Measurement Heretics Workshop: Being, Meaning, and Measuring Well

11 March,15:30 - 18:00, hybrid, Institute for Medical Humanities, Confluence Building, Durham University DH1 3LE.

12 March, 10:00 - 16:30, in-person, Mountjoy Centre Event Space, Upper Mountjoy, Durham University DH1 3UP.

13 March, 9:45 - 16:00, in-person, Mountjoy Centre Event Space, Upper Mountjoy, Durham University DH1 3UP.

Co-organised by the Measurement Lab and the Affective Experience Lab in the Discovery Research Platform for Medical Humanities, this workshop brings together international scholars with philosophical, historical, health research, and other perspectives invested in questioning traditional assumptions about successful measurement order to guide the future of ethical and meaningful health data.

Please see the agenda below and only register for the days you wish to attend.

View a PDF of the full programme here.

Day 1 (hybrid keynote followed by an in-person drinks reception)

A fluid history of measurement: The drop in the metric revolution

• Armel Cornu (History of Science and Ideas, Uppsala University, Sweden)
• Sarah Hijmans (History and Philosophy of Science, Université Paris Cité, France)

Day 2

From zodiacs to cyclones: A short history of medical meteorology and its measurements

• Maximilian Hepach (Geography, Durham University)

Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) in Historical Perspective

• Coreen McGuire (History, Durham University)

Does a coherent approach to measurement require ‘common’ measures? Opportunities, challenges, and reflections on advancing a common measures agenda in mental health

• Sophie Chung and Catherine Smith (Wellcome Mental Health Team)

Why meaningful measurement requires validation-in-action in mental health care

• Femke Truijens (Clinical Psychology, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Netherlands)

Day 3

Values and Validity: The Interpretation of Measurement Scores in Youth Mental Health

• Sebastian Rodriguez Duque (History and Philosophy of Science, Cambridge University)

Validity: Best before – Validity as an intrinsically temporal measurement property

• Michele Luchetti (Philosophy at Bielefeld University, Germany)

Measuring moving targets: The case of empathy

• Riana Betzler (Philosophy, San José State University, USA)

What is lost (and gained) between experience, concept, and clinical measurement in women’s health research reporting embodied experiences?

• Hannah Loret (Lecturer in Health Sciences, University of Dundee)

Across presentation themes, creatively facilitated discussion sessions will enable fruitful cross-sector and interdisciplinary thinking about successful health measurement.

We look forward to seeing you there—all heresies welcome!

This event is free to attend. The Zoom link for Day 1 will be circulated closer to the event. If you have any accessibility/dietary requirements, please get in touch with imh.events@durham.ac.uk.