From 2023, the Weight Stigma Conference will be hybrid with both in-person and remote attendance available. All sessions will be recorded and videos will be available for one month after the event.
9th Annual International Weight Stigma Conference
The Annual International Weight Stigma Conference is an inter-disciplinary event that brings together scholars and practitioners from a range of backgrounds (e.g., public health, government and public policy, psychology, medicine, sociology, anthropology, allied health professions, education, sports and exercise science, social sciences, media studies, business, law, activism, and the lay public) to consider research, policy, rhetoric, and practice around the issue of weight stigma.
We are now accepting abstracts for oral presentations and posters, as well as session proposals including brief symposia, round tables, debates, and workshops. We are also interested in non-traditional submissions (e.g., media, performance, art). The two-day interdisciplinary programme will cover the entire weight stigma research spectrum – from basic, to applied, to clinical, to policy – and feature an outstanding roster of international speakers and local experts.
This year’s theme is Unintended Harms, Insidious Impact: The Need for Multi-Level Change. We encourage submissions on this theme that offer novel and fresh insights and/or address existing gaps and open questions, in the widest sense. Abstracts can be for oral presentations, posters, or other formats (symposia, workshops, seminars, creative sessions, etc.).
We invite contributions across a wide range of disciplines and methodological and theoretical approaches. International voices discussing the situation in countries other than the US are particularly welcome. Equally so are intersectional approaches and perspectives from other marginalized groups. Students are especially encouraged to submit proposals.
Contributions outside of the theme are also welcome. Visit our abstract submission page for more information.
Weight Stigma Conference Bursary Fund
The Weight Stigma Conference is a not-for-profit event. The conference is funded by registration fees and a small number of sponsors whose support has made this event possible. In order to make the conference more accessible, we try to offer a small number of full and partial bursaries to people who might otherwise not be able to attend, but there is never enough funding to give a bursary to everyone who needs one. Since 2016, we have been crowdsourcing the conference Bursary Fund, and your generosity allowed us to provide 43 bursaries so far.
There are several ways that you can donate to the Bursary Fund. The simplest is to use the button below to pay via PayPal. This is our preferred option as there are fewer fees and charges involved at our end, and more of your donations can go toward the bursaries.
We have also set up a GoFundMe page for the 2023 Bursary Fund.
Alternatively, you can contact us to discuss other arrangements or to explore other sponsorship options. All funds raised via these methods are ring-fenced for bursaries and will not be used for anything else. Thank you again for your generosity in helping us make this possible.
Previous Conferences
Information about previous conferences, including conference brochure and abstract books, and speaker slides, is available here.
(Note, we apologise but this may not be possible from a mobile phone.)
The 2023 WSC is delighted to follow the 2023 Annual Conference of the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (SPSSI). SPSSI is an amazing organisation with a strong focus on social justice and creating change. If you’re not familiar with SPSSI, do check out their website. For more information: SPSSI conference webpage.