Medical Humanities International PhD School

The Medical Humanities International PhD School is a programme hosted by the Institute for Medical Humanities at Durham University, in collaboration with the Centre for Medical Humanities and Bioethics at Linköping University, Sweden (CMHB). The School is open to all PhD researchers whose work engages with health-related topics from a vatiety of disciplinary and theoretical perspectivees, including (but not limited to) cultural studies, sociology, anthropology, history, health sciences, public health, visual arts, literary studies, music, architecture, gender and sexuality studies, and philosophy.

Seminars and activities at the School are delivered by a range of researchers from Durham University, Linköping University and other partner institutions, with each School focusing on a different theme. The event is free of charge for all participants, with a variety of bursaries available to cover travel.

Upcoming Schools

Queer Methodologies in Medical Humanities (24-26 March, 2025)

Location: Durham, UK

Queer methodologies allow us to reflect critically on the conceptual categories that we use to understand the body, sex, gender and sexuality. Work in queer, trans and gender studies challenges the structures through which certain groups are marginalised within institutional medical and healthcare settings. At the same time, it provides tools to explore alternative spaces and structures for queer and marginalised groups’ care and flourishing. This School will introduce participating researchers to conceptual and theoretical frameworks in queer, trans and feminist theory, offering new ways of thinking about health, illness and wellbeing. Activities will address topics such as:

Activism as research practice
Arts-based methodologies
Moving image, health and illness
Working with sensitive historical archives
The ethics of working with marginalised communities
Qualitative critical phenomenology

We encourage applications from researchers whose work engages with health-related topics from a variety of disciplinary and theoretical perspectives, including (but not limited to) cultural studies, sociology, anthropology, history, health sciences, public health, visual arts, literary studies, music, architecture, gender and sexuality studies, and philosophy.

Find out more.

Past Schools

Interdisciplinarity: Medical Humanities and Research at the intersections of the Humanities, the Social Sciences, Clinical Practice and Biomedicine (9-11 September, 2024)

Location: Vadstena, Sweden

What does interdisciplinarity in medical humanities mean? What are the epistemological underpinnings of different interdisciplinary ways of engaging in medical humanities research? What are the challenges and possibilities in interdisciplinary research at the intersection between the humanities, the social sciences, clinical research, and biomedicine?

These are some of the questions that were explored in this Medical Humanities Summer School, which introduced participants to different understandings of interdisciplinarity in medical humanities and work at the intersection of the humanities, the social sciences, clinical practices and/or biomedicine.

Download the course plan.

Early Career Network

As part of our commitment to developing the next generation of medical humanities researchers, participants in the programme are invited to join an early career network hosted by the Platform. This network provides opportunities for peer-mentoring, networking and collaboration activities, and aims to build a sense of shared community between School cohorts.

Find out more about our Network members below.