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Medical Arts and Humanities

Over 160 researchers from across the university addressing questions relating to medicine, health, and wellbeing.

About Us

The Medical Humanities Network is an interdisciplinary group of over 160 researchers from across Newcastle University. Our members work in the disciplines of literature, history, fine art, architecture, creative writing, business studies, archaeology, linguistics, museum studies, sociology, medical ethics, culture and media studies, and beyond.

We work on a diverse range of questions relating to medicine, health, and wellbeing. Our methodological approaches to these questions are historical, critical, and creative.

The Network facilitates cross-disciplinary collaborations, connecting researchers across the university. We share research in progress, host workshops to explore ideas and methodologies, organize training events for early-stage researchers, and develop relationships with local partners.

The Network profiles the range and vibrancy of medical humanities research at Newcastle. We bring people together with the aim of making a difference in relation to the key medical and healthcare challenges of today.

News and Events 

This year we are running a series of work-in-progress sessions which invite researchers to share their ideas at an early stage. We offer feedback in a supportive environment and enable connections with researchers from other disciplines. Some of the topics we will be exploring include: the role of metaphor in public health data, the artist’s book as methodology, interpreting social distress in mental health research, thinking with and through the body, and the experiences of terminally ill children.

We are hosting two collaborative workshops in partnership with Newcastle University’s Centre for Cancer Research. These will explore four cross-cutting themes: children and cancer, cancer and spatiality, the cancerous body, and the diagnostic pathway.

We are organizing a training event for postgraduate taught students who are researching a dissertation on any aspect of medicine, health, or wellbeing. We will focus on developing an awareness of transdisciplinary approaches and methodologies.  

People

The Medical Humanities Network is directed by a steering group that includes representation from the disciplines of literature, history, archaeology, fine art, medical ethics, sociology, and museum studies. 

The main co-ordinators are:

Vicky Long

Lutz Sauerteig

Anne Whitehead

Please do get in touch with one of us if you would like to join the Network or know more about what we do.

For more information, please visit our website.

Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences