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Institute for Medical Humanities
Art by Lonfeldt

Working Groups

Structures in place across the Platform to support the continued development of our research culture include:

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Working Group

Led by Louise Creechan, our EDI working group meets fortnightly with members of the University’s EDI team. The group provides a supportive space in which all staff can suggest agenda items and engage in discussion, reflect on our research culture and commitment to inclusivity, and identify and develop strategies to address barriers to participation faced by individuals from marginalised and under-represented groups. Another important element of the group’s work is to develop resources and case studies showcasing best practice and to identify and commission specialist EDI training for Platform staff and collaborators.

All Discovery Research Platform staff are invited to attend EDI Working Group meetings. Updates and actions are also circulated to all staff members after each meeting to keep our wider research team appraised of our work and developments in this area.  Meetings also provide an opportunity for members of the University’s EDI team to update the group as to new EDI strategies and developments at an institutional level. 

 

Ethics Working Group

Led by Ben Alderson-Day and Mary Robson, our Ethics Working Group is inspired by Sarah Bank’s work on ‘Everyday Ethics’ in social work, which sees ethics as embedded in everyday practice. It provides a space for our researchers to share and collectively reflect on ethical dilemmas or concerns, identify training needs, and draw on ethical expertise from other disciplines and sectors to improve their practice, particularly when conducting research on difficult or sensitive issues. 

 

Mentoring

Developed through the experiences and learnings generated by the Neurodivergent Humanities Network and the Black Health and the Humanities Network, our Platform Mentoring Scheme is structured around mentorship groups rather than pairings to encourage interdisciplinary collaboration across all career stages. Complementing individual and departmental mentoring arrangements, the Platform-wide scheme aims to provide generative, supportive spaces where people can build more diverse connections, learn from each other, and meet in a non-hierarchical environment.