International Health Humanities Network Membership

Jonathan is on the Editorial Committee of The European Journal of Ecospsychology and his research interests include the role of green spaces and the ‘more-than-human’ world in mental well-being. Jonathan is also interested exploring how mental health perspectives and insights might inform our understanding of environmental problems, and his recent publications include:

• History at the End of the World? History, Climate Change & the Possibility of Closure European Journal of Ecopsychology, No. 1, Winter 2010, pp.4-18.

• Ecopsychology and the Historian: some notes on the work of Theodore Roszak’, in European Journal of Ecopsychology, No. 1, Winter 2010, pp.4-18. 

Jonathan is currently a Research Fellow in History at Nottingham University in the UK and lectures in History at Derby University. He gained his PhD in History from Southampton University in 2008 (with a thesis entitled Pathologising Modernity) after completing his MA in The History of Scientific Thought at Leeds University.

He is an active member of Rescue!History and the Association for the Study of Literature and the Environment, UK. Jonathan recently contributed to the Curriculum Working Group for Lincoln’s Social Science Centre, a new ‘free’ university in the East Midlands. He has represented the Green Party in local elections and worked previously for UNICEF, the BBC and as an actor. He is a graduate of Imperial College, London.

Lyz Cooper has been working in the in the holistic health field for 33 years and with therapeutic sound since 1994. She has developed a range of techniques which have been shown to help improve health and well-being using therapeutic sound and music. Lyz founded The British Academy of Sound Therapy (the first training establishment to offer recognised qualifications in sound therapy) in 2000. Lyz is a published author of two successful books – ‘Sounding the Mind of God’ (O Books) and ‘What is Sound Healing?’ (Watkins). The latter was the winner of the ‘Alternate Healing’ category at the Body, Mind, Spirit book awards in 2017. She has an MA in Education and an MSc in Applied Music Psychology and is a fellow of The Institute for Complementary and Natural Medicine. Lyz is passionate about raising awareness of the importance of an integrated approach in healthcare, education and corporate settings and is a member of many organisations which share her passion including The Royal Society for Public Health, the National Alliance for Arts, Health and Wellbeing, the New NHS Alliance and the Health Humanaties Organization. 

Lyz is co-founder and director of the Therapeutic Sound Association – the first representing body of therapeutic sound in the world. She is also one of the original board members of the Global Listening Centre, an international organisation dedicated to promoting the importance of listening.

Lyz’s music projects have received excellent feedback and one piece created by Marconi Union in consultation with Lyz was voted the ‘Most Relaxing Music Ever’ , coming 11th at the Time Magazine’s Top 50 Best Inventions Awards. 

I come from a social work practitioner, lecturer and art history background. I have a continued interest in using the humanities as a pedagogical and reflective means of encouraging critical thinking and analysis. I have devised a number of training programmes using visual images of 'madness and the maternal body to encourage social work and medical students to look beyond the obvious.

 Currently studying for a PhD entitled: Corporeal signifiers of 'madness' in western artistic traditions: 1700-1900 century at Leicester University. Applying my interest in art history, I work at Tate Britain and Tate Modern conducting tours and discussions on British historical and contemporary art. 

I am a playwright and lecturer in Creative Writing at Edge Hill University. My interests are around theatre and madness and in particular how playwrights articulate madness on stage. I also run my own theatre company Truant which was set-up to produce queer theatrical works. I also work as a freelance creative writing facilitator and have used creative writing in health related contexts: working with refugees to improve confidence; devising theatre with mental health patients etc. 

Professor Paul Crawford is the founder and the world’s first professor of the field of health humanities. He directs the Centre for Social Futures at the Institute of Mental Health, The University of Nottingham, UK. He has contributed to policy development in mental health and human care in the UK, advising senior politicians on the importance of the arts and humanities in healthcare, health and wellbeing. He consults on mental health, health care environments, and has spearheaded the notion of creative public health - democratising arts and humanities knowledge and practices to advance health and wellbeing.

Professor Crawford’s work has attracted multiple awards and recognition, not least Fellowships of the Royal Society of Arts, Academy of Social Sciences and Royal Society for Public Health.  His pioneering work in health humanities has attracted multi-million pound research funding from Arts Humanities and Research Council, Economic and Social Research Council, ESRC/MRC, UK Research and Innovation, The Leverhulme Trust and British Academy.  He has led numerous AHRC funded research networks related to the arts and dementia, the representation of mental state in literature, and in the broader health humanities.

Professor Crawford has held more than £7m in prestigious research funding and currently leads major AHRC-funded studies: a) The production and evaluation of original animations with Aardman Film, www.whatsupwitheveryone.com to advance mental health literacy among young people (released February 2021). This campaign won Best Design and Content in the 2021 Design Week Awards and reached over 17m people within four months of launch alone; b) A study of Florence Nightingale at home that focuses on domestic health, psychological health and contagion (www.florencenightingale.org). The book from this study won Best Achievement in The People’s Book Prize 2022 and was longlisted for the B.S. Hughes Award for science-related writing. He is also co-investigator for the £1.25m national MARCH network into social and cultural assets for mental health.

Professor Crawford has held multiple visiting professorships or advisory board appointments in the UK and overseas. He has written over 140 publications including peer-reviewed papers, book chapters and books, most recently Mental Health Literacy and Young People (Emerald, 2022), Cabin Fever: Surviving Lockdown in the Coronavirus Pandemic (Emerald, 2021), Florence Nightingale at Home (Palgrave, 2020), The Routledge Companion to Health Humanities (Routledge, 2020) and Humiliation: Mental Health and Public Shame (Emerald, 2019). He is the Lead Editor for the Palgrave Encyclopedia of Health Humanities (Springer, New York) and Commissioning Editor for two series: Arts for Health (Emerald); Routledge Studies in Literature and Health Humanities (Routledge). His book Health Humanities (Palgrave, 2015) is now available in Mandarin (Springer Beijing). His other publications include the following: Evidence-based Health Communication (Open University Press, 2006), Communication in Clinical Settings (Nelson Thornes, 2006), Storytelling in Therapy (Nelson Thornes, 2004), Evidence Based Research (Open University Press, 2003) [Highly Commended, BMA Book Awards 2002] and Politics and History in William Golding: The World Turned Upside Down (University of Missouri Press, 2002).  His novel, Nothing Purple, Nothing Black (Book Guild, 2002) attracted the critical acclaim of fellow writers David Lodge, Roy Porter, Sara Maitland and Paul Sayer and was optioned for film with British film producer Jack Emery (Dramahouse) until his illness halted production. He is currently working with the filmmaker Chi Thai on a new disabilities-related feature film.

Josie Crawley has been involved in nurse education in both the community and institutions for over 25 years. She is passionate about opportunities for health promotion in primary health; and her research platform explores the place of narratives within nursing education. Her research has included employing a range of narratives in tertiary education including poetry, art, children's picture books and film to facilitate nursing students' learning about death, family, sexuality, home based care, screening, health promotion, disability, grief and aging. She is currently involved in narrative inquiry research; collecting and editing rural nurse stories of changing practice across New Zealand, whilst a Principal Lecturer at the School of Nursing, Otago Polytechnic, Dunedin, New Zealand.

Josie is a Principal Lecturer at the School of Nursing, Otago Polytechnic. She has been involved in nurse education in both the community and institutions for over 25 years.  Her research platform explores the place of narratives within nursing education for reflection, to build compassionate care and to research the client and nurse experience. She has published in a variety of academic journals, case studies, presented internationally, co-edited a book of rural nurse narratives and her poetry has been included in a collection of poems by Aotearoa New Zealand Nurses, in nursing and health journals. Josie is passionate about education that is meaningful to the student nurse, building their understanding, self efficacy as learners and the ability to practice in respectful partnership with their clients. ORCID 0000-0003-1011-3335 

Polly trained professionally as a dancer at London Contemporary in 1992. Her career as a dancer was greatly interrupted after a back injury. Her life took a turn towards health care and she qualified as a Hearing & Balance Therapist. This profession opened up further avenues teaching her in depth about disability and deafness and mental health. A position as lecturer at Bristol University complimented her clinical work.

However, because of her initial identity as a dancer being the roots and foundation of who she is, and with the generosity and welcoming nature of her dancing friends she ventured back into the dancing world. With like minded artists 3rd Stage Dance Company begun. 3rd Stage Dance Company keeps dancers dancing, for dancers it's in the blood.That's just the way it is!

Brief Biography:

Academic Qualifications:

Currently completing PhD Creative Writing, Swinburne University, Australia.

Awarded qualifications:

MA (Creative Writing), Grad Dip Media, Grad Dip Education, Bachelor of Education, Bachelor of Arts (Performing Arts and Cinema Studies), Diploma (and Certificate 4) in Creative Writing, Certificate 4 in Workplace Training and Assessment.

Interest in field of mental wellness and humanities.

Diagnosed at 33 with Bipolar Disorder I have survived numerous periods of hospitalisation due to my extremely labile mood states and cyclothymia. It has impacted on my academic and professional career having made every achievement seem twice as difficult and take twice as long, however I believe my lived experience now empowers me to be an advocate on behalf of mental wellness and activist breaking down stigma and self-stigma.

I have presented my current PhD research and professional Higher Education research at National and International Conferences. I have also attended the International Forum for Research in Bipolar Disorder and presented a poster session as a cast-study patient, one studying and living successfully with my medicated illness.

In 2015 I will be seeking grants to either continue my creative arts practice, writing and publishing more fiction in this area, or writing and developing a stage performance using the experiences of twelve people working together to learn stand up comedy about their mental illnesses.

I am also hoping to pursue post-doctoral studies investigating the systemic discrimination existing in our professional workplaces including our Universities and seeking answers to how such research can be prioritised under grant systems that maintain the disciplinary divide between the Sciences and the Humanities. Despite talk of access and equity, inclusion and equality many policies and procedures do not ensure such goals are enacted. The most effective way to communicate these issues in my mind is through in depth qualitative research of an inter-disciplinary nature.

This is my goal to investigate mental health and wellness impacts on society using all avenues of research and indeed creative practice open within our University and Research Institutes.

Ana is an educationalist, with an academic background in Educational and Social Sciences, Human Resources Management and Medical Education. Ana is truly passionate about education of healthcare professionals as a way to make a significant positive change into peoples lives based on solid theoretical and research grounds.

Ana’s PhD work, under the supervision of Professor Reg Dennick at University of Nottingham, was focused on clinical reasoning development and made use of linguistic analysis techniques (CA) in order to explore several aspects of the early development of this critical skill. She has a wide range of research interests in education from curriculum development to use of technology and social media and is a member of the HEA, AMEE, ASME and a reviewer for some of the most important journals in the field.