WHO Collaborating Centre for Culture and Health (CCH)

The World Health Organization (WHO) has designated the Centre for Medical History at the University of Exeter a WHO Collaborating Centre for Culture and Health (CCH).

From now until 2020, academics in the Centre will work with WHO to produce guidance for policymakers and run events designed to generate new, culturally informed approaches to public health. The Centre’s research activities across the medical humanities and social sciences will provide interdisciplinary research support and technical guidance on the Cultural Contexts of Health, particularly in relation to four key themes:  nutrition, well-being and mental health; migration; and the environment.

Together, members of the Centre will explore how experiences of health, illness and medical knowledge are shaped by cultural practices and beliefs, and will investigate how evidence from the humanities and social sciences can be used to help to develop and evaluate innovative and effective public health initiatives.

The Centre will benefit from close links with the University’s Humanities and Social Sciences Strategy; the Digital Humanities Laboratory; the Medical School; the European Centre for Environment and Human Health; and the new Living Systems Institute, a collaborative research community working together to revolutionize the diagnosis and treatment of disease.

The Collaborating Centre is committed to building internal and external partnerships with both academic and non-academic communities in order to create and evaluate culturally-sensitive health policies at local, national and international levels.

Co-directed by Professor Mark Jackson and Dr Felicity Thomas, the Centre is supported by the Wellcome Trust and the University of Exeter.

For more information or to talk to us about this project please contact us.