Click here to read the call for proposals

Conference Theme

The Human Foundation: The Future of Work and Dignity

The Work, Stress, and Health Conference series addresses the ever-changing nature of work and the implications of these changes for the health, safety, and well-being of workers, and organizational effectiveness. The conference covers numerous topics of interest to workers, labor unions and other worker representatives, management, employers, practitioners, and researchers.

Work is one of the most fundamental human activities: a source of meaning, identity, livelihood, and community. Yet in an era of rapid technological change, economic uncertainty and relentless efficiency pressures, the worker as a full human being risks becoming an afterthought. WSH 2027 calls us back to our foundational purpose: to ensure that work serves people, not the other way around.

Boston is no accident. This city was the cradle of a revolution, and it reminds us that human dignity is not an abstract ideal; it is something societies choose to protect. In 2027, we gather here to assert that same principle for the world of work. If AI, automation, and new forms of work organization reshape jobs, the question is not whether work will change, but whether those changes will be guided by evidence, worker voice and a commitment to health, dignity, and well-being. WSH 2027 invites occupational health scientists, practitioners, and policymakers to color outside the disciplinary lines and reclaim the human foundation: the irreducible value of workers as people, not just producers.

This year’s conference sessions will be organized into four thematic pillars that speak to our overarching theme.

Pillar 1 — The Basics, Revisited
Core OHP science: job demands-resources, stress and health, safety, burnout, recovery. This track highlights research that takes us back to the fundamentals of worker health and dignity, featuring rigorous and foundational work. The guiding questions: what do we know for certain, and what has the field overlooked?

Pillar 2 — The Human and the Machine
Technology, AI, surveillance, algorithmic management, platform work. This track positions OHP as the field that holds a human-centered frame regardless of what the technology moment demands. Not a technology track; a human track that uses technology as a lens to consider worker health and dignity. The guiding questions: when efficiency gains are claimed, what are the benefits and to whom do they accrue? At what cost to workers?

Pillar 3 — Coloring Outside the Lines
Explicitly boundary-crossing submissions. This track features work that is innovative and interdisciplinary. Submissions might focus on interdisciplinary work, innovative approaches, and/or historically underserved working populations (e.g., manufacturing, agricultural, domestic, migrant, informal workers).
The guiding questions: how can we build richer connections with other disciplines to serve diverse workers? What are innovative ways to understand and address worker health and dignity challenges?

Pillar 4 — From Evidence to Change
Intervention science, policy translation, practitioner application, organizational implementation. This track features applied work designed to improve worker health, wellbeing, and dignity. The guiding questions: what are we doing to improve worker health, how well is it working, and what can we do better?

Please read the submission instructions carefully. Incomplete or incorrect submissions will not be considered.

Submit all proposals online through Oxford Abstracts linked here by November 1, 2026.

Read the full call for proposals here

Registration Fees

	Early by March 30, 2027	Regular after March 30, 2027
SOHP members	$450	$550
Student members	$175	$250
Nonmembers	$600	$700

Want to become a member? Student members can join for $25! Professionals can join for $55!

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WSH 2026 Planning committee

Conference Co-Chairs: Dr. Ashley Nixon and Dr. M. Gloria Gonzalez-Morales. Email: wsh@sohp-online.org

Program Chair: Dr. Kimberly French. Email: programwsh@sohp-online.org

Logistics Chair: Dr. Andrea Bazzoli

Activities & Workshops: Dr. Archana Tedone and Dr. Julie Lanz

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