Researchers from the Discovery Research Platform for Medical Humanities at Durham University recently delivered the first Medical Humanities International PhD School, in collaboration with the Centre for Medical Humanities and Bioethics at Linköping University.
The Medical Humanities International Summer School 2024 was held at Vadstena in Sweden. It brought together twenty PhD researchers from a wide range of countries, including the United Kingdom, China, India, South Africa, the Netherlands and Sweden.
The PhD School examined the place of interdisciplinarity in medical humanities research, exploring the epistemological underpinnings of different ways of engaging in the field. Sessions addressed the challenges and possibilities of interdisciplinary research, particularly for those at the outset of their research careers.
Dr Fiona Johnstone (lead of the Visual and Material Lab) led a workshop on how to develop an interdisciplinary career in medical humanities. Dr Fraser Riddell (co-lead of the Affective Experience Lab) delivered a lecture on what Victorian realist novels can teach scholars who are engaged in humanities activism. Professor Angela Woods (the Platform Director) reflected on the challenges of working in interdisciplinary spaces. Extra-curricular highlights included communal lake swimming!
We were delighted to work closely on the organisation of the event with our colleagues at Linköping University, Dr Jelmer Brüggemann and Professor Kristin Zeiler.
Further reflections on the event from our PhD School participants will shortly be published on The Polyphony – watch this space!
In March 2025, the Discovery Research Platform will host the second Medical Humanities International PhD School in Durham – ‘Queer Methodologies in Medical Humanities’. Applications close on Friday 22 November. For information about our future PhD schools, please contact Fraser Riddell.
