A University of Aberdeen academic will next week join international social scientists gathering in Japan to discuss the organisation of maternity care across the globe.
Dr. Edwin van Teijlingen, from the University's Department of Public Health, has been invited to speak at the symposium Possibilities and Challenges for Reproduction in a Socio-Cultural Context taking place in Tokyo (Tuesday to Thursday March 25-27).
The symposium and an accompanying two-day seminar have been funded by the Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science, under their New Research Initiatives in Humanities and Social Sciences.
The main aim of the event is to promote new long-term collaborations between Japan and other countries. Leading speakers from America, Palestine, Australia and Finland are involved and Dr van Teijlingen is the only invited representative from a UK university.
Dr. Van Teijlingen said: "There is growing interest in many countries in exploring links between culture and the organisation of health care in general and maternity care in particular. I believe researchers from across the world will find plenty of things to learn from each other.
"However, the social shaping of evidence informing such policies, global childbirth politics and new modes of professional jurisdiction has been under explored.
"We hope to establish some very productive and valuable links with universities based in Japan. We will also be engaging in discussions on how best we can initiate new collaborations between Japan and the UK."
Dr. Van Teijlingen is presenting two sociological research papers one on professionalisation of maternity care at the seminar (25th March) and one on medicalisation of childbirth at the Symposium (27th March).