“I last attended in 2004 and was impressed then, I'm more impressed now having managed to get back again 5 years later. It is probably the friendliest and most inclusive conference I have been to and the papers and discussions were very stimulating. I hope to make it a regular on my conference schedule. Thank you to all the organisers.”
“I thought the pace of the programme was very well thought out. I liked the 'self-select' coffee time and the five minute breaks to change room.”
“I've been attending MedSoc since 1995 and see it as useful and important regarding my work.”
“A friendly conference which provides a useful and supportive audience who give constructive feedback to presenters at all levels of experience.”
“This was my first conference and I have found it an incredibly positive experience. It has helped me to gain a broader understanding of medical sociology as a whole and had a lot of highly relevant and interesting presentations. I have also met a lot of other professionals working with whom I am now able to develop links.”
“Catching up with colleagues who share the same interests and with whom it is possible to have the kinds of conversations I cannot easily have in my own place of work. The sense of collegiality and support for each other's work.”
“Great range of high quality presentations; mix of empirical, methodological and theoretical work.”
“I like the variety of papers, and the variety of people who go - good to catch up with old friends, and meet new people. Also, MedSoc is a very friendly conference and I've always found the quite senior and eminent scholars who attend to be very approachable, and not at all snooty or elitist.”
“The format and timing of presentations, Q&A sessions have been proved successful throughout years. This is a very appealing feature of MedSoc compare to other conferences.”
“The atmosphere was good, people were supportive and friendly, the timings went well, the picnic lunch at the end was a good idea, the Town Hall was magnificent, and there was an interesting selection of papers and some good chairing. I was very glad to contribute to chairing a session on some very moving issues.”
“I found the conference not only supportive, inclusive and friendly but an ideal environment to test out early work and ideas. This was particularly important to PhD students who often feel vulnerable when presenting early thoughts and findings. An opportunity for networking and receiving positive and constructive feedback was excellent and I would welcome an opportunity to return next year. A big thank you to everyone who helped with the planning and organisation. I thoroughly enjoyed this conference.”
“Always inspiring to hear others present their work. Nice to put faces to names.”
“I particularly enjoy the opportunities for chatting to people (informal networking opportunities and areas to facilitate this) and the evening entertainment, especially the disco.”
“This was my first time attending a MedSoc conference and I will make every attempt to do so from now on. I found the papers interesting and the attendees even better. Everyone was friendly, engaged and supportive. I left feeling revitalized.”
“This was a really fantastic conference - there were a wealth of interesting papers on offer, and the smaller size of the event made it possible to enjoy meaningful connections with other delegates in a comfortable, informal manner. The venue was fine and the amenities beyond reproach. I like the 5-minutes-between-each-paper format, since it allowed people to catch every relevant paper, without creating the distractingly constant flow of people throughout the duration of a session (which happens at other conferences when times for different papers don't match up).”
“Good to have a mixture of up to date ideas linked to a range of current conceptual and applied issues in which sociology can demonstrate its conceptual strengths and relevance to social debate at many levels”
“I really enjoyed the variety of talks at the conference. They posed some very interesting questions and were of a high standard generally. It was also great to meet so many people grappling with similar issues and work.”
“I find MedSoc is one of the friendliest conferences around, and because of this even high profile people are approachable. The variety and quality of work presented is always excellent.”
“I really enjoyed the conference. At first glance I couldn't see the relevance of many of the papers to my work, but in practice I found many of them had things to say to me about my research/analysis.”
