Panels
Take a look at the exciting panel program for the International Sauna Congress 2026. Get ready for the discussions that the global sauna community needs to have!
Global Sauna Culture Panels
Panel discussions are held on the theme stage.
Friday 25th September
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Friday, 09.30
Sauna is a Finnish word the world has enthusiastically adopted — and increasingly misapplied. For some, it simply means a hot room. For others, it refers specifically to Northern European sweat bathing. And for many Finns, it carries deep historical, cultural and spiritual meaning.
The International Sauna Association defined "sauna" in 1999 as a wooden room with stepped benches, temperatures of 80–105°C, and low humidity briefly raised by infusions. At the same time, "sauna" is being applied to Mexican temazcals, Japanese karafuro, Middle Eastern hammams, infrared cabins, and hot rooms with no stones and no water.
When does it make sense to say "sweat bathing" instead of "sauna"? Why do people use the term “Finnish sauna”, when “sauna” is already a Finnish term? Can the word carry different meanings in Finnish versus English, German or Japanese — and can Finns live with that? And at what point does the International Sauna Association need to change its name or change its direction?
Minea Herwitz — Executive Director, Finlandia Foundation National (moderator)
Markus Räty — Norden Sauna, Toronto
Māra Zute — Pirts practitioner and educator, Latvia
Mikkel Aaland — Photographer and author; co-founder of Sauna Aid
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Friday, 11.30
Can non-profit saunas save the world? At least they’re trying, one sweat drop at the time. Because if sauna is as good for both the individual and society as some claim, shouldn’t the goal of sauna operators be to maximise accessibility rather than profit?
In Norway, operators like Oslo Sauna Association, Bergen Laugarlag and others are taking the lead in creating models where inclusivity and accessibility are at the forefront. In the UK, Community Sauna Baths is spreading their model of accessible sauna from East London throughout the country, using sauna as a tool against social and financial isolation.
What do they contribute to the sauna community, and to society at large, and what are the limitations to their models? Can’t just socially minded commercial businesses contribute in the same way, and what can they learn from the non-profits? And are all contexts fertile grounds for non-profit saunas, or are they harder to set up and run in some countries than in others?
Glenn Auerbach — SaunaTimes (moderator)
Ragna Marie Fjeld — Secretary General, Oslo Badstuforening
Erlend Klette — Co-founder and managing director, Lokalkontoret
Charlie Duckworth — Managing Director, Community Sauna Baths, London
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Friday, 14.00
With the rise of the global sauna boom, the demand for sauna treatments, rituals and experiences is growing exponentially. For many, just “taking sauna” doesn’t seem to be enough, which lays a lot of responsibility on the sauna master or sauna guide.
How can we create sauna rituals and experiences where both group dynamics, the tranquility of “just going to sauna” and the need for guidance and demand for personal wellbeing are incorporated? What should the role of a modern sauna master be? And how can we make sure that they have the knowledge of both sauna culture and traditions, nature’s treasures, the physics of heat and steam, and the workings of the human mind and body to give sauna goers the best possible experience? If sauna is a place where everyone is equal, can’t we all just be each other’s sauna guide?
Katie Bracher — Wild Spa Wowo, UK (moderator)
Birutė Masiliauskienė — founder and president of the Association of Professional Bathmasters Laumiupirtis, Lithuania
Nina Magatova — Sauna bathing and psychology researcher, Slovakia
Martijn Vanhoorelbeke — Founder and CEO, Aromen
Saturday 26th September
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Saturday, 12.00
As sauna becomes increasingly popular, sauna goers are becoming more diverse. And as an enclosed space where heat and steam is challenging our mental and physical capacity, and where strangers meet with little or no clothes on, sauna can feel intimidating and socially challenging for many.
How can we create inclusive saunas where everyone feels welcome? Is inclusivity about creating individual safe spaces for narrowly defined groups, or about spreading the attitude and ethic that all humans are equal and should thus be respected as such in a space shared by everyone? How are debates and changing attitudes about gender and sexuality influencing the sauna community – in countries with strong sauna traditions and in places where sauna is experienced as something new?
Michael Calcagno — Founder, SaunaGlo, Portland, Oregon, USA (moderator)
Anna Talasniemi — Doctoral researcher, University of Jyväskylä
Polly Wilson — Social Prescribing Manager, Community Sauna Baths, London
Sif Lauritsen — Anthropologist and volunteer coordinator, Oslo Badstuforening
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Saturday, 16.00
The world is going through a sauna boom of historic proportions. From urban community sauna villages and bathhouses to nature-based architectural gems in the countryside, people can't seem to get enough. Inspiration flows from countries with deep sauna traditions, and new concepts are emerging everywhere. Investment is booming, and so is the money being made.
But what does it take to sustain a boom? How do we ensure that sauna isn't just a short-lived fad, but stays hot forever? What are the real threats to the sauna movement's sustainability, and what can history teach us about our future?
Mikkel Aaland — Photographer and author; co-founder of Sauna Aid (moderator)
Becky Pelkonen — Doctoral researcher, University of Eastern Finland; Kamu Sauna, Canada
Robert Hammond — President and Chief Strategy Officer, Therme Group US
Knut Lerhol — Founder, Eldmølla Sauna; co-author of Badstufolk, board member Norwegian Sauna Society
Architecture, Technology and Sustainability Panels
Panel discussions are held on the theme stage.
Friday 25th September
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Friday, 1030
Floating saunas and swimmers in the inner harbour: this has become the public image of Oslo. It wasn't always so. For a long time the waterfront was inaccessible and the water was dirty. What made the turnaround happen?
The global Swimmable Cities initiative believes that swimming in urban waterways should be a right, and has set out to help cities take the plunge. In the sauna movement they find not only a common cause, but a possible key to bringing cities back to their rivers, harbours, lakes and seas.
How can saunas become the excuse a city needs to make its waters safer, cleaner and more accessible? Hear from the sauna people taking part in that transformation, from Oslo and Helsinki to Melbourne and beyond – with an introduction by Swimmable Cities Co-Founder and Programme Director Matthew Sykes.
Mia Bergmann — Director, Flyte, Norway (moderator)
James Mugavin — Architect and filmmaker, Melbourne
Raoul Grünstein — Founder and CEO, Nordic Urban, Helsinki
Ragna Marie Fjeld — Secretary General, Oslo Badstuforening
Sverre Jervell —Author and former chair of the board, Oslo Badstuforening
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Friday, 12.30
With saunas popping up everywhere, so has their footprint. Durability and sustainability must be fundamental principles serving the long-term interest of both for the operator and the environment. Salt spray, constant public use and hard northern freeze-thaw punish materials, and a sauna that rots in a few years is neither green nor economical. The right wood, detailing and upkeep can mean the difference between decades of service and a costly liability.
Which materials and designs truly stand up to the harshest conditions? How much maintenance is realistic, and who pays? Can durability and beauty coexist?
Max Newport — Finnmark Sauna, UK (moderator)
Svein Erdogan — Architect, Lokalkontoret, Norway
Heikki Tang — Head of Sales, Thermory, Estonia
Andreas Joki Arild — Co-founder, Pust, Norway
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Friday, 16.00
The sauna has come a long way from the smoke-filled log hut — today it might be a sculptural landmark on a fjord or a glass-walled rooftop retreat. As sauna becomes a calling card for tourism and city life, designers face an extraordinary brief. But a sauna that photographs beautifully can still bathe badly, fighting the physics of heat or the human need for calm.
Where is sauna design heading? How do architects balance bold form with good löyly and comfort? And as signature saunas become tourist magnets, what might we lose along the way? Meet the architects shaping the sauna of tomorrow.
Hillevi Olsson — Architect, Svenska Bastuakademien (moderator)
Sami Rintala — Architect, Rintala Eggertsson Architects, Norway
Anssi Lassila — Founder and director OOPEAA, Professor at Oulu School of Architecture, Finland
Bjørnar Skaar Haveland — Architect and founder of Bergen Laugarlag, Norway
Saturday 26th September
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Saturday, 12.30
Every experienced bather has opinions about stones, and rarely do they agree. Peridotite, olivine diabase, vulcanite, gabbro — each has its advocates, and each behaves differently under thermal cycling, in heat retention, in how it fractures and dusts over time, and in the quality of steam it produces. Add the variables of heater type, stacking density and airflow, and the "best" stone becomes a genuinely contested question rather than a settled one.
This panel gets into the specifics: how mineral composition and density affect heat storage and steam, why some stones degrade fast while others last for years, how sourcing and sustainability now factor into the choice, and whether the field's received wisdom actually holds up.
Callum Scott — Founder, Haar Sauna, Shetland; Interim Director, British Sauna Society (moderator)
Lassi A Liikkanen — Saunologist and author, Saunologia, Finland
Lasse Eriksen — Chairman, Norwegian Sauna Society; Development Manager, Farris Bad, President Aufguss-WM
Gard Lilledal Andersen — “Stonefluencer” and Volcanologist, Doctoral Research Fellow, University of Oslo
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Saturday, 15.00
For many, the crackle of a wood stove is the very soul of sauna. But as saunas multiply in cities and along regulated waterfronts, wood smoke is under scrutiny — particle emissions, tighter rules, wary neighbours. A new generation of heaters promises cleaner, more efficient burns without losing the magic of the fire.
Can the wood-fired sauna survive stricter air quality rules? What technological leaps have been made to improve energy efficiency and minimize emissions? How clean is clean enough before regulation forces a switch to electric?
Jake Newport — CEO and co-founder, Finnmark Sauna, UK (moderator)
Timo Harvia — Chief Technology Officer, Harvia, Finland
Mihkel Ilp — CEO, Huum, Estonia
Jesse Hämäläinen — Sales Director, Narvi, Finland
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Saturday, 16.00
The sauna has long been a refuge — warm, dim, screen-free. But app-controlled heaters, smart sensors, lighting and sound now promise more control and more spectacle. For some that means a perfectly preheated, effortless sauna; for others, every screen and sensor intrudes on a space that should be analogue and human.
Does technology deepen the experience or distract from it? Which innovations are worth having, and which are gimmicks? Can a high-tech sauna still feel sacred?
Valtteri Rantala — The Finnish Sauna, Vancouver, Canada (moderator)
Perttu Rönkkö — Head of Digital and Devices, Harvia, Finland
Marcus Holth Rønneseth — Co-founder, Smeigedag Sauna; Smart Sauna, Norway
Jake Newport — CEO and co-founder, Finnmark Sauna, UK
Sauna & Health Panels
Panel discussions are held on the theme stage.
Friday 25th September
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Friday, 12.00
Sauna research is booming, but much of it is tightly controlled lab studies — a long way from the messy, social reality of a real sauna session. This is the classic trade-off between scientific rigour and ecological validity, and both matter.
How well does sauna science reflect how people actually sweat? What is lost when a sauna is recreated in a lab, and what is gained? Where should researchers prioritise rigour, and where real-world validity? Meet the scientists wrestling with the gap between the sauna lab and the sauna life.
Emma O'Kelly — Author and journalist, UK (moderator)
Eva Hilland — Associate Professor, Oslo Metropolitan University
Stephen Jaye — Founder, Hormesis AI
Earric Lee — Postdoctoral researcher, Montreal Heart Institute
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Cold plunges are everywhere, often sold as the essential other half of the sauna ritual. But how much is backed by science and how much is spectacle? Researchers are still untangling whether the benefit comes from the heat, the cold, the contrast between them, or simply the experience itself.
This panel digs into what the research actually shows about heat alone versus hot and cold together, where the science is solid and where we are filling gaps with wishful thinking, and who should be cautious about cold exposure. Meet the researchers cutting through the noise.
Earric Lee — Postdoctoral researcher, Montreal Heart Institute (moderator)
Veerle de Haan — PhD student, Maastricht University
Eva Hilland — Associate Professor of Psychology, Oslo Metropolitan University
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Saturday, 16.00
Sauna research has never been more vibrant — or more in need of direction. As interest from scientists, clinicians and funders grows, so does the need to ask the bigger questions: what should we study, where is the greatest potential, and how do we fund and coordinate the work?
In cooperation with Sauna Research Institute, this panel looks at how to build a coherent, well-supported field through research networks, shared methods and real collaboration. What are the most important unanswered questions? Where should the field focus over the next decade?
Will Stone — Health & Science Correspondent, National Public Radio, USA (moderator)
Ashley Mason — Associate Professor of Psychiatry, UCSF
Hans Hägglund — Adjunct Professor, Uppsala University, board member Svenska Bastuakademin
Jon Sabes — Founding board member, Sauna Research Foundation
Earric Lee — Postdoctoral researcher, Montreal Heart Institute
Saturday 26th September
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Saturday, 10.30
Anxiety, depression, stress and loneliness are rising, and the systems meant to help are stretched thin. No hot room can fix all that — but many believe the sauna has an underappreciated part to play, both physiologically and as one of the few spaces where strangers slow down, put their phones away and share quiet human presence.
How might sauna support mental health — through the body, through community, or both? What does the research suggest, and where does it run out?
Haakon Thuestad — Chair of the board, Bergen Laugarlag, Norway (moderator)
Rune Jonassen — Professor, Oslo Metropolitan University
Nina Magatova — Sauna bathing and psychology researcher, Slovakia
Emilia Vuorisalmi — Medical doctor and author, Finland
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Saturday, 12.30
As health systems strain under chronic disease, stress and loneliness, interest is growing in social prescribing — and research linking regular sauna use to heart health, stress relief and longevity makes sauna a serious candidate. In Norway, the UK and beyond, pioneers are already testing sauna on prescription.
Could sauna realistically become part of public health policy? What evidence would convince health authorities, and who would pay? And how do we make sure the benefits reach those who need them most? Meet the people working to write sauna into the prescription pad.
Becky Pelkonen — Doctoral researcher, University of Eastern Finland (moderator)
Rachael McGrath — Research Affiliate, London Interdisciplinary School
Hans Hägglund — Adjunct Professor, Uppsala University, board member Svenska Bastuakademin
Rune Jonassen — Professor, Oslo Metropolitan University