On March 23rd, two of FASS’ Research Clusters, Migration and Science, Technology and Society, held the first workshop of its kind on ‘Patients on the Move: Medical Tourism in Asia and the UK’. The half-day conference took an interdisciplinary approach to the phenomenon of medical tourism which is a concept that receives much attention in the media but scant debate within academic circles.

The papers presented offered multiple perspectives both in terms of geogrpahy and theoretical approach with topics ranging from State involvement in medical tourism to the privatisation of medicine in Asia and from the rise of the ‘clinician-researcher’ to the prevalence of plastic surgery in South Korea. The workshop provided a unique platform for discussion and opportunities for future research collaborations will proceed in line with this burgeoning industry and its associated complexities.