International Health Humanities Network Membership

Researcher with interests in literature and mental health.

Dr Gail Kenning is an artist, designer and researcher. She is Research Associate at University of Technology Sydney in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Faculty of Engineering and IT and Faculty of Design Architecture adn building, and Co Investigator International on a UK AHRC funded research project—LAUGH: Ludic Artefacts Using gesture and Haptics— making objects and activities for people with late stage dementia. Her research is concerned with art and creativity in relation to digital media, craft, expanded textiles, health, wellbeing, ageing and dementia

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My interests are in the role and nature of causation in heath science research and practice, specifically Physiotherapy. I claim that causation is manifest in all aspects of health science research and practice, e.g. causes of disease, causes of treatment effects. A further claim is that an understanding of the nature of causation is essential to the progress of health science. The focus of my thesis is then on causal matters related to treatment effects, and specifically how causation influences individual clinical decisions of treatment choice. Causal claims of therapeutic interventions are made by particular research methods, e.g. randomised controlled trials. I argue that the way health science presently structures these claims is not consistent with how causation is best thought of. I consider causation to be far more context-sensitive than the present evidence-based practice model allows. The problem is best highlighted when attempts are made to translate research data to individual instances of clinical decision making. I defend the theory of causal dispositionalism in offering a more relevant theory of causation for health science than present causal constructs.

I am a theologian by background and training, currently Senior Lecturer in Theology and Spiriutuality in the Faculty of Health Sciences, Staffordshire University. The areas in which I am currently researchign and publishing are: philosophical, ethical and theological issues related to dementia and dementia care; the role of 'Chaplains for Wellbeing' in Primary Care; the contribution of religious communities to the achievement of public health goals; the function of 'spirituality' as a term in the rhetoric of health care. 

I have degrees in Biological Sciences and Theology. My PhD research was on the role of theologicla rhetoric in constructing and maintianing the Anglican Communion. My main interest in this network is in using religious and mythological themes to enrich the professional and public discourse on fundamental values in health and social care.

Student of Medical Humanities

MA Student of Medical Humanities and History (University of York)

Nicole is a medical student at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. Her research areas include the medical gaze, imaging technologies, and bodies as they are experienced and imagined.

I am a CBT therapist in Nottingham in Psychological medicine and Assocaite Professor in CBT at Nottingham University. I love the Arts, especially literature, McEwan, Dostoevsky, Balzac, Orwell etc. I am interested in thinking about how the Arts could be used to enhance CBT.

Kenneth Kirkwood is an Assistant Professor of Health Studies at Western University in London, Canada. His work is in ethics, often dealing in narrative method, with matters around drug use.