First Ever UCL SHS and A&H Interdisciplinary Summer School for Health Research

Over three days from June 2-4th 60 early career participants from across 9 of UCL’s 11 faculties came together to take part in the first ever UCL joint SHS and A&H organised Interdisciplinary Summer School for Health Research, organised by Sahra Gibbon and Sonu Shamdasani, Vice-Deans for Health in both faculties and supported by Catherine Borra and Charlene Perrier.

Designed to make the wealth of non-biomedical health related research expertise in both faculties available to a wider community the school brought together 20 tutors who gave talks and presentations across a range of themes including mental health, the use of telepresence Robots, language and wellbeing in and far beyond the clinical encounter, paleo genomics, gender and coloniality, emerging technologies and computational medicine, health economics and the study of pain in women’s health. Additional sessions also included methodological approaches such as object based learning approaches to health or joy as method and there were break out working groups that enabled participants to bring their own insights and expertise together to work on key interdisciplinary health challenges such as diabetes or climate change. Keynotes on day two from two leading figures in Medical Anthropology and Health Humanities, Elizabeth F. Roberts from Michigan University and Neil Vickers from Kings College London facilitated synergistic thinking across different disciplinary fields and provided much food for thought about what it actually means to collaborate in interdisciplinary health research.  The participants, which included those within and beyond SHS and A&H spanned a breadth of disciplines from primary healthcare, IOE, to Women’s Health, Psychology, History of Art and Division of Medicine and Behavioural Science, brought their enthusiasm and willingness to learn. It was an infectious brew of participants and tutors which after three intense days of teaching and learning was still alive with interest and enthusiasm.

Feedback on the Sumer School has been resoundingly positive with many commenting on how it had been ‘an incredible’ and ‘amazing experience’ that we should ‘do this every year’ and the suggestion that it should be compulsory for all PhD students doing health research at UCL! As UCL’s Academic Ambition evolves in coming years to encompass and showcase health research, this Summer School made evident that non-biomedical health expertise in SHS and A&H is a vital component in making that vision as interdisciplinary rich and meaningful as possible.