معرفی
Professor Angela Woods serves as Professor of Medical Humanities in Durham University's Department of English Studies, with an associate appointment in the Department of Philosophy. She directs both the Institute for Medical Humanities and the £9.5m Wellcome Trust-funded Discovery Research Platform for Medical Humanities (2023-2030).
Education:
- PhD in Literary and Cultural Studies, University of Melbourne
Her research integrates three core domains: clinical-experiential-cultural analyses of voice-hearing and psychosis; narrative frameworks for understanding health; and interdisciplinary research dynamics. She pioneers work on voice-hearing phenomenology/hermeneutics, narrative mental health approaches, and critical medical humanities, emphasizing non-clinical voice experiences and spiritual dimensions. Her scholarship challenges traditional medical paradigms through literary-cultural lenses while maintaining clinical relevance.
Recent publications (2020-2025) reveal sustained focus on voice-hearing across the psychosis continuum, particularly non-clinical experiences, spiritual voices, and narrative uncertainty. She employs innovative interdisciplinary methods bridging literary studies, psychology, linguistics, and clinical practice, establishing critical medical humanities as a distinct field with robust theoretical and practical applications.
Professor Woods currently co-supervises four PhD students: Katharine Cheston (women's shame/stigma in complex conditions), Ariel Swyer (non-clinical voice-hearing), Georgia Poplett (postpartum psychosis narratives), and Sarah White. Her major funding includes the Wellcome Trust's £9.5m Discovery Platform award (2023-2030) and the decade-long Hearing the Voice project (2012-2022).
She leads Durham's Institute for Medical Humanities and Discovery Research Platform, fostering transdisciplinary collaboration through The Polyphony digital publication and Bloomsbury book series. Previously, she co-directed Hearing the Voice and curated the world's first major voice-hearing exhibition, demonstrating commitment to public engagement and innovative knowledge dissemination.
