This online lecture series is designed to highlight the critical interdependencies and synergies between the humanities and medicine. Traditionally seen as separate realms – arts and sciences – this series demonstrates the power of their convergence in addressing some of the world's most pressing challenges.
Featuring distinguished researchers from the Circle U. Universities, this lecture series delves into how the synthesis of perspectives from medicine and the humanities is pivotal in tackling the key focus areas of the Circle U. alliance – climate change, democratic deficits, global health disparities, and the evolving challenges of artificial intelligence.
The field of medical humanities was initially developed to provide medical students with a grounding in literature, philosophy, art, music, history, and drama, enhancing their understanding of illness experiences and cultivating their empathy. However, the scope of medical humanities extends far beyond these initial benefits.
Medical humanities also introduces innovative ways to understand the intricate relationships between technological advancements, environmental disruptions, governance systems, lifestyle choices, and health – complex networks that cannot be fully explored by a single discipline but require a comprehensive bio-social approach.
Central to this effort is the concept of translation – broadly seen as an active process of dialogue, negotiation, and mutual transformation between different systems of knowledge.
The lecture series is tailored for students and scholars from any discipline eager to explore innovative and deeply interdisciplinary approaches to wide-ranging health issues and complex societal problems.
Open online lectures
Eivind Engebretsen, Professor of medical humanities, University of Oslo, Dean of the Circle U. Open Campus
Explore how the medical humanities can bridge the gap between evidence and action, using the SDGs as a key case study. To make this happen, we need a translational approach – one that connects insights from history, philosophy, and discourse analysis with scientific knowledge and practical efforts to address global challenges such as health equity, environmental sustainability, and social justice.
Watch lecture 1: Translational Health Humanities: Addressing the Challenge of Unimplementability
Céline Lefève, Professor of medical humanities, Université Paris Cité
This lecture explores how healthcare education can shape professionals not only as clinicians but also as psychological, ethical, social, and political beings. Drawing on a pedagogical approach that combines cinema, philosophy, and the social sciences, it demonstrates how this interdisciplinary alliance can help meet the complex challenges of training well-rounded healthcare practitioners.
Watch lecture 2: Medical humanities in medical education: Teaching the ethics of care through cinema
Elise Ricadat, Assoicate Professor in clinical psychology, Université Paris Cité
This lecture delves into what it truly means to live with – or after – treatment for two rare genetic diseases. It examines why, even after significant physical improvement, some patients struggle to feel fully alive again and reintegrate into life.
Watch lecture 3: The "REVIVRE" project: A French approach to research in medical humanities
Flora Smyth Zahra, Clinical Senior Lecturer in Interdisciplinarity & Innovation Dental Education, King’s College London
This lecture explores how healthcare professionals can be better prepared for the inherent uncertainty of clinical practice. It argues that medical education should go beyond facts to cultivate ethical, reflective, and creative practitioners by embracing the humanities – particularly philosophy, art, and literature.
Professor Monika Pietrzak-Franger, Chair and Professor of British Cultural and Literary Studies, University of Vienna
This lecture examines how media shapes public understanding of chronic illness – particularly Long Covid – during global crises. Drawing on cultural narratives and visual representations, she explores the intersections of health and media literacy through the lens of sustainability.
