Perceiving after Conceiving: What internal body perceptions and sensations mean for pregnancy and post-partum nutrition and health for parents and for the next generation

14 June 2022

The symposium will bring together two groups of researchers and experts: one group focused on the social determinants of health and nutrition in the earliest stages of the human life course (i.e., just before conception, through pregnancy, and through infancy) and the other group focused on measuring and visualizing body sensations and internal perceptions of bodily functions and experiences. There’s good reason to intuit that pregnancy alters these kinds of sensations and perceptions and that such sensations and perceptions alter pregnancy health, but we don’t yet know whether or to what extent that’s actually the case. So, please bring your perspective and expertise on one of these areas of inquiry and let’s move the conversation forward on how and why to test this intuition!

Programme 

Tuesday, 14 June

8.30-9.00: Registration and coffee

9.00-9.15: Welcome remarks and vision for event by Luseadra McKerracher

9.15-9.45: Keynote 1: Medication use in pregnancy: A dilemma for expectant mothers by Xiaoqin Liu

9.45-10.00: Discussion and questions on keynote 1: moderated by Yanxia Zhang 

10.00-10:20: COFFEE BREAK

10.20-11.20: Lightening talks 1: Pregnancy/early life health amd development origins and nutrition 

• Ulrik Kræmer: Insights into the triad of mother, breastmilk, and infant
• Dinne Skærlund: Associations of pre-, peri- and early postnatal exposures with later life physiological dysregulation
• Gudrun Vinter: Maternal diet and exercise alters offspring behaviour and neuroglial plasticity
• Tabia Volqvartz: Effects of maternal obesity on placental cortisol metabolism and transfer
• Manhai Long: Prenatal exposure to environmental contaminants and child development
• Natalia Vidal: TBD

11.20-11.50: Open discussion on pregnancy and early life health: chaired by Cecilia-Ramlau Hansen to chair panel, with support from Rodrigo Grassi-Oliveira

11.50-12.45: LUNCH

12.45-12.50: Regrouping remarks - AIAS & interdisciplinarity by Søren Keiding

12.50-13.20: Keynote 2: Towards Better Biomarkers of Interoception by Niia Nokolova

13.20-13.35: Discussion and question on keynote 2: moderated by Janice Wang

13.35-14.00: Lightening talks 2: Interoception and Sensation 

• Christine Parsons: Perception of infant communicative signals
• Laura Nissin: Perceiving the past: historical, social and cultural aspects of sensing
• Lisa Wu: Maternal-fetal circadian rhythms: Are they potential drivers of health outcomes?
• Janice Wang: Pregnancy food cravings

14.00-14.20: Open discussion on interoception and sensation: chaired by Gregers Wegener 

14.20-14.30: COFFEE BREAK

14.30-15.00: Keynote 3: Tying threads together on Nutrition, Interoception, and Pregnancy/Early Life by Mary E. Barker

15.00-15.15: Discussion and questions on keynote 3: moderated by Luseadra McKerracher 

15.15-15.30: Open discussion on all themes: moderated by all co-organizers 

15.25-15.30: Closing remarks and invitation to drinks and snacks

Registration

Deadline: 10 June at 3:00pm.

Support

The conference is funded by:

Aarhus Institute of Advanced Studies (AIAS), Aarhus University