The INEQKILL conference is on-site only and will take place at the Université catholique de Louvain on 18-20/11/2026.
Health inequalities are among the most persistent and consequential forms of social inequality. Shaped by long-term historical trajectories, spatial structures, and socio-economic transformations, they have produced uneven health outcomes across regions, social groups, and historical periods. From pre-industrial mortality regimes to contemporary health transitions, these disparities have been influenced by colonial legacies, institutional arrangements, environmental conditions, and evolving demographic and epidemiological regimes.
Today, health inequalities remain deeply embedded in broader processes of social stratification and development. Their persistence has gained renewed urgency amid environmental pressures, geopolitical instability, and the long-term consequences of recent global health crises. In many contexts, health inequalities are widening within and between societies, while advances in historical data reconstruction, harmonized measures, and spatially refined methods now enable more precise analysis across time and space.
Against this backdrop, the conference invites contributions that examine health inequalities both as outcomes and drivers of social inequality across multiple spatial and temporal scales. We particularly welcome research on:
- Structural foundations of health inequalities and their long-term trends
- Spatial diffusion of inequalities in health and environmental factors
- Inequalities in health over the life course
- Health as a source of inequalities: shocks and vulnerabilities
- Data, methods, and concepts for analyzing health inequalities
We encourage contributions that employ historical data reconstruction, comparative and harmonized measurements, spatial and small-area analyses, and advanced methodological approaches. Papers reflecting on conceptual frameworks, governance structures, and policy responses that shape inequalities in and through health are equally welcome.
By convening scholars from demography, history, sociology, economics, and social epidemiology, this conference aims to advance an integrated, interdisciplinary understanding of health inequalities across past, present, and future societies.
Submission Guidelines
Please submit a 250-word abstract in a PDF file to quetelet-seminar@uclouvain.be. The abstract should be structured in the following way: Background, Objectives, Methods, Results, Conclusions, Contribution. All co-authors and their affiliations should be named in the submission.
Timetable
- Deadline for abstract submission: 01.05.2026 [Extended to 01.06.2026]
- Notification of acceptance: 15.05.2026 [Postponed to 19.06.2026]
- Registration opens: 15.09.2026
- Conference: 18-20.11.2026
Details
- Hosting institution: Université catholique de Louvain [on-site only]
- Organizing institutions: Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Ghent University, Université catholique de Louvain
- Registration fee: €170 - Lunch and refreshments will be provided throughout the meeting, with a conference dinner on the evening of the second day [€20 for undergraduate students, dinner not included]
- Conference language: English.
- Scientific committee: Sylvie Gadeyne, Isabelle Devos, Thierry Eggerickx, Sophie Vanwambeke, Philippe Bocquier, Caterina Mauri, Jean-Paul Sanderson, Catherine Linard.
- Session chairs and invited speakers: Sean Clouston (Stony Brook Medicine), Patrick Deboosere (Vrije Universiteit Brussel), Myriam Khlat (French Institute for Demographic Studies), Bruce Link (University of California, Riverside), Wilma Nusselder (Erasmus University Rotterdam), Michel Oris (Université de Genève), Alice Reid (Cambridge University).
Contact:
Centre de recherche en démographie (DEMO)
Université catholique de Louvain (UCLouvain),
1 Place Montesquieu, box L2.08.03,
1348 Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium.
Tel. +32 10 47 26 17
quetelet-seminar@uclouvain.be
www.uclouvain.be/demo
