Current projects

The Black People’s Health Co-Creation Panel

Led by Dr Sara Papirini (Wolfson Institute of Population Health)

Two years ago, The Partnership for Black People’s Health identified a need to improve academics’ understanding of how best to engage with Black communities.

This project will work to address that need by setting up a Panel for Black People’s health, made up of over 200 Black community members from across Birmingham, London and Nottingham. Panel members will organise workshops with QMUL academics, where the two groups will come together to co-create new (or adapt ongoing) research projects related to Black People’s Health.

An important part of this project is respecting both the ways different Black communities are developing their own approaches to complex health issues, as well as their needs around participating in health research and collaborating with academics.

This project is led by Dr Sara Papirini (Wolfson Institute of Population Health), alongside Dr Megan Clinch (Wolfson Institute of Population Health), Dr Renee West (Positive East), and Bakita Kasadha.

Project Partners

• Positive East
• Vimbai Mandaza
• Women's Inclusive team
• Positively UK
• Tottenham Rights
• Claudine Best
• Off the Wall Players
• BHAMEN (Black Health Activists Mentoring Empowering Network)
• Rebecca Mbewe

The HeART Project – Health, Art, and Young People in Tower Hamlets

Led by Dr Heather McMullen (Wolfson Institute of Population Health)

The HeART (Health and Art) project explores young people’s health experiences in Tower Hamlets using arts-based methods. Using PRF funding, HeART will be able to run a project where 30 young people from Tower Hamlets (aged 11 – 19, or up to 25 for those with recognised Special Educational Needs and Disabilities) collaborate with artists, youth workers and health professionals can creatively explore under-represented health issues affecting them.

Over 20 weeks, these groups will work together the co-create a creative piece using a medium they chose, to explore a health and illness topics that are important to them. As the young people taking part will decide what they want to create, the project could produce anything from a podcast to a video game or theatre piece. Other pieces of work have shown that complications of excess weight, young men’s mental health, and healthy homes are topics young people at HeART are interested exploring, but the actual theme of these projects will be up to the young people taking part.  

This project is led by Dr Heather McMullen, alongside Richard Roach and Daniel Rose, with the Kazzum Arts trauma informed artist team, the Spotlight creative youth work team and health professionals.

Project Partners

• Spotlight Creative Youth Service
• Kazzum Arts
• Arts Council England

Illumination: reimagining hospital care of sickle cell crises through forum theatre and film 

Led by Dr Stephen Hibbs (Wolfson Institute of Population Health)

Using the power of Forum Theatre, this project will bring together people living with sickle cell disease, healthcare professionals, and creative practitioners to explore and improve care for those living with sickle cell. This project will stage and film a Forum Theatre production about sickle cell crises, which are episodes of pain that those living with sickle cell disease experience. Forum Theatre will give this group a chance stage, and then intervene in, scenes of oppression related to sickle cell crises. By intervening, the group can explore these situations and create new ways of understanding what good crisis care looks like. Hopefully, this work will improve how healthcare professionals’ training and improve the care offered to those with sickle cell disease.  

This project is led by Dr Stephen Hibbs (Wolfson Institute of Population Health), alongside Prof Deborah Swinglehurst (Wolfson Institute of Population Health), Dr Sara Paparini (Wolfson Institute of Population Health), Prof Mojisola Adebayo (School of English and Drama), Prof Paul Telfer (Blizard Institute), Estella Daniels, Kofi Amankwah and Shane Telemacque.

Project Partners

• Sickle Cell Society (John James OBE)
• Solace (East London SCD support group)
• British Society of Haematology

Manifesting Solitude: invisible personal narratives of confinement, power and violence in the contemporary US prison industrial complex

Led by Katharine Round (School of Languages, Linguistics and Film)

This project will produce a co-created film about solitary confinement, through the lived experience of Keith Thomas who spent 25 years in isolation following a conviction for methamphetamine possession. 

The participatory nature of the project will place Keith at the heart of the filmmaking process, giving him agency in representing his experience. The film aims to amplify the voices of survivors of solitary confinement, to restore agency and visibility to those marginalised by the prison system, and to develop new filmmaking techniques that enable marginalised participants to reclaim control of their experiences.  

This project is led by Katharine Round (School of Languages, Linguistics and Film), in partnership with Keith Thomas. 

Project Partners

• Keith Thomas

Youth in Motion: Training and Co-creation Journey on Cultural Rights

Led by Pedro Gabriel Ferreira Faria (School of Arts/ School of English and Drama)

The Youth in Motion project will begin with an open call to recruit 10 young cultural practitioners from Rio de Janeiro. Together with early career and senior researchers, these young people will codevelop a project exploring cultural rights and connecting local experiences to five core themes: climate justice, mental health, food security, anti-racism, and LGBTI+ rights. 

Through training and structured peer exchange activities, participants will co-author a policy brief to offer actionable insights for cultural institutions, funders and public bodies to support the inclusion of youth perspectives in cultural planning. A digital advocacy campaign will then aim to expand public understanding of cultural rights as essential to social justice and democratic participation. The project will conclude with a public launch event in Rio de Janeiro, including a screening, roundtable discussion, reflection and knowledge-sharing. 

This project is led by Pedro Gabriel Ferreira Faria (School of Arts/ School of English and Drama), in partnership with People’s Palace Projects, Fundação Getulio Vargas, Vrije Universiteit Brussel and the Marielle Franco Institute. 

Project Partners

• People's Palace Projects
• Fundação Getulio Vargas
• Vrije Universiteit Brussel
• Marielle Franco Institute