The fight against pandemics is one of the greatest challenges of our time. The Covid-19 pandemic has shown the increasing influence that economic actors, logics, and institutions have on pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response (PPR). This interdisciplinary social science course asks what drives this marketization of pandemic PPR, and what its social and health effects may be.
The application deadline was March 6, 2023.
Course description
In the field of global health, economic actors, logics, and institutions have grown in influence over the past 50 years. Multilateral development banks, philanthropic billionaires, and large corporations increasingly determine how we can collectively prevent, prepare for, and respond to pandemic outbreaks. At the same time, the market-driven destruction of animal habitats, mass food production, and corporate undermining of public health provision are among the driving forces that make pandemic outbreaks more frequent and more severe. Global health scholars have tried to capture the growing influence of markets on pandemics with concepts like “neoliberalism”, “marketization”, “economization”, “financialisation” and “commercial determinants of health”. Yet, they have only tentatively understood what drives the rising power of the private sector in pandemic PPR and what its effects may be.
This course explores how economic actors, logics, and institutions relate to the efforts to achieve health and equity in these pandemic times. Drawing on examples from the Covid-19 pandemic and other global health emergencies, it discusses the rise of market power at global, regional, and national levels. Emphasis is on how market forces affect people’s health in lower-resource settings, by drawing on real-life, contemporary examples. The topics covered include:
- The role of key industries in pandemic PPR, including the pharmaceutical industry, technology companies, and financial services
- The economic nature and visions of governing institutions including the WHO, the World Bank, philanthropies, and major public-private partnerships
- The politics of vaccine production and distribution in the Covid-19 pandemic
- Different modes of financing the fight against pandemics, ranging from pandemic bonds to crowdfunding
- The influence of private knowledge brokers such as health data providers and management consultancies
- Attempts to govern the private sector’s role in One Health and zoonotic disease
- Efforts to decolonize global health by challenging dominant economic ideas, beliefs, and narratives that drive the field
Key lecturers and course leaders are Dr Felix Stein (course convenor) and Dr Katerini Storeng (co-convenor) from the University of Oslo and Prof. Susan Erikson from Simon Fraser University. Guest lecturers will include Prof. Mariel Aguilar Støen (University of Oslo) and members of the Collective for the Political Determinants of Health, who will offer perspectives from global health, anthropology, international politics, and global governance. The course will also incorporate practitioner perspectives from those involved in decision-making and in advocacy focused on market power in pandemics.
Objectives and learning outcomes
The course will enable doctoral students from across the social sciences to better understand key concepts, debates, and perspectives on market forces in pandemic PPR as they relate to global health governance. It will familiarize them with up-to-date literature and draw on concrete examples from people’s daily lives – be it policy makers or people affected by Covid-19.
Students will:
- Obtain a nuanced understanding of market power in pandemic PPR
- Be well acquainted with the major theoretical and empirical social scientific approaches to the study of global health governance
- Engage in critical discussions, become acquainted with the work of their peers, and build international research networks.
Delivery
This four-day intensive course will be taught at SUM, University of Oslo. Students will spend the four days together in person, to get to know one another, exchange ideas and comment on each other’s work. Most of the teaching (lectures, seminars, and small group discussions) will take place in-person, with some guest lectures via Zoom.
Following the course, participants will also be asked to submit a research paper (max 8000 words) to be evaluated and approved (please consult the section on ‘Credits’ below).
Number of participants: 15 – 20
Language of instruction: English
Lecturers
Dr Felix Stein, University of Oslo
Dr Katerini Storeng, University of Oslo
Prof. Susan Erikson, Simon Fraser University
Prof. Mariel Cristina Støen, University of Oslo
Prof. David McCoy, United Nations University
Dr Owain Williams, University of Leeds
Who may apply?
The interdisciplinary nature of the course will be most suitable for doctoral students within the social sciences (global health governance, medical anthropology, medical sociology, political science, geography, and development studies). It is not an introduction to global health or a how-to guide for policy makers. Instead, this course caters to advanced students with an interest in global health, who are keen to explore how economic actors and logics shape pandemic PPR, and who would like to do so through a political, cultural, social, and ethical lens. Doctoral students will be prioritized. Master’s students may be considered only if space permits.
Funding
The course is free and funded by the Research Council of Norway. Lunches will be provided. Travel and accommodation scholarships are available to a limited number of students from outside of Norway (see point 3 under “Application procedure”).
Application procedure
Interested students should state their motivation and upload the following via the Application Form.
- A cover letter (max 2 pages) signed by your Ph.D. supervisor or another person at your institution/workplace, stating your academic background and academic degree(s) held, your Ph.D. project topic, estimated date of submission of doctoral (or master’s) thesis, and explaining your interest and motivation to apply for the course. The cover letter must explain how the course informs and is relevant to your Ph.D. or other research project (e.g., a paper or dissertation chapter that is in production) and whether you plan to submit a paper after the course for assessment (6000-8000 words). Applicants planning to submit a paper will be prioritized.
- CV (max 2 pages)
- Students from outside Norway may apply for a modest travel scholarship and/or accommodation support, by including a budget based on the minimum cost of travel with their course application. This budget should be uploaded as a separate document. Students are responsible for ensuring they have appropriate travel permits/visas. A letter of invitation can be provided, if required.
The application deadline was March 6, 2023.
Preparation and credits
Syllabus and programme
A reading list of approximately 1000 pages will be available on the course’s intranet site by May 17, 2023. As this course takes place over a short period of time and requires active participation, students are expected to read the syllabus in advance of the course.
Paper submission and assessment
To be recommended 10 credits, participants must submit an essay after the course of between 6000-8000 words and related to the course topic of market forces and pandemic PPR. It may take the form of an empirical or theoretical analysis and could be a literature review. We welcome submissions that can contribute to your Ph.D. thesis or proposal. The submission should conform to the conventional criteria for academic writing. This means using (and referencing) academic literature, related to the Ph.D. course, to support an argument. We can facilitate small peer-review groups after the course to provide feedback on drafts of this work.
Final papers must be submitted by September 15, 2023. Papers will be evaluated within four weeks after submission (pass/fail).
Credits
Course participants will be recommended either 10 or 3 ECTS credits, but your own institution must approve credits for the course. We therefore recommend that you contact your Ph.D. coordinator about the issue of credits prior to applying.
10 ECTS credits will be recommended for those who submit a paper and pass, 3 ECTS credits will be recommended for those who participate in the course in full but choose not to submit a paper for evaluation (or for those whose paper does not pass).
Contact information
Should you have any practical enquiries, please do not hesitate to email the course secretariat at phd-course@sum.uio.no
Course organizer
The Global Health Politics research group at Centre for Development and the Environment