“The Anatomy of Rest” (Hubbub 3-part BBC Radio 4 series; 13, 20, 27 September 9am London time)

Research Summary: The Anatomy of Rest

Category: Interdisciplinary research programme (radio series)

Format & Broadcast: 3-part BBC Radio 4 series, 13/20/27 September 2024, 0900–0945 GMT+1

Research Scope: Global “Rest Test” survey with 17,000+ international participants examining rest phenomenology across disciplines

Key Contributors: Felicity Callard (Director), Claudia Hammond (presenter), Charles Fernyhough, James Wilkes, plus historians, poets, literary scholars, psychologists, and composers

Evidence Base: Moderate—synthesises qualitative humanities perspectives with empirical survey data on rest experiences and definitions

Conceptual Approach: Interdisciplinary examination of rest across historical, psychological, poetic, and somatic dimensions rather than single-mechanism pathway

Public Engagement: Live event at Wellcome Collection Reading Room (27 September) with archival material on rest history and viewings from Wellcome Library

Hubbub’s interdisciplinary research on rest is brought together in a three-part series — “The Anatomy of Rest” — on BBC Radio 4 that is being broadcast at 0900-0945 (GMT+1) on 13, 20, 27 September. The programmes are presented by Hubbub Associate Director Claudia Hammond, and feature Hubbub Director Felicity Callard, Hubbub Associate Directors Charles Fernyhough and James Wilkes and several Hubbub collaborators (historian Ayesha Nathoo, poet SJ Fowler, poet Holly Pester, literary scholar Michael Greaney, psychologist Ben Alderson-Day and composer Antonia Barnett-McIntosh.

Programme three (27 September) reveals the results of Hubbub’s global survey “The Rest Test” — which was launched on BBC Radio 4 last year, and to which over 17,000 people from around the world responded. This programme was recorded at a live event held in the Reading Room of Wellcome Collection — which also featured various public engagement activities including viewings of historical material on rest from Wellcome Library (discussed by Ross Macfarlane).