GeoHumanities and Health

Dr. Sarah Atkinson is a Professor of Geography and Medical Humanities in the Department of Geography, and Deputy Head of Faculty in Social Science and Health Research Operations at Durham University. As professor of geography and medical humanities, her academic attention is primarily characterized by interdisciplinary encounters with contemporary issues of medicine and health informed by her background in anthropology, nutrition and public health policy. Dr. Atkinson’s experience prior to working at Durham University was in policy implementation both as practitioner, consultant and researcher in sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and India. Her research seeks to understand and interrogate the assumptions underlying mainstream health-related policies and practices and particularly in relation to non-clinical settings. Topics addressed in this way include how the concept of well-being is interpreted, how care and responsibility for care are understood, constrained and located andhow engagement with the creative arts offers a transformative potential for health and well-being, both as personally experienced and as politically conceptualized.

Dr. Rachel Hunt is a lecturer in GeoHumanities in the School of Geosciences at Edinburgh University, where she engages in both teaching and research in Human Geography related fields. She earned her Ph.D. in Human Geography from the University of Glasgow in 2016, and has previously been a researcher in Rural Affairs and Environment in the Strategic Research Department of the Scottish Government, and a Research Assistant in the School of Education at the University of Glasgow.