Spotlight on Harry Coleman

ECTMIH 2023 Scientific and Social Committees: Harry Coleman

Last month we met with Dr Harry Coleman,  who serves on the ECTMIH 2023 Scientific Committee and Social Committee.

Harry is an advisor in the health systems strengthening team at the Royal Tropical Institute (or KIT) in Amsterdam. 

He is currently working on a number of applied research and advisory projects including: a feasibility study for maternal and newborn health service redesign in Sindh, Pakistan; regular monitoring of health management information system reporting in Afghanistan; and leading an evaluation of HRH achievements across ten years in the WHO South-East Asian region. He helps coordinate KIT’s internal working group on fragile- and conflict-affected settings (FCAS), and is also a member of the advisory group for Health Systems Global Thematic Working Group on FCAS. 

His PhD focused on the relationship between housing insecurity and health, and was engaged with the Centre for Equity Studies in New Delhi, India. He’s interested in health policy and systems research, health equity and integrating social science theory, mixed methods and action research approaches. 

At ECTMIH 2023, Harry is part of the Scientific Committee for the Planetary Health and Health Systems track, and also a member of the Social Committee through Uniting Streams.

Some key takeaways from Harry:

The rationale for including a strong social programme for ECTMIH 2023 and some ideas in the pipeline

At any conference, some of the most important networking and strategic conversations take place outside of the official programme and in a more informal setting. With this in mind, the Social Committee is looking to create something that is very inclusive, particularly for people attending on their own. Lots of ideas are being considered at this point in time, including social evenings, photo walls, book corners and break-out spaces.

Harry's hopes for ECTMIH 2023 in general

That it's fun! Also that it creates lots of opportunities for informal networking and relationship-building, alongside some really interesting discussions under a general planetary health umbrella. 

Check out Harry's full interview here: