UCL academic is Royal Albert Hall’s first Associate Scientist

As part of the role, Professor Fancourt will also serve as the senior scientific advisor to the venue’s Creative Wellbeing programme, which relaunches in September. During her three-year tenure, she will help shape evidence-based community engagement work, including initiatives available on the NHS under social prescription.

At UCL, Professor Fancourt is a UNESCO Chair in Arts and Global Health and directs a World Health Organisation Collaborating Centre on Arts and Health. She recently published Art Cure: The Science of How the Arts Transform Our Health, short-listed for the international Women’s Prize for non-fiction.

 “It is an honour to be the inaugural Associate Scientist for the Royal Albert Hall, a venue I have visited numerous times and had the pleasure of performing on the stage of,” Professor Fancourt said.

“Our research is demonstrating the tangible, meaningful impact that the arts have on mental and physical health at an individual level and on societal health and wellbeing more broadly. This research is providing even more reasons why everyone should have the opportunity to engage with the arts.

“By providing not only world-class artistic events but an incredibly inclusive approach to engaging audiences, the Royal Albert Hall is an inspiring organisation. I hope to use the position of Associate Scientist to raise public awareness about the fascinating science of the arts.”

The Royal Albert Hall said the appointment was central to its founding mission to promote the arts and sciences. Key scientific events across its 155-year history include one of the world’s first exhibitions of electric light, appearances by leading figures from Einstein to Professor Stephen Hawking, and a 2014 symposium Imagining the Future of Medicine.

Matt Todd, Director of Programming at the Royal Albert Hall, said: “This appointment is a major advancement for the Hall. We’re delighted to be working with Daisy. Over the past few years, we have recognised a shared mission to improve lives through music, and the formalisation of this relationship represents a major milestone in this ongoing work. Throughout her career, including in the recent book, Art Cure, Daisy has shared the science that demonstrates the power of the arts to positively impact health. Her appointment will bring arts and science together at the hall, while her data-driven approach will help us to identify and meet the need for creative wellbeing in our community.”

Professor Fancourt is one of the world’s most highly cited scientists. Her research has been recognised with personal fellowships from Wellcome and the British Academy, as well as two dozen national and international awards. She has been named as a Fellow of the Royal Society for Public Health and the Royal Society of Arts, an ITV Geek of the Week, a BBC New Generation Thinker, and a World Economic Forum Global Shaper. Her Sunday Times bestseller Art Cure: The Science of How the Arts Transform Our Health has been translated into a dozen languages.

Links

• Professor Daisy Fancourt’s academic profile
• UCL Institute of Epidemiology & Health Care
• UCL Population Health Sciences

Image

• Professor Daisy Fancourt

Media contact

Mark Greaves

T: +44 (0)7990 675947

E: m.greaves [at] ucl.ac.uk