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Our research project, which aimed to gain a deeper understanding of the embodied experiential motivations underlying vaccine hesitancy, has now concluded after four years of implementation.
The project combined phenomenological philosophy with qualitative empirical research. It involved in-depth qualitative interviews, focusing on how bodily experience shapes people’s attitudes toward vaccination and other preventive health measures.
Projekta rezultāti apkopoti zinātniskos rakstos (publicēti vai iesniegti 10 raksti), prezentēti gandrīz 30 akadēmiskos pasākumos Latvijā un ārvalstīs, kā arī apkopoti rekomendāciju ziņojumā, kas paredzēts veselības komunikācijas uzlabošanai ar sabiedrību. Vairāk informācijas mājaslapas sadaļās “Notikumi” un “Rezultāti”.
The project team extends its sincere gratitude to the research participants who generously shared their time and experiences. Their openness and trust were essential to the successful completion of this research.

During the Fall Semester of 2025 Vēgners and Grīnfelde implemented the course 'Phenomenological Approach in the Research of Humanities and Social Sciences' for the University of Latvia Master’s degree Philosophy students for the second time, the aim of which was to introduce students with the concepts of the phenomenological philosophy and methods based on the phenomenological philosophy with a purpose of carrying out interdisciplinary research. During the course students were presented with the results of the project. Thanks to the students for their interest and ideas!

From 10 to 16 November 2025, the 15th Annual Congress of the Spanish Society for Phenomenology, titled “Normality, Normativity and Lifeworld,” was held in Palma, Spain and organized by the University of the Balearic Islands. At the conference, project participant Andrejs Balodis presented a paper titled “Lived Normality and COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy.”

We are pleased to announce that Ieva Siliņa’s interview with members of our team, Uldis Vēgners and Andrejs Balodis, titled “Why Did Vaccination Divide Society? A Conversation with Researchers from the University of Latvia,” has been published on the LSM portal on 22 October 2025.

The article “An Embodied Perspective on Adherence to Preventive Health Measures: Examples from the COVID-19 Pandemic” by project participants Māra Grīnfelde, Uldis Vēgners, and Andrejs Balodis has been published as open access in the scientific journal Philosophy, Ethics, and Humanities in Medicine.

From September 3–5, 2025, the 10th Annual Conference of the Central and East European Society for Phenomenology (CEESP), “Phenomenology and Technology,” took place in Riga, Latvia. The organization of the conference also involved members of our project team, Māra Grīnfelde and Uldis Vēgners. As part of the conference program, project member Uldis Vēgners delivered a paper entitled “How Does the World of Science Transition into the Life-World?”

The article “Big Events, Will and the Quest for Human Autonomy in the Postpandemic World” by project participant Maija Kūle has been published as open access in the scientific journal Ideology and Politics Journal.

The article “Conditions for Normativity of Perception in Husserl’s Conception of Passive Synthesis” by project participant Toms Stepiņš has been published as open access in the scientific journal Proceedings of the Latvian Academy of Sciences. Section A: Humanities and Social Sciences.

Our project team member Māra Grīnfelde has embarked on a new research project. Congratulations! The aim of the project 'Ethical and embodied perspective on the digital health related baby-tracking and monitoring technologies' (No 1.1.1.9/LZP/1/24/133) is to generate new experience-based and ethically sound knowledge about the parents (or other caregivers) at-home use of digital health-related baby-tracking and monitoring technologies, thereby advancing digital health policy, technology design in Latvia, and public health in general.

From 27 April to 1 May 2025, the 21st Annual Conference of the Nordic Society for Phenomenology, titled “Phenomenology and Interdisciplinarity: Theoretical and Empirical Applications,” was held in Odense, Denmark and was organized by the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. At the conference, project participant Māra Grīnfelde presented a paper titled “Phenomenology’s Contribution to Public Health: An Embodied Perspective on Adherence to Preventive Health Measures.”

From 26 to 28 March 2025, within the framework of RSU Research Week, the PLACES conference section titled “Autonomy, Bodily Agency and the Collective Good: Perspectives from Medical Humanities” took place. The section was organized by project participant Māra Grīnfelde, and Uldis Vēgners, Māra Grīnfelde un Andrejs Balodis delivered presentations informing the audience about the project’s results.

On 9 January 2025, an episode of the radio programme “Zināmais nezināmajā” titled “Indecision and Vaccination: What Do Philosophers, Health Researchers, and Psychologists Say About It?” was broadcast on Radio LR1, featuring project participants Uldis Vēgners and Andrejs Balodis.

2024. gada 28. novembrī Paula Stradiņa medicīnas vēstures muzejā notika pasākums “Biomehānika, dizains, iekļāvība. Saruna muzejā”, kurā piedalījās arī mūsu projekta dalībniece Māra Grīnfelde, piedāvājot teorētisku skatījumu uz cilvēka ķermeniskās identitātes veidošanos, skaidrojot, kā tehnoloģiskie palīglīdzekļi kļūst par ķermeņa un identitātes integrētu sastāvdaļu un kāpēc mēs tos varam uztvert kā sava ķermeņa daļu. Info: https://www.mvm.lv/lv/programma/pasakumi/biomehanika-dizains-ieklaviba/155

On 7 November 2024, an episode of the radio programme “Zinātnes vārdā” titled “Vaccine Hesitancy: A Conversation with U. Vēgners and A. Balodis” was broadcast on LR6, featuring Uldis Vēgners and Andrejs Balodis.

On 28 October 2024, a meeting of the RSU Microbiology and Immunology Student Scientific Society titled “Psychosocioeconomic Horror Stories in Microbiology and Immunology” was held, at which Uldis Vēgners participated as a guest mentor and presented the project’s results.

On October 15, 2024, an episode of the radio show "Brīvības bulvāris" titled "Inflation of Truth, the Idea of the State, and Values. A Conversation with Philosopher Maija Kūle" was aired on Radio LR1, featuring project participant Maija Kūle.

On October 7, 2024, project member Uldis Vēgners participated in an episode of the LTV show "Aizliegtais paņēmiens" titled "The Last Journey. Part 2", which focused on the topics of euthanasia, assisted suicide, and palliative care.

The article "Life-World, World of Science, and Vaccine Hesitancy: A Phenomenological Approach" by project members Uldis Vēgners, Māra Grīnfelde, and Andrejs Baložs has been open access published in the scientific journal Human Studies.

On September 27, 2024, an episode of the show Fono-grāfs titled The Arrow of Time aired on Radio Naba. In the episode, project member Uldis Vēgners shared his expertise on questions related to the philosophy of the experience of time.

On September 26, 2024, the launch event for the issue of the magazine "Tvērums", dedicated to the topic of everyday life, took place. The issue also features an article by project member Uldis Vēgners titled "Beyond the Everydayness."