Summary
Platform artist-researcher Dr Sofie Layton recently presented her work at an All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Creative Health roundtable focused on Digital Health and CreaTech.
Platform artist-researcher Dr Sofie Layton recently presented her work at an All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Creative Health roundtable focused on Digital Health and CreaTech. The session brought together policymakers, researchers, and practitioners to examine the role of creative approaches in shaping the future of healthcare, particularly in relation to the UK Government’s 10-Year Health Plan and its ambition to shift the NHS from “analogue to digital.”
The roundtable explored how creative health interventions – delivered through emerging and established digital technologies- can enhance patient experience, support wellbeing, and contribute to more holistic models of care. Discussions emphasised the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration in developing innovative, inclusive, and effective health solutions, positioning the creative sector as a key partner in digital health transformation.
During the session, Layton presented on The Heart of the Matter, a long-running interdisciplinary collaboration with bioengineer Dr Giovanni Biglino. The project investigated the lived experience of heart disease by bringing together patients, clinicians, researchers, and creative practitioners in processes of co-design and collaborative making.
The Heart of the Matter employed a range of art-science methodologies to explore how individuals understand and relate to their cardiovascular health. Through participatory workshops, installation-based outputs, and a touring exhibition, the project created spaces for dialogue and reflection, foregrounding not only the clinical and physiological aspects of the heart, but also its emotional and social significance.
By translating complex medical knowledge into accessible, tangible, and affective experiences, the project facilitated deeper public engagement with cardiovascular health. Its focus on co-creation enabled participants to share personal narratives, fostering empathy and challenging conventional boundaries between medical expertise and lived experience.
At the APPG roundtable, Layton highlighted how such approaches can contribute to digital health agendas by supporting more person-centred care and encouraging new forms of communication between patients and healthcare professionals. She underscored the potential for creative methods to complement technological innovation, ensuring that the shift towards digital healthcare remains attentive to human experience, equity, and inclusivity.
Layton’s participation in the roundtable reflects the ongoing contribution of the Visual & Material Lab within the Discovery Research Platform for Medical Humanities to national conversations around health, creativity, and technology. The Lab’s work continues to demonstrate how material and visual practices can play a vital role in addressing complex health challenges and shaping future directions in research and policy.
Dr Sofie Layton is a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Visual & Material Lab, where her research explores the intersections of art, science, and medicine through collaborative, participatory practice.
