Postgraduate Medical Humanities Conference
The conference held each year enables postgraduates to exchange ideas and share their work in a welcoming and stimulating environment, and provides the students with an opportunity to discuss their research with scholars working from a range of perspectives.
Previous Conferences
24th - 25th June 2019
University of Exeter
Thursday 29th and Friday 30th June 2017
University of Exeter
Streatham Court
Keynote Speakers
Victoria Bates (Bristol)
Ina Linge (Cambridge)
Hannah Morgan (Lancaster)
Following on from the success of preceding Postgraduate Medical Humanities Conferences, the Centre for Medical History at the University of Exeter hosted an interdisciplinary medical humanities conference for postgraduate researchers on the 29th and 30th June 2017. This interdisciplinary conference reflected the broad and vibrant research of the medical humanities by bringing together postgraduate researchers from across the field. The conference enablef postgraduates to exchange ideas and share their work in a welcoming and stimulating environment, and provided the students with an opportunity to discuss their research with scholars working from a range of perspectives.
In addition to the academic programme of events, the conference featured a lively programme of engaged research. A public engagement event in the form of a theatre performance at the Barnfield Theatre, Exeter by the international theatre company Foreign Affairs took place on the first evening of the conference. The theatre troupe staged a production of Arthur Schnitzler’s 1912 play Professor Bernhardi, and examined several pertinent socio-medical issues, such as medical ethics and end of life care, the conflict between medical and religious authority, women’s reproductive rights, and the intersection between medical practice and racism.
On the Friday afternoon there was a screening of Like a Signal Falling, an experimental film by artist Dr Deborah Robinson, which touches on medical humanities themes. The film revolves around an unfinished sculpture of Virginia Woolf and explores the relationship between modernist art and mental health. The screening was followed by a discussion between the filmmaker, an Associate Professor in Contemporary Art Practice at the University of Plymouth, and Professor Laura Salisbury, Associate Professor in Medicine and English Literature at the University of Exeter.
Following on from the success of preceding Postgraduate Medical Humanities Conferences in 2014 and 2015, this interdisciplinary conference aimed to reflect the broad and vibrant research of the medical humanities by bringing together postgraduate researchers from across the field.
The conference enabled postgraduates to exchange ideas and share their work in a welcoming and stimulating environment, providing the opportunity to discuss their research with scholars working from a range of perspectives.
Keynote Speakers:
Mike Mantin (Swansea University)
Jana Funke (University of Exeter)
Media, Engagement and Impact Roundtable
Vanessa Heggie (University of Birmingham)
Alun Withey (University of Exeter)
Evening Performance with questions and answers
Medical Humanities Postgraduate Conference 2015
University of Exeter, 20 - 21 July 2015
Keynote Speakers:
Professor Stuart Murray, University of Leeds
Dr Roberta Bivins, University of Warwick
Building on the success of the 2014 Postgraduate Medical Humanities Conference, the 2015 medical humanities postgraduate conference brought together researchers from a variety of disciplines in a manner that reflected the broad scope of exciting research currently being carried out in the field of the medical humanities.
The conference provided a forum for postgraduate scholars to exchange ideas and share their research in a friendly and engaging environment. The eventalso allowed delegates to discuss their work with senior academics in the field, including keynote speakers and other members of the Exeter Centre for Medical History.
The event closed with a lively roundtable discussion, featuring the keynote speakers and other esteemed members of the Centre for Medical History. This session drew together the themes arising from the conference and reflect on future directions of research in the medical humanities.
There was also a workshop led by Ryan Sweet and Betsy Lewis-Holmes (co-organisers of the Exewhirr event) on public engagement.
We hope to be able to offer a small number of travel bursaries, which will be announced closer to the event.
The Centre for Medical History hosted the first interdisciplinary medical humanities conference for postgraduate researchers on the 24 and 25 July 2014.
The aim of the conference was to bring together researchers from a variety of disciplines in a manner that reflected the broad scope of exciting research being carried out in the field of the medical humanities .
The conference provided a forum for postgraduate scholars to exchange ideas and share their research in a friendly and engaging environment. The event also allowed delegates to discuss their work with senior academics in the field including keynote speakers and other members of the Exeter Centre for Medical History.
For more information, visit the conference page.