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Transformative Humanities

Transformative Humanities brings together distinctive approaches to humanities research and education within the academy and across a wide range of partners and communities. Inflected across and between disciplines it focuses on six thematic areas:

 

Transformative Humanities Strands

 

Creativity, Culture, and Heritage

Innovative approaches to heritage: landscape, collections, visual culture, heritage science, local to global. Rooted in partner-led challenge and community engagement.
Creativity, Culture, and Heritage hexagon

Digital Humanities

Data-driven research from machine-learning, linguistics, and stylometry, to AI and museum collections management, object analysis, and human movement and music.
Digital Humanities hexagon

Environmental Humanities

Global research, from African mega-fauna, environmental activism, literary eco-criticism, Arctic experience, heat in Asian cities, to climate change and migration.
Environmental Humanities hexagon

Medical Humanities

Cross-cutting research and impact on Health and Human Experience: the Institute of Medical Humanities Discovery Research Platform, Moral Injury, Death and Life Studies.
Medical Humanities hexagon

Science-Humanities

Distinctive collaborative research on the history and practice of science: ancient mathematics, medieval astronomy and meteorology, emergence, and medical learning.
Science humanities hexagon

Social Justice, Communities, and Policy

High impact research on education policy - Classics for All; democratic activity – Elections and Petitions; human dignity – health, refugees, death, community-building.
Social Justice hexagon
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Transformative Humanities at Durham University

Learn more about the Transformative Humanities and hear from our researchers what the Transformative Humanities framework means for them. 

Visit Transformative Humanities strand pages

These six strands reflect our research excellence, bringing humanities insights to disciplinary boundaries with Science, Business, and Social Science, to community need, and sector challenges in a dynamic framework.

Transformative Humanities links together all research and related activities, and research-led learning: impact, outreach, engagement, knowledge exchange, widening participation, decolonization. It engages with all of our learning and research communities, from undergraduates to professional services, and postgraduates to academics. It provides a thinking space for sustainable research. Transformative Humanities draws across chronologies, from ancient and medieval worlds to contemporary questions and future directions. 

 

Talking Humanities Podcast

The Talking Humanities podcast introduces projects and reflections from researchers across the Arts and Humanities Faculty at Durham University.

Listen to the Talking Humanities podcast

Get in Touch

Any questions? We are happy to help!

Faculty of Arts and Humanities

Faculty Office 
Elvet Riverside Block 2 
New Elvet 
Durham DH1 3JT