The Medical Humanities Research Centre (MHRC) at Swansea University fosters multidisciplinary research across faculties and institutions in the field of the medical humanities. Co-directed by Dr Laura Kalas (English Literature) and Dr Michael Bresalier (History), the centre is interested in the intersections of research into health, wellbeing, illness, disease, culture, literature and history. Cross-fertilising the disciplines of the humanities, medicine, health, science, and art, our research explores the most urgent challenges facing human health and wellbeing across the globe.  

The MHRC research themes include: 
  • Resilience in health and illness 
  • Women’s Health 
  • Disability, trauma and the body 
  • Power, knowledge and healthcare 
  • Patients, professionals and narratives 
  • Gender and sexuality 
  • Health, disease and the natural world 
  • Global perspectives on medicine, health, and disease    

Projects

Ageing on Screen
Age cymru

Ageing on Screen After #MeToo: gender, age, celebrity (2023-4) 

This project (PI Lisa Smithstead) explores the representation of ageing and older women in British and American cinema in the wake #MeToo and #TimesUp – movements that have changed the discourse around women and film culture in a major way from 2017 onwards. It interrogates how these movements have impacted the way women’s experiences of ageing and older female characters are represented in cinema, their reception by ageing audiences, and the cultures of production behind the scenes which are shaping new discourses of age and gender. The project illuminates where – and in what forms – ageing and older female characters appear in the movies that have been most visible on UK and US cinema screens across recent years. Showcasing a range of innovative case studies considering age and genre, representation of ageing and dementia, and hands on work with ageing audiences, the project paints a new picture of ageing women in popular film culture to discern what a better and brighter future for ageing and older women on screen might look like. 

Epistemic Injustice in Healthcare “One Health” in the United Nations ‘Resilience, challenge and change: Learning from nurses' Screening Dementia Women’s Health

People

Co-director

Dr Michael Bresalier is a historian of modern medicine, with expertise in the social, cultural, economic and political dimensions of health and disease. Dr Bresalier organises workshops, seminars and conferences on core research themes, including resilience in healthcare and health, disease, and the natural world.

Dr Michael Bresalier
michael bresalier

Co-director

Dr Laura Kalas is a Senior Lecturer and specialist in medieval women’s literature. She is particularly interested in research that crosses disciplines, and the ways in which medieval medical discourse offers a useful lens through which to consider bodily, sensory and spiritual representations. 

Dr Laura Kalas
Laura Kalas

Academic Publications

students in library

PhD students that have participated in MHRC:

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PhD Student            Topic TitleSynopsis
Geraldine Gnych Gender, Authority and the Mouth in Western Medieval Culture, 1100-1500

This thesis aims to uncover the ways in which the mouth can be used to demonstrate or undermine authority, and how aspects of gendering can influence the way in which the human mouth is presented and used in medieval culture. This thesis focuses on Western Europe between 1100 and 1500, taking into account source material from across difference discourses, including the religious, medical, literary, artistic and philosophical. The thesis follows its investigation through speech, beauty, monstrosity, healing and singing.

Supervisors: Dr Laura Kalas and Professor David Turner

Megan Blackford
 

‘Pandemic Preparedness in Neoliberal Britain, 1980-2009’.

A log-term historical study of pandemic preparedness policies and planning from the emergence of HIV/AIDS to the 2009 “Swine” influenza pandemic.

Supervisor: Dr Michael Bresalier

 
Milo Coffey
(ESRC DTP Studentship), Investigating lay understanding of medical terminology

This study will enhance understanding of the extent to which lay people can comprehend medical terms, and will investigate which factors are important in determining this. Previous studies have addressed the former issue, but few have addressed the latter. This may be because much of the existing literature has been carried out from a medical perspective rather than a linguistic one. This study will combine established methods for assessing lay understanding of medical terms with novel ones drawing on current research in lexical semantics. The aim is to reduce misunderstanding in medical communication and improve patients’ understanding of their conditions and treatments, in turn leading to enhanced outcomes.

Supervisors: Dr Tess Fitzpatrick and Dr Alexia Bowler

 

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