Magnus Johansson
“In a time that demands quick answers, the scientific salon offers an opportunity for reflection from different perspectives,” says Lisa Guntram, coordinator at CMHB.
The theme for the 2025 salon was “Welfare, care and health in the digital present”.
More than 20 invited researchers, healthcare professionals, regional employees and representatives from various authorities gathered to discuss digitalisation. How it influences health, relationships and welfare structures, and how people engage with and relate to digital worlds.
Children in focus
The evening began with five panellists briefly sharing what they saw as key issues related to this year’s theme.
First to speak was Anette Wickström, professor at Child Studies and CMHB at Linköping University. She presented her research, together with LiU colleague Judith Lind, on mental health and teenage girls’ understanding of messages in social media.
“In our studies, we see how messages from influencers on social media meet a need that the girls seem to lack in healthcare,” says Anette Wickström.
Annika Engström, project manager at Safer Internet Centre Sweden, Swedish Agency for the Media, highlighted the authority’s work on children’s and young people’s digital lives. Focusing both on what we know and what is being done.
Care highlighted
Magnus Johansson
Desirée Enlund, assistant professor at Gender Studies and CMHB, reflected on a range of pressing questions: Who should digitalise and who will be digitalised? Which needs should guide the process? How should we manage the complexity of different, and sometimes conflicting, needs and benefits?
Marina Tuutma, former chair of the Swedish Medical Association’s Digitalisation Council, spoke from a medical perspective. She emphasised the importance of ensuring that digitalisation saves time for healthcare staff, improves the quality of care for patients, and enhances patient safety, not the opposite.
Generative conversations
The presentations were followed by an engaging discussion among the panellists, covering topics such as digital structures in healthcare, online doctors, mental health as currency in social media, and the importance of adult presence in children’s digital lives.
“What will future citizens expect from municipalities, regions and the state when it comes to digitalisation?” was one of the questions raised from different perspectives.
The evening concluded with round-table discussions where all participants delved deeper into the theme.
“There was truly great dynamics in the conversations, thanks to the different perspectives in the panel and among the Salon’s guests,” says Kristin Zeiler, director of CMHB.
She was very pleased with the outcome.
“The purpose of our scientific salons is both to provide space for reflection from various perspectives and to create a meeting place for people engaged in the evening’s theme. People who might not otherwise have met. We really succeeded this year,” says Kristin Zeiler.
Ericka Johnson, professor at Gender Studies and CMHB, who also helped organise the event, agrees.
“I’m so happy about the conversations we had during the evening – and especially those I saw and heard others having. We truly had the right people in the panel and in the audience.”
