Events

KLI Colloquia are invited research talks of about an hour followed by 30 min discussion. The talks are held in English, open to the public, and offered in hybrid format. 

 

Fall-Winter 2025-2026 KLI Colloquium Series

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/5881861923?omn=85945744831
Meeting ID: 588 186 1923

 

25 Sept 2025 (Thurs) 3-4:30 PM CET

A Dynamic Canvas Model of Butterfly and Moth Color Patterns

Richard Gawne (Nevada State Museum)

 

14 Oct 2025 (Tues) 3-4:30 PM CET

Vienna, the Laboratory of Modernity

Richard Cockett (The Economist)

 

23 Oct 2025 (Thurs) 3-4:30 PM CET

How Darwinian is Darwinian Enough? The Case of Evolution and the Origins of Life

Ludo Schoenmakers (KLI)

 

6 Nov (Thurs) 3-4:30 PM CET

Common Knowledge Considered as Cause and Effect of Behavioral Modernity

Ronald Planer (University of Wollongong)

 

20 Nov (Thurs) 3-4:30 PM CET

Rates of Evolution, Time Scaling, and the Decoupling of Micro- and Macroevolution

Thomas Hansen (University of Oslo)

 

4 Dec (Thurs) 3-4:30 PM CET

Chance, Necessity, and the Evolution of Evolvability

Cristina Villegas (KLI)

 

8 Jan 2026 (Thurs) 3-4:30 PM CET

Embodied Rationality: Normative and Evolutionary Foundations

Enrico Petracca (KLI)

 

15 Jan 2026 (Thurs) 3-4:30 PM CET

On Experimental Models of Developmental Plasticity and Evolutionary Novelty

Patricia Beldade (Lisbon University)

 

29 Jan 2026 (Thurs) 3-4:30 PM CET

O Theory Where Art Thou? The Changing Role of Theory in Theoretical Biology in the 20th Century and Beyond

Jan Baedke (Ruhr University Bochum)

Event Details

Laura Menatti
KLI Colloquia
Salutogenesis: A New Approach to Understand Health-Environment Interactions?
Laura MENATTI (KLI, Klosterneuburg)
2024-04-04 15:00 - 2024-04-04 17:00
KLI
Organized by KLI
You are invited to a Zoom meeting. 
When: Apr 4, 2024 03:00 PM Vienna 
Register in advance for this meeting:
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
 
Topic description / abstract:
Medical research and medical theory increasingly emphasize the need to include, explain, and address the role of the environment in health. This includes clarifying the positive and negative health outcomes of environmental factors for individuals, especially concerning exposure and vulnerability to climate change. My research path at KLI has primarily explored this issue from a philosophical and  a conceptual perspective, aiming to understand the intertwined nature of health and the environment. Although my research is predominantly theoretical and philosophical, it continually engages with interdisciplinary analysis and practical applications.

Specifically, I have focused on understanding the health-environment connection through the lens of the salutogenic approach, originally introduced by Aaron Antonovsky (1979; 1987; 1996). My analysis adapts and applies this approach to comprehend the interplay between health and the environment, introducing the concept of salutogenic environments. The objectives of my analysis are twofold: 1) emphasizing the positive and preventive aspects of the environment concerning health, and 2) providing clarity on the contrast between pathogenic and salutogenic elements in the environment.

In this talk, I will provide a brief historical and theoretical introduction to the concepts of salutogenesis. Subsequently, I will delve into the role of salutogenic environments, addressing the related epistemological, normative, and professional implications. Emphasis will be placed on the significance of salutogenic environments, highlighting their innovative potential in addressing the contemporary health and environmental crisis.
 
Biographical note:
Laura Menatti is specialised in environmental philosophy, landscape theory, and philosophy of medicine. Her research aims at developing a theoretical and practical framework for the investigation of the notion of environment and its effects on health. During her research career, she has pursued an interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary trajectory. Her research activities are at the crossroads of philosophy, environmental and cognitive science, they are based on a quantitative and qualitative research methodology and on-field activities. She has been teaching and doing research in different faculties and departments (medicine, architecture, philosophy, science) in Spain, Chile, Italy and France.
 
Recently she has been a visiting fellow (Spring Term 2022) at the Center for Philosophy of Science of the University of Pittsburgh. During 2021, she has worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the  IAS-Research Centre for Life, Mind & Society of the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), in San Sebastian (Spain).
 
She has been collaborating as lecturer with the Bordeaux School of Architecture and Landscape (ENSAPBx Bordeaux - France), the University of the Basque Country (UPV-EHU) and the Public University of Navarra (UPNA), the University of Chile (Santiago), and the University of Desarrollo (UDD, Chile). She is also book reviews editor of the journal Landscape Research.
She has two PhDs in philosophy, one in aesthetics from the University of Pavia (Italy) and a second one in philosophy of globalisation from the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU). In 2015, her second PhD thesis received The Landscape Research Group Dissertation Prize for the best PhD essay on landscape (section art and design) by the Landscape Research Group (research group associated with the journal Landscape Research, Q1 Scopus).