We are delighted to announce the launch of our major collective project output: a collaboration and research toolkit for medical humanities.
Drawing on material from across our four residencies, and with input from partners and collaborators alongside our core project team, Collaborating with Care: A Values-Informed Tookit for Medical Humanities Research, provides suggestions, prompts, and provocations designed to support equitable, inclusive, and inspiring research related to medicine, health, and wellbeing.
It includes practical suggestions about how to work together across institutions and communities, sample activities to build trust and inclusive ways of working, and critical reflections on some of the core concepts in the field of medical humanities. It was also inspired by our shared core project values: creativity, care, and accountability.
The toolkit can be read as a whole, but each individual entry – whether on the pragmatics of project management or about how to conducting round-robin discussions – is accessible, and can be used on its own. We have also included an Appendix, with examples of exercises that you can adapt and use, and the whole toolkit is available in easyread format.
Collaborating with Care captures both the positive and more challenging features of our experiences. Working closely in partnership requires hard work, commitment, and flexibility, but the payoffs can be incredible. We hope that it will inspire potential collaborators and researchers alike in working together.
The toolkit was generously supported by additional funding from Research England, through their Enhancing Research Culture fund.