Call for Abstracts
„Health Priorities in a World of Change“
The 15th Biennial Conference of the International Society for Priorities in Health will take place from October 7 to 9, 2026 in Bayreuth, Germany.
The lead partner and host of the conference is the Institute of Management for Medicine and Health Sciences at the University of Bayreuth (UBT) with support from the Medical University of Lausitz – Carl Thiem.
The hosts are Prof. Dr. Michael Lauerer, Chair of Management for Medicine and Health Sciences, and Prof. Dr. mult. Eckhard Nagel, Board Chair at the Medical University of Lausitz – Carl Thiem.
Health Priorities in a World of Change
Health systems worldwide are confronted with an unprecedented constellation of overlapping crises — climate change, pandemics, armed conflicts, forced migration, and geopolitical instability. This environment reshapes the conditions under which health priorities are defined, financed and implemented. At the same time, new medical technologies ( e.g., artificial intelligence) offer new possibilities and impact our understanding of priority setting and its processes. Against this backdrop, this conference also invites a more reflective perspective on priority setting, building on established approaches while critically examining their assumptions, scope, and applicability in the face of increasing complexity and change (“Priority Setting 2.0”).
The aim of this conference is to deepen the discussion of current challenges as well as methodological and solution-oriented approaches to priority setting in healthcare. It builds on the growing international debate on fair resource allocation and strengthens the exchange between academia, practice and policy.
Thematic Areas
1. Global Crises and Priority Setting
- Implications of climate change, pandemics, military conflicts, and migration for health prioritization
- Justice, equity, and financing in contexts of absolute and relative scarcity of healthcare resources
- Resilient and integrated approaches to healthcare governance for effective priority setting in global crises
2. Distribution in the context of digitalization and artificial intelligence
- Distribution of benefits and burdens arising from digital health technologies
- Predictive analytics and the integration of social data into (national) prevention strategies
- Algorithmic decision-making in healthcare: transparency, accountability, and bias
- Socio-legal and ethical dimensions of artificial intelligence driven prioritization
3. Priority Setting 2.0
- Ethical and legal frameworks for contemporary allocation decisions
- International experiences in priority setting, including country-specific approaches, challenges, and lessons learned
- Methodological and theoretical approaches to priority setting including their normative dimensions, e.g. legal, social sciences, ethics, etc.
In addition, the program chairs welcome submissions that correspond to the main thematic pillars of the International Society for Priorities in Health (ISPH).
- Evaluations and decision-making processes in priority seetting, including criteria, evidence frameworks, and formal and informal decision processes (e. g. Health Technology Assessment)
- Health economics and priority setting
- The role of specific criteria in priority setting (e. g. cost-effectiveness, equity, severity of disease, age, etc.)
Submission formats
Abstract:
- Poster presentation (3 minutes)
- Oral presentation (12 minutes)
- Organized session (90 minutes)
An abstract should not exceed
- 200 words for poster presentations
- 400 words for oral presentations
- 800 words for organized sessions
Guidelines for submission
Submitted abstracts should use the following headings, where applicable:
- Problem definition (research gap / objective)
- Theoretical foundation
- Methodology / empirical research context
- Results
- Conclusions
Abstracts should not include figures or tables.
Please submit your abstracts via the Priorities 2026 submission website by June 20, 2026.
Review process
The selection of abstracts to be presented at the conference will be based on a double-blind review process by the members of the ISPH Academic Committee. Authors are expected to be notified of the acceptance of their submissions by end of July 2026.
Languages
The conference language is English.
Awards
On the occasion of the Priorities 2026 in Bayreuth, Best Awards will be presented for the following target groups and thematic areas:
- Poster presentations
- Young Researcher Award
Conference Fees
- ISPH members from LMIC: €200
- ISPH members from HIC: €450
The conference fees include participation in all conference sessions, conference materials, and all meals during the conference (coffee and lunch breaks) and participation in the conference dinner.
Overview of important dates
- May 2026: Registration for conference opens
- June 20, 2026: Deadline for submissions via the conference tool
- July 2026: Notification of acceptance of submissions
- August 20, 2026: Registration deadline for participants with accepted contributions for presentation at the conference
- September 09, 2026: Registration deadline for participants without a presentation
- October 7 to 9, 2026: Conference
Accommodation
Hotels in the city (Bayreuth) and near the conference location (University of Bayreuth) are available in various price ranges. Please reserve your hotel early.
Download the Call for Abstracts here.
We look forward to welcoming you in Bayreuth!
Contact:
Conference Organisation
Institute of Management in Medicine and Health Sciences
University of Bayreuth
E-mail: priorities26@uni-bayreuth.de
Internet: https://www.img.uni-bayreuth.de/
Prof. Dr. mult. Eckhard Nagel and Prof. Dr. Michael Lauerer
Chair of Management in Medicine and Health Sciences
University of Bayreuth
E-mail: eckhard.nagel@uni-bayreuth.de; michael.lauerer@uni-bayreuth.de
ISPH – International Society for Priorities in Health
E-Mail: prioritiesinhealth@gmail.com
Internet: https://www.prioritiesinhealth.org/