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Augmenting the Body: Disability, Bodily Extensions, and the Posthuman (Seminar series, University of Leeds, October-December 2016)

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By CentreForMedicalHumanities.org Research Team | Last verified: September 2026

Research Summary: Augmenting the Body Seminar Series

Project Type: Interdisciplinary Medical Humanities Research Initiative
Institution: University of Leeds, Humanities Research Institute
Duration: Autumn 2016 – 2016-2017 academic year (Sadler Seminar Series)
Core Focus Areas: Disability studies, bodily extensions, posthuman theory, adaptive/rehabilitation technologies, embodiment and cultural representation
Disciplinary Scope: Medicine/healthcare, cultural/literary studies, digital performance, engineering, and law
Key Research Questions: Design and use of augmentation technologies; lived experience of augmentations; cultural representations of the augmented self; integration of theoretical embodiment with engineering design
Autumn Seminars: Three sessions addressing augmentation/disability/embodiment (Oct 18), redesigning the human (Nov 7), and disability/the disHuman (Dec 5)
Venue: Seminar Room 2, Leeds Humanities Research Institute, 29-31 Clarendon Place, Leeds LS2 9JT
Contact: Dr Sophie Jones, [email protected]

Augmenting the Body is an interdisciplinary medical humanities project based at the University of Leeds, exploring questions of disability, bodily extensions, care and the posthuman. Launching in Autumn 2016, the first phase of the project is a University-funded Sadler Seminar Series. The series will feature a diverse lineup of speakers from fields including medicine/healthcare, cultural/literary studies, digital performance studies, engineering, and law. The seminar series will run throughout the 2016-2017 academic year.

Body augmentation takes many forms, whether personal adaptation or the rehabilitation of those with disabilities, and ranges across the physical, cognitive, philosophical and technological. The Sadler Seminars will develop an interdisciplinary perspective on this broad field of practice. We will discuss a number of issues – the design and use of augmentation/adaptive technologies, the experience of having/living with augmentations, and the cultural representations and understandings of these interactions – central to the imagination and rehabilitation of the augmented self.

The series will explore the ways cultural and theoretical ideas of embodiment meet the practicalities of engineering design and product use, to suggest critical avenues that can lead to the development of better adaptive/rehabilitation technologies. The Autumn semester seminars are as follows:

Tuesday 18th October 2016, 2pm

Augmentation, Disability and Embodiment

Speakers: Professor Sarah Whatley and Kate Marsh (Coventry)

Monday 7th November 2016, 2pm

Redesigning the Human

Speakers: Professor Tony Prescott and Dr Michael Szollosy (Sheffield), Dr Andrew Cook (Dundee)

Monday 5th December 2016, 2pm

Disability and the DisHuman

Speakers: Professor Dan Goodley and Dr Kirsty Liddiard (Sheffield), Dr Angharad Beckett (Leeds)

Seminars take place three times per semester. All events take place in Seminar Room 2, Leeds Humanities Research Institute, 29-31 Clarendon Place, Leeds, LS2 9JT – see here for directions.

Please check the Leeds Humanities Research Institute for the latest information, or for further details, contact Dr Sophie Jones on [email protected]

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