Joint 5th Global Mental Health Summit (GMHS ) and 9th National Bioethics Conference (NBC)
Mental Health: Center-staging Human Rights, Ethics, Law, Research and Policy
Background: The Forum for Medical Ethics Society (FMES) hosts the National Bioethics Conference (NBC) every two years. The aim of the conference is to foster dialogue and debate on critical ethical issues in global health, whilst maintaining an intersectional and inter-disciplinary lens to these discussions.
The Global Mental Health Summit (GMHS) is conducted once every 3 years by the hosting secretariat for the Movement for Global Mental Health. This summit aims to bring together stakeholders from across the world, particularly persons with lived experience and practitioners working with vulnerable communities in psychosocial distress. Participants will present ground realities, ideate on problem definitions, and aim to arrive at collaborative and scalable solutions.
This year, the 9th NBC and 5th GMHS will be organised jointly as a hybrid Conference on the theme ‘Mental Health: Center-staging Human Rights, Ethics, Law, and Policy’, offering a unique opportunity for various stakeholders to reflect on and discuss priority areas in ethics and mental health.
The Conference will offer a platform for critical reflections, discussions, and debate on critical issues from the intersections of mental health, human rights, and ethics. The conference will be co-hosted by FMES, Banyan Academy of Leadership in Mental Health (BALM), Centre for Mental Health Law and Policy (CMHLP), and Sangath.
Conference theme: The conference theme focuses on advancing knowledge and broadening perspectives on mental health, which are founded on core ethical principles of individual and societal wellbeing, and rights-based and equitable care for all. We invite interest and contributions that question existing paradigms and investigate critical problems that impede progress in the mental healthcare system globally, and offer solutions to achieve improved outcomes at both an individual and systemic level. Our conference programme has been curated keeping in mind that there are perspectives that are neglected and need to be heard; that there is a need to meaningfully involve diverse and representative stakeholders; and that we need active and constructive dialogue to push the needle forward. We anticipate that the conference will provide an opportunity for practitioners, implementers, academics, policymakers, service users, families, and various other actors to influence the agenda for ethics and mental health.
Main conference theme: Mental Health: Center-staging Human Rights, Ethics, Law, Research and Policy
Day wise themes:
Day 1 | Saturday, December 3, 2022 | Virtual
Theme: Mental Health Care Paradigms | Time: 2:30-7pm (IST)
Confirmed speakers of the day: Rochelle Burgess, Deepa Pawar, Ketaki Ranade, Lakshmi Vijayakumar, Tanmoy Goswami and Awais Aftab.
Day 2 | Saturday, December 10, 2022 | Virtual
Theme: Research Ethics Obligations In Mental Health Spaces | Time: 2:30-7pm (IST)
Confirmed speakers of the day: Lola Kola, Athula Sumathipala, Audrey Prost and Chetna Duggal.
Day 3 | Saturday, December 17, 2022 | In-Person at BALM campus, Chennai
Theme: Re-imagining Community Mental Health Towards Diverse and Inclusive Ecosystems | Time: 9:30am to 5:30pm (IST)
Confirmed speakers of the day: Alok Sarin, Sanjeev Jain, Barbara Regeer, Rubina Jahan and Nev Jones.
Conference format: The conference agenda includes a range of keynote sessions, presentations, workshops, and networking opportunities. The conference will be organised in a hybrid format to provide an opportunity for people across the globe to participate and engage in academic discourse.
We are looking forward to seeing you all and welcoming you at the Conference!
