I’m so delighted to announce my new Wellcome Trust-funded project ‘Re-knowing Self-harm’. I’m deeply grateful to my collaborators, including SIFT & @makespaceco.bsky.social, and the @durham.ac.uk Dept of Sociology & @durhamimh.bsky.social who will host the project ✨ www.durham.ac.uk/research/ins...

Veronica Heney to shed new light on self-harm - Durham University

durham.ac.uk

The @durhamimh.bsky.social are sponsoring a hybrid event on Interdisciplinary Approaches to AI, asking "What happens to language, thought, agency, and creativity when machines begin to (or appear to) speak, sort, and make for themselves?" www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/interdisci...

Interdisciplinary AI

What happens to language, thought, agency, and creativity when machines begin to (or appear to) speak, sort, and make for themselves?

eventbrite.co.uk

🎚️[Turns excitement-level up to 11] My brilliant colleague Dr Rebecca Jackson @beccajackson.bsky.social is co-editing this collection on the philosophical, historical and cultural dynamics of measurement. Do consider submitting a chapter proposal! 🎚️

Durham Institute for Medical Humanities@durhamimh.bsky.social · 3mo ago

🚨 Call for Abstracts: The New Measurement Heretics We welcome proposals from researchers in the philosophy, history, sociology, and anthropology of measurement who would like to address themes around formal & informal measurement concepts ⚖️ Find out more 👇 medhumsplatform.org/call-for-abs...

What kind of reader are you? On #WorldBookDay, take a deep dive into the mysteries of the reading imagination with @thereaderbank.bsky.social 👉 readerbank.org 🧵

And another bites the dust? The BBC World Service will run out of funding in just seven weeks. Its funding arrangement with the Foreign Office finishes at the end of March. There is no plan for what happens next. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

The Guardian view on the BBC World Service: this is London calling | Editorial

Editorial: With just seven weeks before its funding runs out, the UK’s greatest cultural asset and most trusted international news organisation must be supported

theguardian.com

Last week we were delighted to welcome over 50 attendees to our Creative Facilitation event, where we discussed how creative facilitation has been used in a variety of different organisational settings. Read our event round-up and testimonials👇 medhumsplatform.org/creative-fac...

Creative Facilitation: Beyond the Institute for Medical Humanities

Find out how creative facilitation is being used in teaching, with communities, in research settings and clinical practice outside IMH.

medhumsplatform.org

A major intervention in the field of dream studies has just been published, edited by Marco Bernini & @aldersonday.bsky.social. 'Dreams, Narrative and Liminal Cognition' is a collection of essays shedding light on the experiential qualities of dreams 💤 Read more: www.durham.ac.uk/research/ins...

New volume of essays on dreams and dreaming

A major intervention in the field of dream studies has just been published, edited by Marco Bernini and Ben Alderson-Day from our Institute for Medical Humanities.

durham.ac.uk

We're pleased to announce this collection of contributions to The Polyphony from attendees at the 2025 International PhD School on Queer Methodologies in Medical Humanities, which took place in Durham in March 2025. 📖 Read the collection 👇 thepolyphony.org/category/col...

PhD School 2025: Queer Methodologies in Medical Humanities – the polyphony

Conversations across the medical humanities

thepolyphony.org

Thrilled to finally be holding a physical copy of Art and the Critical Medical Humanities 📘 Co-edited with Allison Morehead and Imogen Wiltshire, this book has been a true labour of love.

A clean setup with the #RatsOfConfluence, complete with sticky wall, singing bowl and multicoloured card. Brilliantly timed ahead of Thursday’s Creative Facilitation event www.durham.ac.uk/research/ins...

📣 Applications are open for our 2026-27 Medical Humanities in Practice Research Fellowship scheme! The scheme supports professionals and researchers from health or voluntary and community sectors to develop research within the medical humanities. Apply by 30 Jan:

Practice Research Fellowship Scheme

Announcing our Medical Humanities In Practice Research Fellowship Scheme

medhumsplatform.org

“Am I Queer Enough?” @davidwoodhead.bsky.social reflects on visibility, ethics, and contradictions as a a middle-aged gay man in recovery and a mental health researcher. Read more in the journal from @durhamimh.bsky.social 👇 thepolyphony.org/2025/11/24/am-i-queer-enough/

Am I queer enough? When theory and lived experience collide

David Woodhead reflects on being gay and getting older.

thepolyphony.org

"The point is how do we navigate the gap between how we live and how we theorise, how we enact our identities and the sensibilities we bring to research?" Brilliant post by @davidwoodhead.bsky.social on lived experience, queer experience and theory thepolyphony.org/2025/11/24/a...

Am I queer enough? When theory and lived experience collide

David Woodhead reflects on being gay and getting older.

thepolyphony.org

“The report recommended a training course on “core scientific concepts” for politicians that could be provided at the outset of an emergency.” …or just mandated before they’re allowed anywhere near evidence based decision making? www.theguardian.com/world/2025/n...

‘Chaotic and indecisive’: key findings of report on UK’s Covid response under Tories

Second pandemic report focuses on decision-making, organisation and messaging by senior politicians including Boris Johnson

theguardian.com

“We talk about “funding” as if it’s a favour. It’s not. It’s investment in imagination, in shared experience and in our national story.” www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...

Durham’s Lumiere festival was a beacon of hope and togetherness – we cannot let the lights go out on the rest of the arts

The UK’s culture sector needs financial, political and public support to survive. Funding is not a ‘favour’. It is an investment in imagination, in our shared experience – and in inspiration and joy

theguardian.com

Angela Woods@literarti.bsky.social · 9mo ago

It was worth braving the crowds at the last ever Lumiere

It was worth braving the crowds at the last ever Lumiere

💃🎶 Last week's Research Cabaret led by @louisecreechan.bsky.social and @maryrobbo.bsky.social was a resounding success! Catch up on what we got up to as part of @beinghumanfest.bsky.social 👇 tinyurl.com/yntr9362

Tricks and treats with the #RatsOfConfluence

📅 Join us on Monday 24 November for an online interdisciplinary symposium on Tourette Syndrome, imagining a future of Tourettic Studies that is looking beyond the syndrome, featuring Bridging Fellow @danielpjones.bsky.social. Find out more & register here 👇 medhumsplatform.org/event/toward...

@cforsdick.bsky.social concludes the @readingbodies.bsky.social takeover and discusses how this project contributes to rethinking the medical humanities in ways that are simultaneously multilingual, transnational and translational. thepolyphony.org/2025/10/24/m...

Multilingual, Transnational and Translational: Rethinking the Medical Humanities

Charles Forsdick concludes the Reading Bodies takeover and discusses how this project on historical discourses of illness in European literatures and cultures contributes to rethinking the medical …

thepolyphony.org

We're hiring 3 new editors! 2 general and 1 for reviews! thepolyphony.org/2025/10/27/w...

We’re hiring! Editorial roles with The Polyphony

The Polyphony is seeking three Editors to join our team, two General Editors and one Reviews Editor.

thepolyphony.org

The 'schedule send' function in outlook is now taking it upon itself to suggest by default a Monday morning weeks into the future. I shudder to think that this is the algorithm saying something about my average response times.

Delighted that Rosa Ritunnano passed her viva without corrections! Her PhD on delusions is a marvel of interdisciplinary research. My favourite paper by Rosa so far is the one on Harry, the happiest man in the world. www.cambridge.org/core/journal... #philsky #philpsy #womeninphilosophy

The Big Survey is now live! It has been such a privilege to get to work on this with such a wonderful, inspiring team at @actionforme.bsky.social, including our brilliant Patient and Public Involvement Group, made up of people with lived experience of ME and Long Covid.

Action for ME@actionforme.bsky.social · 10mo ago

Our 2025 Big Survey is now open! 🎉 For more information, our FAQs, and to take part, head to our web page: www.actionforme.org.uk/research-campaigns/our-research-work/big-survey/ Thank you for supporting our research💙 🤝in collaboration with @durhamimh.bsky.social @kacheston.bsky.social

🎉 We are delighted to launch this year’s Big Survey in collaboration with @actionforme.bsky.social! If you are in the UK living with ME or Long Covid with ME symptoms, we want to hear from you! tinyurl.com/2s4dbrkx 🧵

2025 Big Survey

Find out how you can contribute to our 2025 Big Survey - a vital research project aiming to illustrate the impact of ME and long Covid.

tinyurl.com

Resplendent

Join us on 6th November for our annual Research Cabaret! An evening of live music 🎶 poetry 💬 dance 🕺💃 and chaos 🎉 exploring what it means to live between the lines. Featuring Durham IMH researchers and local performers! Reserve your FREE ticket here 🎟️👇 www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/between-th...

It’s been that kind of a weekend

Welcome to @tamarinnorwood.bsky.social, who joins us as a Honorary Fellow in the Visual & Material Lab 🥳 We're looking forward to working with you! medhumsplatform.org/welcome-to-t...

Welcome to Tamarin Norwood: New Honorary Fellow in the Visual & Material Lab

Welcome to Tamarin Norwood, who joins us as an Honorary Fellow in the Visual & Material Lab.

medhumsplatform.org

Ten years on from publication - this big lad hits 1000 citations. Congrats @cfernyhough.bsky.social! Probably the longest paper we will ever write. If you get to the end you get a badge and a certificate. And hopefully you will learn something about inner speech. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26011789/

Inner Speech: Development, Cognitive Functions, Phenomenology, and Neurobiology - PubMed

Inner speech-also known as covert speech or verbal thinking-has been implicated in theories of cognitive development, speech monitoring, executive function, and psychopathology. Despite a growing body...

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov