Carlo Caduff and Michelle Pentecost, academics in King’s Department of Global Health & Social Medicine, joined global health academics from other institutions on the competition’s judging panel.

The contest was open to all postgraduate students. Students were invited to submit up to 2500 words on the topic ‘The future of social medicine’. The competition gave preference to students based in the Global South in order to help create space for underrepresented voices in the global health sphere.

The competition’s four winners, as well as two additional students given a ‘special commendation’, will have their essays published later this year. The judging panel have provided comments and feedback to help the winners revise their essays. They will then be reviewed by a professional academic editor before the essays are published in a collection.

Winners are also awarded a cash prize as part of the competition.

In the past, Caduff has also been involved with workshops for early-career researchers based at institutions in Latin America. The workshops helped participants build on their writing and publishing capacity and focussed on publishing in English-language journals about social medicine and collective health.

The Global Health Social Network, funded by a Wellcome Trust grant, brings together scholars from all regions who are committed to a vision of social medicine as a vital intersection of social sciences, medical practice and policy. It aims to re-imagine the field of social medicine, showcase the diversity of approaches in the field and establish a truly global conversation to change the social and economic conditions that structure health inequities.