East Midlands Medical Sociology Group Relaunch

A BSA East Midlands Medical Sociology Study Group Event

Tuesday 30th June 2026 (12.30pm – 4.00pm)
Brockington B1114, Loughborough University

About the Event

You are invited to attend an afternoon seminar organised by the East Midlands Medical Sociology Group and hosted by Loughborough University. Marking the relaunch of the East Midlands Medical Sociology Group, this event brings together researchers from across the region for an afternoon of dynamic contemporary research, discussion, and networking.The event aims to showcase current work in medical sociology while fostering new collaborations and strengthening interdisciplinary connections across institutions. Alongside the keynote and research presentations, there will be opportunities for networking and discussion with colleagues working across medical sociology, health research, and related disciplines.

Keynote Speaker

    • Karen Throsby (Head of School, University of Leeds)
      In the second decade of the twenty-first century, sugar rose to infamy as the dietary enemy du jour, prompting a proliferation of national and international sugar reduction policies and interventions, public health campaigns, media reporting, documentaries popular science tracts and selfhelp books, all directing people to give up the ‘white stuff’ in the interests of health. However, despite the high-profile positioning of sugar as a problem about which something must urgently be done, there is a distinct lack of consensus about what kind of problem sugar is. Drawing on an extensive database of textual and media outputs, this paper argues that even while
      different understandings of the ‘problem’ of sugar are held together through the lowest-common-denominator exhortation to ‘eat less sugar’, different ways of framing a problem imply different courses of action, each of which has social consequences in terms of what they bring into the foreground and what gets pushed aside. This paper explores two competing understandings of the ‘problem’ of sugar as (a) empty calories, and (b) toxic, and asks how, and in whose interests, they find common ground. The final section of the paper explores the implications of this analysis for the food and weight management protagonists that have risen to prominence as
      the anti-sugar campaigns lost momentum in the late 2010s, with a particular focus on ultra-processed foods (UPF) and most recently, GLP-1 weight loss medications.

Other Speakers

          • Emma Quinn (Loughborough University) 
            • 'Between solidarity and scrutiny: The role of athletic peers in the construction of severe menstruation'.
          • Dr Basma Salem (Loughborough University)
            • 'It Was Just an Advertisement”: How Women of Different Social Classes Frame Breast Cancer Messages in Egypt as Fabricated’.

Registration

Registration for this event is open.

A light lunch and refreshments will be provided and there will be the opportunity for networking and discussion. To cover our costs and to enable us to hold future events the following charges will be applied:

          • BSA Concessionary Member: Free
          • Concessionary Non-member: £5
          • BSA Member: £5

Booking is essential. Venue numbers are restricted and it is advisable to book early. 

Final delegate information will be circulated prior to the event.

For academic enquiries please contact N.A.Hudson@lboro or K.L.Baldwin@lboro.ac.uk