CALL FOR ASTRACTS OR PAPER PROPOSALS

I. Introduction

Since the first reports of HIV in Vietnam almost twenty years ago, behavioral and epidemiological studies have made significant contributions in shaping Vietnamese responses to the epidemic. Behavioral science, for example, has been quite effective in crafting a set of replicable evidence-based prevention interventions. The growing scale of the epidemic, however, has made clear the need for interventions that change the context of behavior rather than simply focusing on helping individuals make healthier choices. Globally, much of the early social science work on HIV underlined the importance of understanding how the meanings people give to relationships, identities, and practices shape and constrain behavior and contribute to patterns of HIV risk.  Social scientists have explored the political economy of risk, have underlined the conditions under which social conditions facilitate or even determine the practice of individual risk behaviors, shown how broad social factors such as racial inequality, economic development, and gender stratification intertwine to create risk differentials. They have contributed pioneering research on structural interventions for sexual and injection-related risk and critical insights to undergird HIV care and treatment programs. This includes exploring stigma as a barrier to testing and treatment, looking at how anti-retroviral therapy (ART) transforms the local meanings of HIV/AIDS, documenting social movements’ role in creating the conditions necessary for universal access to ART and underlining the relevance of therapeutic itineraries and communities of care for understanding adherence.  Social scientists have also explored the institutions and policies which play such key roles in shaping the daily lives of those living with, or at risk for, HIV.  While Vietnamese researchers have conducted studies that examine some of the above issues, their final products are not widely disseminated and/or acknowledged both at the national and international levels. 

The Social Science Research and Training on HIV/AIDS (STAR) Partnership, a five-year collaboration between Hanoi Medical University and Columbia University funded by the US National Institutes of Health, aims to improve local capacity for critical social science research on HIV/AIDS.  Learning from the ENCOURAGE Project (CIHP) whose products appeared recently in a special issue on sexuality issues in Vietnam in the journal Culture, Health and Sexuality, STAR Partnership calls for participation of senior and mid-level Vietnamese researchers in a process that will result in internationally publishable journal articles on social and cultural dimensions of HIV/AIDS in Vietnam.  

II. The Process  

Interested researchers who have conducted studies on social, cultural, economic, political and behavioral dimensions of HIV/AIDS in Vietnam are encouraged to submit their abstracts or paper proposals.  Topics of interests include, but not limited to, policy analysis, cultural and political economic analysis of risks, vulnerability and impacts, examination of social organization and movement in responses against the epidemic, and socially grounded analysis of behaviors and practices. In consultation with the two senior mentors, we will shortlist abstracts/proposals that have the potential for becoming publishable papers.  Shortlisted authors will be encouraged to submit a draft paper before the first writing workshop that will be held tentatively in December of 2009.  In this workshop, the two mentors will review principles of writing papers for international publication, make specific comments on draft papers, and provide detailed plan for follow-up.  After the first workshop, participants will revise their papers and submit the second draft before Tet of 2010.  Those who complete the second draft will be invited to attend the second workshop, tentatively in February of 2010, during which the two mentors will work with individual authors to polish their draft papers.  The participants will then have another two months to send another draft for final review. We expect that this process will be finalized by the summer of 2010.  Decision on journal submission will depend on the quality of final papers, and there are no guarantees of getting published.

III. The Mentors

Peter Aggleton is a senior professor at the Institute of Education , University of London and a visiting professor at the National Centre for HIV Social Research at the University of New South Wales , in Sydney . He has worked internationally in the field of HIV and AIDS for over twenty years.  He serves on the editorial advisory boards of AIDS, AIDS Care, AIDS Education and Prevention  as well as several other journals including Critical Public Health, Global Public Health and Health Education Research.  He is the editor of the international journal Culture, Health and Sexuality and the editor of over twenty books on the social aspects of HIV and AIDS.  Peter has worked extensively in Vietnam over the last decade, and is skilled in helping researchers develop and refine their work for publication

Paul Boyce also works at the Institute of Education , University of London and has several years’ experience supporting authors in the field of sexuality, sexual health and HIV/AIDS.  An experienced writer and author himself, he has published in a number of specialist HIV/AIDS, social science and public health journals.  With Peter Aggleton, he has supported Vietnamese researchers and authors in writing for publication in good quality international journals. 

IV. Potential Participants

Senior and mid-level Vietnamese researchers and program managers who are working in academics, research institutions, non-governmental organizations in the field of social sciences (for example, ethnology, anthropology, sociology, cultural studies, economics, history and political sciences), medicine, public health and related fields.  We aim to select a maximum of 14 participants for the first writeshop.  We are particularly interested in individuals who have submitted abstracts to the ICAAP 9 in Bali , Indonesia , the 20^th International Conference on Harm Reduction in Bangkok , Thailand , and the 7^th IASSCS Conference in Hanoi .

V. Application Requirements

Interested individuals should submit abstracts/paper proposals of not more than 500 words by no later than 5:00 pm of May 30^th, 2009.  Funding is available to support participants coming from outside of Hanoi .  Selected participants will receive confirmation no later than the first week of September, 2009.  For further information, please contact

Lê Minh Giang

Center for Research and Training on HIV/AIDS - Hanoi Medical University
Telephone: (84-4) 5745619;  Cell: (84) 16 92 111 238; Emails:  ttaids_yhn@yahoo.com

(Hoàng CIHP post)