A University of Liverpool researcher is among five winners of the first ever Health Humanities Medal awards.
Dr Ross White, an Associate Professor of Clinical Psychology in the University’s Department of Psychological Sciences, received the Best International Research Award for his work exploring cross-cultural perspectives on mental health and wellbeing.
The medal which is given out by the Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC), in association with the Wellcome Trust, honours people and projects which are helping to inform and transform the quality of life, health and wellbeing of the population using arts and humanities research.
Dr White’s work project focused on understanding how concepts relating to distress, wellbeing, and resilience are expressed in different languages, and how the creative arts (including music and dance) can be used to share knowledge about these concepts between speakers of different language. The research findings highlight the need for international programmes aimed at improving mental health to be more sensitive to linguistic and cultural diversity. The project also showcased how creative methods can be used to help community members to share their reflections on concepts relating to distress and wellbeing – topics that otherwise may have been too stigmatising for people to discuss.
Dr White said: “I feel hugely honoured to win the award. I am thrilled that receiving the award provides an opportunity to recognise the important opportunities that interdisciplinary collaboration and the use of creative arts can provide for helping people to communicate about experiences of distress, resilience and wellbeing across the globe.
“I owe my collaborators a debt of gratitude. By supporting me to move beyond the areas of expertise that are more traditionally linked to Clinical Psychology, they have broadened my understanding of the rich possibilities that research collaborations can bring, and the types of impacts that these collaborations can have.”
Sir Mark Walport, Chief Executive of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), said: “Health Humanities is an important interdisciplinary field which applies arts and humanities approaches to drive improvements in health, social care and wellbeing. These awards are an excellent opportunity to showcase the very high quality of Health Humanities research across the UK, working in areas as diverse as antimicrobial resistance, music and psychoneuroimmunology, and trauma in post-conflict situations.”
Learn more about Dr White’s work here: https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/psychology-health-and-society/staff/ross-white/