On April 8, 2024, Honja Hama and Lisa Lehner gave a talk at one of Vienna’s Centers for Adult Education (Volkshochschule) on the social aspects of pharmaceuticals.
In a 90-minute interactive talk, the “Less is More?”-team members presented some initial findings from the project, but focused on discussing with a lively audience at the Volkshochschule (VHS) Urania the role and meaning of benzodiazepines, antibiotics, antimicrobial resistance (AMR), and mental healthcare.
Participants shared their own understandings of what benzodiazepines could do for different members of society, highlighting the gendered aspects of mental health and the burden often placed on women* and other marginalized groups to “just work” – sometimes with the help of psycho-pharmaceuticals. Almost all participants had stories and experiences to share that spoke to the societal connections the “Less is More?”-project is trying to unearth. On the topic of antibiotics, participants shared their own uses, fears, and how AMR touched their lives.
Our team’s experiences with the VHS audience makes clear how important it is to disseminate and discuss research results broadly and with different publics. This is particularly true for publicly funded research and particularly valuable within the long-standing tradition of lifelong education cultivated by Vienna’s Volkshochschulen.
The event was co-organized by the Wiener Wissenschafts- und Technologiefonds (WWTF).