During 2025-26, the Spirituality, Health and Wellbeing (SHW) theme has gradually become a small but growing interdisciplinary, outward-facing research community. We began with a workshop in November 2025, attended by 18 colleagues across the University, and established a JISC mailing list that has since grown to 34 members. This has enabled us to share information about research, events, and opportunities across different departments, career stages, and areas of expertise.
Our seminar series brought speakers Dr Ori Mautner (Cambridge University) on the intersection of mindfulness and politics in Israel; Dr Kristy Slominski (University of Arizona) on the study of health and spirituality through the history of material objects; and Dr Revd Robert Jaggs-Fowler (Durham University) reflecting on the role of the Christian Church in healthcare practice. We co-hosted the launch of the Routledge Handbook for Spirituality, Religion and the Medical Humanities with the RHHR, featuring the three co-editors (Dr Adam Powell, Dr Kristy Slominski and Prof Chris Cook) and chapter contributors.
A particular highlight in May 2026 was the symposium, Spirituality in Health: Interdisciplinary Dialogue and Practice, which brought together colleagues from across Durham, including doctoral researchers, academics at different career stages, professional services staff, and external scholars and health practitioners. The integration of academic discussion with experiential sessions was particularly well received, creating a friendly and collaborative atmosphere. It generated new connections and potential research collaborations around mindfulness and embodied knowing, and we are developing a series of reflective posts for The Polyphony. The associated workshop, How do Bodies Know?, on October 6th 2026, welcomed Gaye Donaldson, Director of the Centre for Systemic Constellations, and further explored the connection between spirituality and embodied knowing in qualitative research and therapeutic practice.
The theme has also developed an international profile. In July, we co-chaired, with Dr Sergio Gonzalez-Varela (Warsaw University), a roundtable at the EASA2026 conference in Poznan, Poland, titled "Spirituality in a Divided World: Rethinking Healing, Difference, and Coexistence." Speakers included Dr Maryam Abbasi (Friedrich-Alexander University); Dr Anais Carlton-Parada (Loughborough University); Dr Emmanuel Uchenna Chidozie (Leuven University); Dr Anna Iskra (The Hong Kong Polytechnic University) and Milosz Kowalski (Cambridge University).
Looking ahead, we aim to build on this momentum by strengthening collaboration around emerging themes such as spirituality and embodied cognition, systemic and relational approaches to health and wellbeing, and cross-sector collaboration and exchange.
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