The Material Medical Humanities Collective is a new, research-led initiative led by the Visual and Material Lab at the Discovery Research Platform for Medical Humanities at Durham University, in collaboration with Birkbeck, University of London.
The collective seeks to investigate the relationships between materiality – understood in the widest possible sense – and the medical and health humanities. Taking objects, environments, infrastructures, technologies, and material practices seriously as sites of knowledge, we hope to explore together what might be called a material medical humanities: not a settled field, but an emerging constellation of questions, sensibilities, and experimental approaches.
We warmly invite researchers, curators and other interested professionals from across the globe to express an interest in joining the Collective’s online launch workshop on Monday 14th December 2026, 11.30am-2pm GMT (application deadline: Wednesday 14th October 2026).
In order to support in-depth collaborative discussion, workshop spaces may be limited; we will let you know if we are able to offer you a space by Monday 26th October at the latest.
Together, we will identify key themes and build on synergies across disciplines and regions. Collaborators from low- and middle-income countries are particularly welcome – while the collective’s co-leads are based in the UK, our events will be scheduled to maximise attendance from other time zones.
Please use this form to register your interest in joining the Collective, to express interest in the collaborative workshop, and/or to sign up to the Material Medical Humanities Collective’s mailing list.
If you can’t make the online workshop, please do still express your interest in collaboration, and we will keep you informed about future plans.
We look forward to exploring a material medical humanities with you!
Dr Harriet Barratt (Durham), Dr Anna Jamieson (Birmingham), Dr Rebecca Whiteley (Birmingham), Dr Fiona Johnstone (Durham), and Professor Suzannah Biernoff (Birkbeck)
Please contact harriet.b.barratt@durham.ac.uk with any queries.
Background image: ‘Mitochondria network’ (cellular level art, paint on silk, digitised), by Odra Noel (licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0). https://wellcomecollection.org/works/sm6nmbs8
