Info about event

Time

Monday 22 June 2026, at 09:00 - Friday 26 June 2026, at 16:15

Location

Enheden for Epidemiologisk Kostforskning, Parker Instituttet, Frederiksberg Hospital, Nordre Fasanvej 57, Vej 8, Indgang 19, 2000 Frederiksberg

Organizer

Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen

Price

Free of charge DKK

No later than Monday 1 June 2026, at 23:59

By Berit L. Heitmann

Enrollment guidelines

This course is free of charge for PhD students at Danish universities (except Copenhagen Business School), and for PhD Students from NorDoc member faculties. All other participants must pay the course fee.

Anyone can apply for the course, but if you are not a PhD student at a Danish university, you will be placed on the waiting list until enrollment deadline. This also applies to PhD students from NorDoc member faculties. After the enrollment deadline, available seats will be allocated to applicants on the waiting list.

Learning objectives

A student who has met the objectives of the course will be able to:

1. understand and discuss whether obesity is a disease
2. understand the epidemiology of obesity from birth to old age
3. understand the importance of appetite regulation and energy expenditure
4. understand and discuss the complexity related to the causes of obesity, including interactions with genes and the environment
5. understand the health consequences of obesity
6. understand if and how obesity may be managed at the individual and societal levels.

Content

Obesity is not the simple consequence of too much food and too little exercise. Rather we know today that a multitude of factors play a role and that the development of obesity is the consequence of a complex interplay between factors related to behavior, society, genes, and the environment. The course will provide a comprehensive overview of the latest development in our understanding of the putative causes and consequences of human obesity and offer knowledge on potential avenues for prevention, diagnosis, and management of obesity from infancy through old age. The course program will thus permit attendees to improve their knowledge in this field with updated overviews.

Participants

PhD students with basic knowledge in epidemiology, medicine and/or nutrition.

Relevance to graduate programmes

The course is relevant to PhD students from the following graduate programmes at the Graduate School of Health and Medical Sciences, UCPH: All graduate programmes.

Language

English

Form

Lectures

Course director

Berit L. Heitmann, berit.lilienthal.heitmann@regionh.dk

Teachers

TBA

Allocation of seats

Seats to PhD students from other Danish universities will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis and according to the applicable rules.
Applications from other participants will be considered after the last day of enrolment.

Note: All applicants are asked to submit invoice details in case of no-show, late cancellation or obligation to pay the course fee (typically non-PhD students). If you are a PhD student, your participation in the course must be in agreement with your principal supervisor.

Obesity: Causes and Consequences - Interplay Between Behaviour, Society, and Genes