Theme year 2024
Planetary Health
Human health is dependent on the surrounding ecosystems. Global challenges such as climate change, environmental degradation and social inequality therefore pose a threat to the planet and to people as individuals in equal measure. The concept of planetary health emphasises the close interdependence of human health, natural ecosystems and social factors (WBGU - Wissenschaftlicher Beirat der Bundesregierung 2023; van Daalen et al. 2024; Voss 2024; Drake 2021; Umweltfragen 2023; Whitmee et al. 2015; Matthes et al. 2024).
At [tra:ce], researchers from our Faculties of Health, Business and Society and the WittenLab work together to approach this important topic in a joint discourse. We are building on existing expertise here: Prof Dr Jan Ehlers, for example, deals with the connections between nutrition, health and climate, particularly in university teaching. The team led by his colleague Dr Julia Nitsche won the 1st Humboldt Award for Sustainability in 2023 with the digital lecture series "Digital Medicine goes Planetary Health". Prof. Dr Petra Thürmann researches the environmental impact of pharmaceuticals and Prof. Dr Jan-Christoph Heilinger investigates the (un)equitable distribution of ecological effects on our health, such as exposure to particulate matter in private homes. It is mostly marginalised groups that live on busy roads and are particularly exposed to this risk.
The aim of the [tra:ce] theme year was to bring researchers into even deeper dialogue on the research paradigm of planetary health and to explore new research questions, especially interdisciplinary ones - also with researchers outside Witten/Herdecke University.
To this end, the Humboldt School "Planetary Health in NRW - Momentum for Change" was held at the UW/H in summer 2024 as a highlight. The Humboldt Initiative sees itself as a driving force for anchoring sustainability and sustainable action in research, teaching, administration and infrastructure at universities in North Rhine-Westphalia. The summer school brought together experts, junior researchers and practice partners to discuss and jointly explore the complex interrelationships between planetary and human health.
The [tra:ce] also contributed to the (inter)national discourse outside of the university, for example at the Planetary Health Forum, which took place in Berlin in December 2023 to kick off our focus year and was attended by three [tra:ce] representatives: Prof. Dr Petra Thürmann, Prof. Dr Jan Heilinger and Dr Sonja Knobbe.
We will continue to pursue this topic beyond the focus year. A larger research project is currently being prepared with our cooperation partner, the Wuppertal Institute, and other universities such as the University of Wuppertal and the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano. In addition, structures are to be created in order to stabilise and further develop the interdisciplinary graduate training that is necessary in this area.
In the 2025 theme year, we are focussing on industrial transformations and the subsequent use of mining areas. We will report back!