Oxford TORCH Medical Humanities

23/07/2026

The blogpost of our recent event on Medical Detachment is now available on our website. Written by Charlotte Dewarumez

Medical detachment is a central concern in medical practice. On the one hand, we expect medical practitioners to show empathy toward us; on the other, we demand sufficient emotional detachment for them to treat us effectively. How can these two expectations be reconciled? Where does the notion of me...

22/06/2026

Our last open event of the academic year is this Friday. A sociopolitical perspective to histories of immunology by tracing early discourses of immunity as they circulated beyond scientific developments and into public culture

Speaker: Professor Maebh Long, Centre for Irish and Scottish Studies, University of Otago

Panelists:
Ann Kelly (Anthropology)
Rachel Hindmarsh (Medieval and Modern Languages )
Sally Frampton (History/Uehiro)

Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics TORCH - The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities

TORCH | The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities Humanities Division - University of Oxford The Stephen A. Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities, Radcliffe Observatory Quarter, Woodstock Road, Oxford OX2 6GG, U.K.

19/06/2026

The first workshop of our "Glossary for Global Health" project, in collaboration with Oxford Global Health, took place on 9 June. A first entry on 'equity' based on the workshop discussion will follow soon. A blogpost with a short report from the workshop is available here
https://torch.ox.ac.uk/article/bolg-post-what-do-we-mean-by-equity-in-global-health

TORCH - The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics

17/06/2026

Our ECR/DPhil workshop tomorrow (Thursday18) and Friday19th June. With a keynote by Helene Scott-Fordsmand (UCL) on Friday morning (10.45am) on "Slippery Boundaries: Fat tissue and the collapse of the subject-object divide in anatomical dissection practices". Everyone welcome.

https://torch.ox.ac.uk/event/objectivity-and-subjectivity-in-medicine

TORCH - The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics

This interdisciplinary workshop will bring together DPhil students and early career researchers in the medical humanities to share their ongoing research in a supportive environment. Discussion will focus on the problems of objectivity and subjectivity in medical research and practice: is there such...

10/06/2026

happening tomorrow!

08/06/2026

Our first event this week is happening tomorrow, Tuesday 9 June, as a collaboration with our friends at Oxford Global Health.

What does equity really mean? And why is it so debated in global health?

We all use terms such as equity, vulnerability, capacity building, decolonisation, justice in global health and solidarity. But these concepts often carry different meanings across disciplines and contexts – making meaningful discussion and collaboration more difficult.

TORCH Medical Humanities and Oxford Global Health, with support from the Uehiro Oxford Institute, are launching a new interdisciplinary workshop series exploring key concepts in global health. The series aims to build a shared glossary of the terms and concepts that shape global health.

The first workshop focuses on equity, bringing together perspectives from philosophy, history, anthropology and the social sciences.

Convenors:
Alberto Giubilini (Medical Humanities)
Caesar Atuire (Oxford Global Health)

Speakers:
Lovro Savic (Ethox)
Ann Kelly (Anthropology)
Patricia Kingori (Social Sciences)

9 June 2026 | 15:00–17:30
Including informal networking
Life and Mind Building

https://torch.ox.ac.uk/event/medical-humanities-global-health-glossary-equity

Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics TORCH - The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities

We all use terms such as equity, vulnerability, capacity building, decolonisation, justice in global health and solidarity. But these concepts often carry different meanings across disciplines and contexts – making meaningful discussion and collaboration more difficult.

03/06/2026

Join us on 11 June for an interdisciplinary event on Medical Detachment (organised by Charlotte Dewarumez).
Coffee and biscuits provided.
We look forward to welcoming you.
Free registration via Eventbrite https://torch.ox.ac.uk/event/medical-detachment-past-and-present
Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics TORCH - The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities

27/05/2026

Our new blogpost about a special issue of the journal Bioethics, inspired by a conference on biotechnologies and human identity we run in 2024
https://torch.ox.ac.uk/article/editorial-human-identity-and-biotechnologies
TORCH - The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics

In 2024, the Medical Humanities Hub, in collaboration with the Stanford Boundaries of Humanity project and the Uehiro Oxford Institute, organized a conference on Biotechnology and Human Identity. The conference inspired a special issue of the journal Bioethics edited by the conference co-organizers....

16/05/2026

Our next event this Monday 18 May 2026, 1pm - 3pm:

The Integrity of the Human Species: Comparative Legal Perspectives

Naz Gün (École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales –Centre Georg Simmel, France)

Jonathan Price (Univeristy of Oxford)

(Room 063, Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities, Oxford)

https://torch.ox.ac.uk/event/the-integrity-of-the-human-species-comparative-legal-perspectives

Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics TORCH - The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities

The integrity of the human species is a concept that raises questions at the intersection of medicine, ethics, philosophy, and also law. From a legal perspective, the notion of the integrity of the human species refers to the protection of the genetic identity of the community of human beings from a...

12/05/2026

Still time to submit an abstract for our DPhil/Early Career Researchers workshop on OBJECTIVITY AND SUBJECTIVITY IN MEDICINE, 18-19 June, Oxford. Keynote by UCL philosopher of science Helene Scott-Fordsmand.
Open to all disciplines in the humanities + social sciences.
TORCH - The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics

This interdisciplinary workshop invites DPhils and ECRs within the medical humanities to share their ongoing research in a supportive environment. Those who work on topics concerning health, medicine, and disease from humanities perspectives are invited to submit abstracts. Discussion will focus on....