Health and Communication Special Interest Group
Researching communication in, about, and around illness and health.
Health and Communication (HaC) is a special interest group within UCL’s Department of Culture Communication and Media exploring all aspects and types of communication in, about, and around aspects of illness and health broadly conceived. This includes, but is not limited to lived experiences of chronic and acute illnesses, disabilities, neurodivergence, health inequalities, and so on.
Our membership has expertise in a wide range of qualitative, quantitative and creative methodologies of research and dissemination in an array of health domains.
Our expertise
Members of HaC have expertise in a variety of research topics that explore among others:
- intercultural communication in healthcare contexts
- online health discourse
- multilingualism in healthcare
- human-computer/AI interactions in healthcare
- language barriers in recruitment to clinical trials
- digital health interventions
- social science approaches to neurodiversity
- health communication intervention co-production
- (e)health literacy
- health inequality
- media representations of health and illnesses.
We give talks, contribute to podcasts, exhibitions and run regular seminars, in addition to all the usual academic things.
Who we are and what we do
Our members
- Jeff Bezemer
- Emma Brooks
- Nicole Brown
- Alessia Cogo
- David Wei Dai
- Zsofia Demjen
- Andrea Gauthier
- Will Gibson
- Sarah Q. Gong
- Charlotte Hamilton-Clark
- Talia Isaacs
- Amina Lechkhab
Selected activities and events
Seminars
- UCL Health Communication Network seminars – these run 2–3 times a term and anyone can come along. Click on the link to find out how to join the mailing list to hear about upcoming events.
Podcasts
- Communicating health information (maternity care and COVID-19 vaccination) to Chinese communities
- Disability and STEM. The Foundation for Science and Technology
- Navigating Ableism and Invisible Disabilities in the Workplace. Untick the Box
- Pandemic and Beyond Podcast: Co-design COVID-19 vaccine communicative intervention with Wai Yin Society
- Science diversified: Tackling an ‘ableist’ culture in research
- 'War' as metaphor in the fight against cancer / The language of healthcare
- What is normal? Empowering Minds Podcast
Videos
- UCL Lunch Hour Lecture: Why are voices that others cannot hear so powerful?
- Where are the disabled and ill academics?
Projects and collaborations
Contact us
Culture, Communication and Media
IOE, Faculty of Education and Society
University College London
20 Bedford Way
London WC1H 0AL
