International Scientific Symposium 2026: Digital Health and Gender
We are delighted to invite colleagues around the word to join the International Symposium “Digital Health and Gender: How to help youth challenge gender norms about health in a digital world”, taking place on 15 October 2026 in Madrid (Spain).
Digital health technologies –from fitness apps and nutrition media to self-monitoring wearables and AI wellbeing systems –increasingly shape how young people understand their bodies and health. Far from neutral tools, these technologies are deeply gendered: they perpetuate neoliberal logics of body optimisation and “healthy excellence,” reinforcing binary gender norms that generate exclusion and inequality. Digital Health and Gender creates a space to critically examine these dynamics and to imagine more hopeful, equitable and safe digital health futures for young people.
The event is co-organised by the Digital Health Education research team with the funding of the Spanish National Women’s Institute and the collaboration of the Ministry of Youth and Childhood. It will be held at the Faculty of Education, University Complutense of Madrid, in Madrid (Spain) alongside a complementary Teacher Training Seminar on 22 -23 October 2026.
The Symposium’s programme includes a plenary keynote by Dr Marianne Clark (School of Kinesiology, Acadia University, Canada), round tables with invited speakers from Canada, the United Kingdom, Italy, Finland and Spain, an institutional panel with public policy representatives, a youth-mediated exhibition, and an oral communications session.
As part of the Symposium, we invite abstracts for oral communications (15 minutes; English or Spanish; max. 350 words). The abstract submission deadline is 20 August 2026, with notification of acceptance by 15 September 2026, and further information is available here. Colleagues travelling from abroad who require early documentation of acceptance for visa or institutional purposes are welcome to indicate this, as it can be arranged.
We look forward to welcoming you to Madrid.
More information on the Symposium:
https://saluddigitalgenero.es/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/saluddigitaledu/
