The International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies is greatly saddened to hear of the loss of our dear friend and former Board Member, Elizabeth Eckermann. She passed away after a long fight with brain cancer on Sunday, May 12th, 2019

Click to read service information.

Click to read "Life Reflections", an interview with Liz in her last days.

Liz had a long and active involvement with ISQOLS, spanning at least two decades. She was on the Board of Directors of the organization and served as Vice-President: Development. In 2019, Liz was also voted in as ISQOLS’s next President-Elect but she chose to step down after her term started due to deteriorating health. In 2003, Liz received a Research Fellow Award of the Society. She frequently presented at ISQOLS’ regular conferences. Her most recent was as invited speaker of the Richard J. Estes lecture on “Comparative understandings of quality of life and well-being” at the 2016 ISQOLS Conference in Seoul.

Much of Liz’s research over the past decade was conducted in Lao PDR, where her work has contributed to significant policy and health provision changes in the poorer provinces of Attepu, Sekong and Salavan in the south. One of her research projects there was funded by the Italian government to build and evaluate 17 maternity waiting homes in the southern provinces of Lao PDR. She also received an AusAID grant to “develop new and effective ways to evaluate intervention in maternal health services in illiterate and innumerate communities” of the same region. Liz’s research, using the Diamond Dialogue Tool to measure wellbeing amongst ethnic minority communities in these provinces, won her the Zonta International Outstanding Achievement Award for commitment to the advancement of women’s health in Lao PDR.

Liz’s research most recently also extended into Sabah, Malaysia where, in collaboration with researchers from the Universiti Sabah Malaysia, an examination of the impact on quality of life of an alcohol-related harm intervention program in Kadazan /Dusun kampongs was conducted.

Some of Liz Eckermann’s relevant publications are listed in the following:

Eckermann, Liz. (2018). Resilience as a double-edged health promotion goal: examples from Lao PDR. Health Promotion International, 33(1), 123-131.

Eckermann, Liz. (2017). Global health promotion in the era of ‘galloping populism. Health Promotion International, 32(3), 415-418.

Eckermann, Liz. (2017). The History of Well-being and the Social Progress of Women Throughout the World. In Richard J. Estes & M. Joseph Sirgy (Ed.), The Pursuit of Human Well-Being: The Untold Global History (pp. 609–638). Switzerland: Springer.

Eckermann, Liz. (2016). Health Promotion principles as a catalyst for translating the SDGs into more transformative action. Health Promotion International, 31(2), 253-257.

Eckermann, Liz. (2015). Living Alone and Living Together: Their Significance for Well-being. In W. Glatzer (Ed.), Global Handbook of Quality of Life (pp. 435–444). Dordrecht: Springer.

Eckermann, Elizabeth. (2015). Elizabeth (Liz) Eckermann: A Pioneer in Gendered Understandings of Quality of Life. Applied Research Quality Life, 10, 553-555.

Eckermann, Liz. (2014) (ed.). Gender Lifespan and Quality of Life: An International Perspective. Dordrecht: Springer.

Sanaphay, Anousavanh, Daenseekaew, Somjit, Smith, John F., Eckermann, Elizabeth, & Scopaz, Anna (2014). Home delivery in Southern Lao PDR: challenges to achieving MDG 4 & 5 targets.  Philippine journal of nursing, 84(1), 24-31.

Eckermann, Liz. (2013). From health impact assessment to quality of life impact assessment. Health Promotion International, 28(4), 487-489.

Eckermann, Liz. (2012). The Quality of Life of Adults. In Kenneth C. Land, Alex C. Michalos, and M. Joseph Sirgy (Ed.), Handbook of Social Indicators and Quality of Life Research (pp. 373–380). Berlin: Springer.

Eckermann, Liz. (2012). Quality of Life for Pregnant and Recent Parity Women in Lao PDR. In Eckermann, Liz (Ed.), Gender Lifespan and Quality of Life: An International Perspective (pp. 115–134). Dordrecht: Springer.

Anna Scopaz, Elizabeth Eckermann, & Matthew Clarke. (2012). Diamond Dialogue Method for the Evaluation of Personal Wellbeing after a Maternal Health Intervention in Lao PDR. International Journal of Happiness and Development, 1(1), 49-62.

Scopaz, Anna, Liz Eckermann, and Matthew Clarke. (2011). Maternal health in Lao PDR: repositioning the goal posts. Journal of the Asia Pacific Economy, 16(4), 597-611.

A Special Appeal:

To honor Professor Elizabeth Eckermann’s significant research contributions and that the spirit of her research interest can continue, we are now making an appeal to ISQOLS’s members to consider donating to the “ELIZABETH ECKERMANN ENDOWED TRACK ON GENDER AND QUALITY OF LIFE”.

Named for an ISQOLS leader and pioneer in the advancement of gender sensitive quality of life research, contributions made to the “Elizabeth Eckermann Endowed Track” will permanently endow a track on the “Gender and Quality of Life” to be held as part of each ISQOLS international conference program. This track will include as least two sessions comprising three or more participants, whose research activities overlap with the purpose of this endowment. Only the income earned from this Fund will be used to support the endowed track.

The amount we currently seek to raise for the required track is USD $2,525 (needing just 25 people to donate $100). 

To donate, please visit: https://isqols.org/ElizabethEckermann/