UCL Interdisciplinary Approaches to Health Research. Dialogue, insights and training.

What: This three-day summer school will be a unique opportunity to gain vital skills, understanding and insight from those in the social sciences, arts and humanities who are working to challenge and break down these siloes in health research. With one of the largest concentrations of expertise in non-biomedical aspects of health in the UK across two faculties (SHS and A&H), UCL is especially well placed to provide this training with capability in key areas of interdisciplinary health. This includes expertise in mental health, inequalities, personalised medicine, urban health, climate and health.

Why: Interdisciplinary approaches to health are increasingly valued by research funding agencies and seen as essential for those seeking careers in public and global health. This reflects the wider real-world context where the role of culture is increasingly emphasised in relation to emerging diagnostic and therapeutic approaches, in response to climate emergencies, forced displacement, migration, and traumas connected with conflicts and global instability. The Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in an increasing recognition that culture is health and health is biosocial, and that issues concerning health and wellbeing pervade culture, society and history and cannot be left only to the life and medical sciences and allied professions. Yet while interdisciplinarity is increasingly necessary to address real world health challenges, acquiring interdisciplinary skills is not easy given the siloed single disciplinary training that structures academic institutions. The Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences have unique contributions to make here.

Who should apply: If you are an ECR (MRes student, PhD or Post-Doc) embarking on or planning interdisciplinary health research now or in the future, this summer school is for you. It will provide the necessary understanding to know what interdisciplinary research is, the skills to begin to plan pathways to undertake this work and the insight to critically engage with what it means to do interdisciplinary research. You may be trained in social sciences or arts and humanities and seeking to know more about how you can develop cross disciplinary research with those in clinical or population life sciences, or you may yourself be trained in medical, life and natural sciences and looking for ways to build bridges  to develop meaningful research that incorporates interdisciplinary approaches.  All are welcome! 

When and Where: 2-4 June 2026, in person at UCL with refreshments and lunch provided for three days.

How the summer school will work: Tutors and masterclasses delivered by established academics with interdisciplinary health research experiences from Geography, Anthropology, History, Economics, Philosophy, Information Studies, Hebrew and Jewish Studies, Arts and Sciences, English, the School of European Languages, Culture and Society, the School of East European and Slavonic Studies. Themes covered by the masterclasses will include: Personalised Medicine (computational health), Climate (Anthropocene) and Planetary Health, Health Inequalities, Reproductive Health, Urban Health and Mental Health, Resilience and Well Being, Linguistics for Health Research, Translation and Interpretation in Health Care, Creative and Participatory approaches to Public health and Curriculum Reform, Telepresence and Religious Participation,  Endangered Language Reclamation, Trauma Toolkits in Cultural Heritage and AI bots in Diagnosis.

Included in the summer school: Masterclasses from established academics in SHS and A&H on core themes related to emerging themes relevant to cross disciplinary research; seminar and small group discussion; take away resource packs on specific themes; dedicated Microsoft Teams page to share resources and build support networks for doing interdisciplinary work; opportunities for participants to present their research and gain feedback from tutors and certificate providing evidence of having completed the summer school.

For further information please contact  Catherine Borra (catherine.borra.19@ucl.ac.uk )