Irish Humanities Alliance 2026 Conference

Dates: Thursday, September 3 - Friday, September 4, 2026.

This two-day conference, supported by the Irish Humanities Alliance (IHA) and South East Technological University (SETU), will bring together scholars, clinicians, artists, community partners and practitioners for a major gathering in the medical and health humanities. Contributions are invited through a humanities lens, while also incorporating interdisciplinary and lived experience insights. SETU's modern interdisciplinary environment, home to vibrant research clusters, creative practice and community-engaged scholarship, offers an ideal space for critical conversations about the future of healthcare and its contested narratives.

This year's conference theme addresses the paradoxes that define contemporary healthcare. It considers the coexistence of extraordinary technological advances alongside deepening inequalities, the expansion of patient advocacy alongside enduring structural silence, and the emergence of global connectivity that is continually challenged by local exclusion.

The conference asks what it means to 'Un/silence' healthcare by asking whose voices shape medical and healthcare knowledge, whose experiences are marginalised, and how we might create more just, plural, and compassionate futures.

Keynote Speakers:

Day 1 | Thursday, 3rd September: Dr. Jess Mannion (Atlantic Technological University)

Day 2 | Friday, 4th September: Dr. Des Fitzgerald (University College Cork)

Further information regarding accommodation, travel, and the conference programme will be made available via the conference website, which will be launched in the coming weeks.