The Police Foundation, this event brings together police leaders, public health experts, and campaign specialists to explore what works in changing behaviour at scale. Drawing on decades of frontline experience, senior police practitioners will set out the evolving challenge of drug driving and why enforcement alone is no longer enough. The event will then showcase two examples of effective public health campaigning. We will examine the behavioural and psychological drivers behind drug driving, drawing on fresh insights from Claremont’s work with Sussex Police. Their work highlights how overconfidence, optimism bias, confirmation bias and the illusion of control fuel risk‑taking.
Speakers:
7 May, 3:00-4:00pm CEST
The transdisciplinary working model of the Aletta Jacobs School of Public Health to create societal impact
Nowadays, it is acknowledged that transdisciplinarity and societal impact are a crucial component of public health research and practice. However, little is known on how to implement transdisciplinary public health initiatives that lead to societal impact. Moreover, we have little knowledge about the role that schools of public health can play in generating societal impact. This point raises a key question: what are schools of public health for, how and what should they deliver and for whom?
In this webinar, we will present the transdisciplinary working model of the Aletta Jacobs School of Public Health, which is based in the north of the Netherlands. We will address its implications for generating societal impact through education, research, regional cooperation and public engagement.
Speakers:
8 May, 6:00-7:00pm CEST
The future of WHO
As part of the European Public Health Week programme series, this lecture is included in the course Everything You Always Wanted to Know About the World Health Organization (WHO), But Were Afraid to Ask. The featured session, The Future of WHO, will take place on 8 May from 18:00 to 19:00 and will be delivered by Zsuzsanna Jakab, former Deputy Director-General of the World Health Organization. The lecture will offer insights into the future role, challenges, and opportunities of WHO in global public health.
Speakers:
Other Events
6th Visegrad Four (V4) Public Health Conference
“Healthy Horizons: Exploring Innovations in Public Health”
9–11 September 2026 High Tatras, Slovakia
Conference Sub-themes:
The conference is organised by key stakeholders in Slovakia, including Pavol Jozef Safarik University, Faculty of Medicine; the Slovak Public Health Association; the Ministry of Health of the Slovak Republic; and the Slovak Medical Association. Collaborating partners include EUPHA and national public health associations from Czechia, Hungary, and Poland. We look forward to seeing a strong representation from the EUPHA network and to your valuable contributions in shaping public health knowledge and practice across Europe.
Iveta Nagyova – Chair, V4 PHC International Scientific Committee
Enforcement & Public Health: Vulnerability, policing and public health
The Global Law Enforcement and Public Health Association (GLEPHA) and the ESRC Vulnerability & Policing Futures Research Centre will jointly host the 8th International Law Enforcement and Public Health Conference, LEPH2026 in Leeds, West Yorkshire, UK from 6-9 September 2026.
Following highly successful conferences in North America, Africa and Europe, the 2026 global event in Leeds presents a unique opportunity to spotlight global research and world-leading practice across law enforcement and public health. The 2026 overarching theme will be vulnerability, policing and public health.
The conference will be open to law enforcement and public health agencies, national and local governments, relevant research bodies, academic institutes, policy makers as well as the commercial sector and other partner organisations. Bringing these diverse communities and perspectives together, the conference presents an ideal space for sharing and learning about new approaches, instigating and developing real change in practice, based on the best available evidence internationally.
Courses
Coming up! The Association of Schools of Public Health in the European Region (ASPHER) will deliver an online course on climate change, law, ethics and public health in late 2026, with funding from ECHO/EEA. Registration will open in June – details to follow.
Publications
Nicole Gross and Hannah van Kolfschooten, ‘Advertising to the distressed: The commodification of mental health data in AI chatbots’ (Journal of Medical Ethics Forum, 14 April 2026), https://blogs.bmj.com/medical-ethics/2026/04/14/advertising-to-the-distressed-the-commodification-of-mental-health-data-in-ai-chatbots/
Climate Corner
‘Just Transition and Fossil Fuel Phase-Out Grounded in Legal Obligations: Briefing Note for the First Conference for the Transition Away from Fossil Fuels’, April 2026, Worlds Youth for Climate Justice, available at https://www.wy4cj.org/santa-marta
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