HHC 2027: Angels Landing

The Health Humanities Consortium invites proposals for its annual conference on all aspects of the intersections of the arts and humanities with health and healthcare. This year’s theme “Angels Landing” is inspired by our Mountain West meeting location and meant to engage creative conversations, scholarly inquiry, and new connections.

Angels Landing, 300 miles south of Salt Lake City, is an iconic part of Utah’s landscape and history. More than a geological formation, it is a beautiful place, a treacherous hike, a manifestation of temptation, of risk and reward. Allegedly, a visiting minister gave this rock spire its name, as a spot only ethereal beings could reach, although now mere humans compete for permits to try.

While this theme does not exclude any submissions, and you are not required to address it, we would be delighted to know what ideas it inspires.

• How are angels (or their opposites) constructed in our narratives of health and healthcare? How do religious and spiritual practices affect the everyday experiences of healthcare professionals, patients, families, and caregivers?
• Who gets to land in the most remote, precious, sacred, dangerous spaces? How might different perspectives—looking at and looking from positions of relative privilege and access—be brought into conversations about health and healthcare?
• How do the health humanities engage with ecological models of health and with the health of environments and their inhabitants?
• What practices, stories, and images reflect on health and healthcare in the Mountain West, a region that conjures stereotypes but is almost never what it appears to be?

Panels, papers, workshops, flash presentations, and creative presentations that engage the conference theme are encouraged, but proposals which contribute to the broader project of the health humanities are equally welcome.

Deadline: Friday, October 30, 11:59 p.m. MT.

Expected notification date: Early January 2027

Please consider becoming a proposal reviewer. Reviewers are sought across a wide range of areas of expertise/experience and career stages. You will be asked to read and score up to 25 conference proposals during November-December 2026. Please sign up using our brief survey. Thank you to those who have already volunteered!

Questions? Please contact ethicshum@hsc.utah.edu.

Thank you! We look forward to seeing you in Salt Lake City.

Additional information about presentation types and successful proposals:

Complete panels 
Panel presentations consist of three to four participants addressing a focused theme from diverse perspectives. One of the participants will also moderate and facilitate discussions among panelists and with audience members. Panel presentations will be allotted a 75- minute slot.

Papers (individual presentations)
Individual presenters will have fifteen minutes to present content not previously published. We expect to group three presenters into a 75-minute session, allowing up to thirty minutes for Q&A.

Workshops
The primary aim of a workshop is to provide instructional content in an interactive manner. The number of presenters is dependent on the nature of the workshop. Note in your proposal how you hope to engage in-person and/or virtual participants. Workshops will be allotted a 75-minute slot.

Flash presentations
Individual presenters will have five minutes to present content not previously published with a maximum of three slides. We expect to group seven flash presentations into a 75- minute session, leaving a few minutes for Q&A.

Creative presentations
Creative presentations could take many forms (performance, exhibitions, readings, etc.) but should offer an innovative way to approach a topic of broad concern in the health humanities. The proposal should address any substantial technical issues associated with the proposed presentation and the estimated time requested for your presentation. The default time will be 15 minutes, and creative presentations might be grouped with others into a 75-minute session.

Other
If you would like to propose a presentation that does not fit into one of these categories, please provide more information when submitting your abstract.

Tips for a successful proposal

• Your proposal will be reviewed by HHC members from many disciplines, backgrounds, and locations. Consider a wide audience when describing your presentation, avoiding jargon and defining terms or approaches that are discipline specific.
• Proposals from the host institution (or any institution) have no advantage in the review process. Don’t assume that reviewers know your institution or location.
• Because HHC is committed to interdisciplinarity, the conference might not look like one you’ve attended in the past. There are no established conventions for what a presentation should look like, beyond the descriptions of formats offered here. Effective and creative engagement with conferencegoers is as important as clear delivery of information.
  • You are not expected to follow a strict format in your abstract (i.e., titling separate sections as Methods, Results, Discussion) unless it clearly benefits the reviewers’ understanding of your project. Most abstracts will be in paragraph form.
  • You do not need to include full citations or a bibliography with your abstract, especially if it takes you over the word limit. Of course, you will be expected to responsibly cite your sources in your presentation at the conference.
• While work in the health humanities always engages with work in health and healthcare, this is not a scientific or medical meeting. Your presentation should offer ideas and questions that are relevant outside of your field or discipline.
• You are welcome to propose a presentation at any point in a research project, especially if engagement with an interdisciplinary audience moves your work forward. You do not need to have reached a conclusion; you do need to have a clear reason for presenting at this point in the research process.
• If this is your first HHC conference—or your first conference of any kind!—please go to the HHC website, where you can see past conference programs and more about the organization. You will find information there to help you understand the ongoing conversation you will be entering with your presentation.
• The conference theme this year “Angels Landing” is meant only to inspire discourse. You will not be disqualified or disadvantaged if you do not address the conference theme.