In the fourth of a series of interviews with our new Medical Humanities in Practice Research Fellows, we catch up with Judith Holliday. Judith is Deputy Director of Research at Mid Yorkshire Teaching NHS Trust (MYTT) and Chair of the Wakefield Research Hub. Read on to find out about the research Judith will undertake as part of her Fellowship.
If your research was a film, what would the title be?
“The Missing Stories: Why Some Voices Are Lost in Health Research”
What will you be doing during your Medical Humanities in Practice Research Fellowship?
I’ll be drawing inspiration from medical humanities approaches and working with local communities to design a study exploring why women from deprived areas in Wakefield are less likely to participate in health research, using the Born and Bred in Wakefield (BaBi) study as my case study. This will include observation in maternity clinics, and co production sessions with local women and VCSE staff. This work will culminate in a co-designed research proposal with lived experiences at the centre and that addresses participation inequalities in longitudinal health studies.
What expertise and experiences will you be drawing on?
I bring over 20 years of research experience, including 13 years in the NHS at Mid Yorkshire Teaching NHS Trust. My background spans from English Literature and Social Policy to leading the BaBi Wakefield study with over 7,000 participants. I held a previous NIHR YH CLAHRC fellowship where I undertook work on research impact which gives me insight into how research affects both organisations and communities.
Why are you excited about working in the medical humanities?
Medical humanities offers fresh lenses for understanding the human stories behind health research. I am interested in how medical humanities approaches could empower people to share their experiences in ways that traditional research methods don’t always capture. I’m excited to deepen this methodological knowledge and apply narrative, participatory approaches to address a persistent problem in health research—why certain voices remain absent from studies that could benefit them.
What changes would you like to see as a result of your research?
I want to see more people who are currently underserved by research included in future health studies so they can reap the benefits of involvement. This means developing sustainable collaborative relationships across healthcare, community, and academic partners that outlast individual projects. Ultimately, I hope this work will create a model for more inclusive, participatory research that can be adapted to improve diversity and representation in health studies nationwide.
What interests or hobbies do you have outside of your research that might surprise people?
I’m the family’s unofficial travel coordinator and a keen reader. I enjoy spending time researching destinations and I’ve been told I pack far too many books for any reasonable holiday! My family jokes that I approach a trip with the same thoroughness I bring to research design, there may be truth in that—both require understanding your audience, planning for contingencies, and being ready to adapt when reality doesn’t match expectations.
This year four Medical Humanities in Practice Research Fellowships were awarded to support the delivery of novel research projects from June 2025 to June 2026. We will be launching another Fellowship application round for 2026 to 2027 in October – if you are interested in the scheme, please keep an eye out on our website and social media.
Find out more about the Medical Humanities in Practice Research Fellows:
An interview with Estelle Verdi
An interview with Phil Samba
An interview with Shayla Schlossenberg
