Interested in working with external partners? But don't know how?

This half-day workshop will explore how SHAPE perspectives (e.g., Social Sciences, Humanities and the Arts) can enrich health technology design, policy, and impact through external partnerships. The workshop will cover how to build collaborations with industry and cultural partners to strengthen research relating to technology and the body. Building on prior Centre for Technology and the Body events, we’ll highlight the value of interdisciplinary approaches and current opportunities across the funding landscape.

Through a mix of talks and interactive sessions, we’ll hear from King’s Innovation Catalyst and Creative Health, alongside external partners working on health technologies.

The event is also a space to meet potential collaborators, share your own experiences working across disciplines, and shape future CTB activities. If you are an external partner and would like to contribute a short lightning talk, please get in touch: ctb@kcl.ac.uk

Who’s it for? King’s research-active staff, practicing artists, and professionals across the healthcare sector who are interested in developing partnerships that connect SHAPE disciplines (Social Sciences, Humanities and the Arts) with the Health Sciences.

Speakers:

Ned Barker is Associate Director of King’s Centre for Technology and the Body, part of the Digital Futures Institute — and a Lecturer in Digital Culture and Technology. His research explores the evolving relationships between technology, the body, and society ­— with a current interest in technologies that seek to ‘augment wellbeing’. Passionate about collaboration, he recently led on a cross-disciplinary initiative writing a Collaborative Research Manifesto and co-creates research-based artworks. His co-produced sensory installations have been shown in Paris, Oxford, and London (as written about in Leonardo MIT), and his collaborative comics have featured in BMJ Medical Humanities.

Dr Victoria (Vicky) McGuinness has 25 years’ experience across museums, archaeology, the arts, and higher education. She holds a PhD in Museum and Cultural Project Management from the University of Leicester and a BA in Classical Archaeology from King’s College London. Now part of King’s Innovation Catalyst, she is the SHAPE Innovation Lead supporting arts, humanities, social science, business, and law researchers to build external industry partnerships. Previously at the University of Oxford, she led TORCH (The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities) and Public Engagement for the Humanities Division. Vicky has international project experience and is a Trustee of MOLA and the British School at Athens.

Nikki Crane is Lead for Creative Health within the Culture team at King’s and is arts advisor for the Wellcome-funded 'SHAPER' programme (Scaling-up Health-Arts Programmes: Implementation and Effectiveness Research), the world’s largest study into the impact of the arts on physical and mental health. She has a background in building multidisciplinary/cross-sector cultural partnerships having worked at Arts Council England, with major national charities and in multiple community settings. Alongside her role at King’s, Nikki is a freelance creative health consultant and is on the advisory committee for the National Centre for Creative Health.