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CHHS research seminar: Professor Martin Willis

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Professor Martin Willis joined CHHS members on 07/01/18 to discuss “Collaborative Practices between the Humanities and the Sciences: Rethinking Consilience.”

Willis noted that since the sociobiologist Edward O. Wilson appropriated William Whewell’s term, consilience, to articulate a vision of the “jumping together” of the sciences and the humanities, consilience has been one key strand of the intellectual debate on the relationships between the sciences, literature, and the broader humanities. Willis discussed the ways in which consilience, and especially Wilson’s construction of it as a way for the humanities to become more scientific, has been contested and celebrated. Using this as a starting point, Willis took some of the concerns emerging from consilient ideologies to develop a broader argument about the relationships between the humanities and the sciences, focussing on some of the theoretical, political and practical concerns that typify our contemporary moment.

Contact: Martin Willis– willism8@cardiff.ac.uk

CHHS research seminar: Dr Giovanni Biglino and Sofie Layton

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For our first CHHS meeting on 06/12/18 we were joined by Dr Giovanni Biglino (Lecturer in Cardiovascular Bioinformatics & Medical Statistics, School of Clinical Sciences) and artist Sofie Layton, who has extensive experience of participatory arts practice in a medical context. They presented on the pioneering The Heart of the Matterproject. Attendees then had the opportunity to discuss the interplay of arts, humanities, and biomedical sciences, as well as the presence of literal and figurative hearts in their work.

Contact: Giovanni Biglino– g.biglino@bristol.ac.uk

Sofie Layton

 

Centre for Health, Humanities and Science Launch Event

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The Centre for Health, Humanities and Science launch event took place on 08/10/17 in Cotham House, Bristol.

The Centre’s long-term aim is for the University of Bristol to be recognised as a leader in interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary research in humanities, medicine, health and science. Our vision is to stand out as a centre of excellence of research, but research with impact.

The event was split into two parts in order to best showcase the diverse research interests across the faculty. During the afternoon session Faculty of Arts members, including PGRs, gave short presentations on papers or projects they were currently working on. Following the academic presentations, the evening session provided an opportunity to try out a range of initiatives at the intersection of humanities and health; we were  joined by Jules Olsen and Graham Coatman who ran a course on Singing for Lung Health at Southmead Hospital, Emma Lazenby presented and discussed a short animation produced by FORMED FILMS, and attendees were welcome to create their own artwork from a variety of media provided.

Those who presented papers during the afternoon session were also invited to contribute to our ‘visual gallery’ space in the evening. We displayed a copy of each speaker’s abstract along with three or four items that had inspired or provoked their research. These items included, but were not limited to, books, photographs, paintings and poetry. We also had a digital display of the artwork created by the intercalated medical humanities students from the ‘Out of Our Heads’ project, which focuses on engaging personally with medical themes through creative work.