Creative Arts and Health Research: Bridging the Gap Between Participatory Arts and NHS Clinical Culture
- Date: Tuesday 30 September 2025, 16:00 – 18:00
- Location: University of Leeds
- Cost: Free
What challenges and benefits arise for artists integrating into clinical settings, and for healthcare professionals accommodating artistic interventions in their practice?
Location: Alec Clegg Studio, University of Leeds
In conversation with Professor Alice O’Grady (School of Performance and Cultural Industries, University of Leeds), Professor Persephone Sextou (Leeds Beckett University) will present cutting edge interdisciplinary research and her experiences conducting arts-based and digital research with children in NHS settings, highlighting the intersection of the arts and health research. This session will explore the potential for effective collaboration between artists and healthcare professionals, despite structural and methodological challenges within the NHS.
Professor Persephone Sextou
Key issues include navigating the Integrated Research Application System (IRAS) ethics process, which is primarily designed for clinical research; reconciling the prioritization of evidence-based, quantitative methodologies with the qualitative, experiential approaches employed by artists; and addressing significant time constraints that may limit engagement with creative methodologies. Prof Sextou will share the Glowing Stars study at LTH as an example. The discussion will critically examine these challenges and consider strategies for fostering interdisciplinary collaboration in healthcare research.
The Cutting Edge: PCI's Seminar Series
Our PCI Seminar Series invites researchers on the cutting edge of our disciplines to speak on the issues that are most engaging, asking incisive questions and introducing new paradigms. As a school with a range of approaches, methods and practices, we invite our researchers and PGR community to join these seminars. Organised in 2025 by PGR Marianne Matusz, our seminar series will cover strands such as Creative Health, Critical approaches to evaluation, Critical cultural studies and other paradigm-shifting work in Performance and Cultural Industries.