From Ideas to Impact: A Summer School on Design Thinking for Diversity Medicine

21 Sep 2026 to 25 Sep 2026, 10:00 to 17:00 in Hamburg University of Technology, Building D, Room 3.015

Our Summer School brings together Master's and PhD students from a wide range of disciplines to address structural inequalities in health research and healthcare. The focus is on advancing sex-, gender-, and diversity-sensitive research by tackling the persistent underrepresentation of women, trans*, intersex, and non-binary individuals in clinical and medical research, as well as gender-specific gaps in healthcare.

During the five-day Summer School, participants will network across disciplines and collaborate on real-world challenges in five key areas: endometriosis, prevention, oncology, HIV/AIDS support, and the use of artificial intelligence in healthcare. Using a user-centred and participatory Design Thinking approach, participants will develop innovative, evidence- and data-based solutions to improve research and healthcare practice.

A particular emphasis is placed on the active involvement of people with lived experience and practice partners, ensuring that diverse perspectives are systematically integrated into the development of needs-based and sustainable solutions. The Summer School aims to strengthen participants' interdisciplinary expertise, foster scientific exchange, and empower the next generation of researchers to contribute to a more equitable and diversity-sensitive healthcare system.

The one-week Summer School is co-hosted by the Working Group for Data-Driven Innovation at TUHH, the Institute for Diversity Medicine at Ruhr University Bochum, and acadim. The project is funded by the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space. Therefore, participation in the Summer School is free of charge, and travel expenses for participants travelling from outside Hamburg will be reimbursed.

Please apply using the form below to participate in the Summer School. For the free-text questions, you have a limit of 255 characters per answer. We will notify applicants about their participation within two weeks of receiving their application by email.

The application deadline is 31 August. Please note that participation is limited to 20 places, which will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us by email.
We look forward to receiving your application!

Best regards,

The Summer School Organising Team

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