Below we highlight some of the projects and initiatives led by members of Health, Mind and Society.
CARE: Diabetes in Ghana
The CARE project aims to generate contextual understanding of Type-2 Diabetes (T2D) in urban Ghana (Accra), with a focus on three communities in Central Accra (Ga Mashie (James Town and Ussher Town) and Abogbloshie. All three communities represent lower socioeconomic groups and areas that are densely populated and have a growing double burden of infectious and chronic disease.
Embodied Inequalities of the Anthropocene
This project with medical anthropology at UCL and also colleagues in Mexico and Brazil aims to extend interdisciplinary engagement concerning how the Anthropocene epoch impacts on human health.
Contact Sahra Gibbon and Jennie Gamlin for more information.
Adolescent Sociality Across Cultures
The social environment around us during our formative teenage years can have life-long implications for health and behaviour - but how this happens may be different between cultures. In this project, we are establishing a cross-cultural collaborative research programme on adolescent sociality, initially focusing on Japan and the UK.
Chronic Disease in Sub-Saharan Africa
The project seeks to critically evaluate the history of what is viewed as an ‘epidemic’ of chronic and non-communicable diseases in sub-Saharan Africa and provide an historical account of the evolution of chronic and non-communicable diseases in Africa, going beyond a simple account of ‘transition’, and to contribute to wider debates on the nature of epidemiological change.
Biosocial Lives of Birth Cohorts
This project examines birth cohorts as sites of knowledge, practice and participation in the UK, Portugal, Netherlands and Brazil. Taking birth cohorts as objects of ethnographic inquiry it aims to examine and intervene on how birth cohort research and biosocial science is coming into being.
Contact Sahra Gibbon for more information.
Ageing Playfully
‘Ageing Playfully’ explores the impact of play and games on older adult wellbeing from an interdisciplinary perspective. While in the West play and games are often seen as ‘mere frivolity,' recent scholarship shows how play and games are ‘serious’ contributions to ageing wellbeing, illustrating, for example, how online gaming combats loneliness, how bingo sustains community cohesion, how crosswords support brain health, and how table tennis supports dexterity and balance.
Led by Dr Carrie Ryan (UCL Anthropology) and Professor Paul Higgs (UCL Psychiatry).
Growing Sensations
An innovative pilot project run by Dr Dalia Iskander that aims to engage students in ‘double cultivation’ - growing students through the practice of growing in indoor urban settings and associated crafts.
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