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Critical Medical Humanities Symposium – Final Programme and Invitation to follow #CritMH debate on twitter

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

Research Summary: Critical Medical Humanities Symposium

Event Type: International Academic Symposium
Dates & Location: November 4-5, Durham University
Key Research Topics: Immune ecology of practices, neoliberal bioeconomy narratives, toxic zones and gender, neuroscience critical theory, workfare and affective coercion
Lead Organizers: Felicity Callard, Will Viney, Angela Woods (Durham Centre for Medical Humanities)
Featured Speakers: Andrew Goffey (Nottingham), Bronwyn Parry (King's College London), Mel Y. Chen (UC Berkeley), Jan Slaby (Freie Universität Berlin), Lynne Friedli & Rob Stearn (Centre for Welfare Reform / Birkbeck)
Public Participation: Open to broader audience via Twitter hashtag #CritMH; in-person registration closed
Funding: Wellcome Trust Strategic Award to Durham Centre for Medical Humanities
Research Focus: Critical interdisciplinary examination of medicine, health systems, and bioeconomy through humanities perspectives

We are delighted to be hosting the first international Critical Medical Humanities Symposium on November 4 and 5 at Durham University. Registration for the symposium has closed, but we would love for as many people as possible to participate in the discussions by following the twitter hashtag #CritMH. (We will be tweeting @mdiclhumanities, but you don’t need to use twitter to follow along with what’s going on, just follow this link.)

  • Andrew Goffey, Associate Professor, Faculty of Arts, University of Nottingham: ‘Immune from Criticism: A Case Study in the Ecology of Practices’.
  • Bronwyn Parry, Professor in Social Science, Health & Medicine, Kings College London: ‘Narratives of Neoliberalism: Representations of Labour in the Bioeconomy – the Case of ART in Context’.
  • Mel Y. Chen, Associate Professor of Gender and Women’s Studies, U.C. Berkeley, ‘Toxic Zones’
  • Jan Slaby, Junior Professor in Philosophy of Mind & Emotion, Freie Universität, Berlin, ‘Biocapital: A Template for a Critical Theory of the Neurosciences’
  • Lynne Friedli, Centre for Welfare Reform and Rob Stearn, Birkbeck College, ‘Whistle as you Work for Nothing: Positive Affect as Coercive Strategy and the Case of “Workfare”’

Participants have been invited to come prepared to share ideas for future projects and programmes of research, so watch this space for more information about the critical thinking and creative collaborations we hope will emerge from the symposium!

This event is funded through a Wellcome Trust Strategic Award to the Durham Centre for Medical Humanities and organised by Felicity Callard, Will Viney and Angela Woods.

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