Some may wonder why our project includes the consideration of medieval thoughts and practices relating to the breath. What can studying them possibly offer modern medicine? In a special edition of the journal postmedieval two of our project team, Prof Corinne … Read more…
Closing date: 21 June 2017 The Life of Breath team at the University of Bristol are recruiting a postdoctoral research associate in history of medicine. The post, offered for 2 years, could examine the recent history of COPD, which has not … Read more…
Artist Caroline Wright writes: Earlier this year, a two-day project called Space to Breathe took place at Somerset House in London, a building that is located in one of the most highly polluted areas of the city. Commissioned by the … Read more…
Dr Megan Wainwright is an international collaborator on the Life of Breath project. She is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Cape Town (Division of Social and Behavioural Sciences, School of Public Health and Family Medicine), and an … Read more…
The header image shows ‘In the same breath’, a 2008 artwork by artist and glass-blower Kate Williams (borosilicate glass / 40 x 125 x 40 cm / courtesy of the artist / Photo © Yiannis Katsaris. See Kate Williams’s website … Read more…
Cynicism is often associated with indifference and fatalism – traits which are undoubtedly undesirable among healthcare professionals. However, in this article the authors argue that ‘healthy’ cynicism can be a valuable trait – it can form part of a protective response by physicians … Read more…
Composer and academic Toby Young writes: ‘Our business in living is to become fluent with the life we are living and art helps’ (John Cage) Music and breath are inseparable. From a singer inhaling audibly before launching into an epic chorus, to … Read more…
Following on from part 1, Life of Breath PI Havi Carel writes: What is breathlessness? This is a seemingly simple question. Why, it’s the well-known experience of panting, perhaps getting hot and sweaty, maybe a heaving of the chest, or … Read more…
Throughout 2016 our collaborator Jayne Wilton created unique and beautiful breath-inspired artworks to grace the cover of The Lancet Respiratory Medicine journal. She used a variety of techniques including copper etching, photosensitive paper and glass blowing to capture both exhaled … Read more…
We are thrilled to share the news that one of our project team, Prof Gene Feder, has been awarded an OBE in the New Year Honours. Gene is Professor of Primary Care at the University of Bristol and a GP. His … Read more…
The header image shows a representation of the three wise monkeys, see no evil, hear no evil and speak no evil. A parody of these monkeys (each with a different injury, bandaged or in a cast) can be found in … Read more…
We challenged visitors to Durham University’s Celebrate Science marquee to do something unusual with their breath – either use it to make art or break a world record! Over three days (25-27 October 2016) our stand welcomed 1000 visitors. Our … Read more…
The header photograph was taken by Paul Waine, and shows Bev Wears of the British Lung Foundation and Rebecca Oxley, post-doctoral researcher on the Life of Breath. Paul is a member of Breathe Easy Durham Dales, and has written a poem … Read more…
Funded by the British Lung Foundation, Singing for Lung Health leaders take music into hospital wards, teaching and encouraging patients with reduced lung function to sing, as well as working with outpatients in community settings. From the first Singing for … Read more…
Life of Breath PI Havi Carel has contributed a chapter on phenomenology and hermeneutics to the Routledge Companion to Philosophy of Medicine (ed. Miriam Solomon, Jeremy Simon and Harold Kincaid).
Life of Breath PI Havi Carel explores epistemic injustice in psychiatry with Paul Crichton and Ian James Kidd in a new paper for the BJ Psych Bulletin.
Inspired is a competition for students studying Music at the University of Bristol, to compose a breathing-related piece for the acclaimed trombone quartet Bones Apart. The winner will be chosen by composer, conductor and Professor of Composition John Pickard, and Teaching … Read more…
Life of Breath PI Havi Carel‘s new book Phenomenology of Illness is now available. Havi argues that the experience of illness has been neglected by philosophers, and provides a distinctively philosophical account, exploring how illness modifies the ill person’s body, values, and world. … Read more…
Artist Caroline Wright has made a successful application to Arts Council England, in collaboration with Cambridge Junction and Life of Breath academic Prof. Gene Feder, a GP with a particular interest in lung conditions. Caroline describes her piece Breath Control as … Read more…
Life of Breath PI Havi Carel, Ian James Kidd (University of Nottingham) and Richard Pettigrew (University of Bristol) have a paper entitled ‘Illness as transformative experience‘ in the most recent issue of the Lancet. They argue, among other things, that the transformative … Read more…
Durham team members Rebecca Oxley and Jane Macnaughton argue that, in order to treat breathlessness more effectively, we need a greater understanding of how it feels to be breathless and how this experience may be communicated. In particular they explore the differences between the way … Read more…
Here, Durham researcher Arthur Rose explores breath as a theme, metaphor and plot device in Science Fiction. Whether used to convey a sense of anticipation, otherness, or even signify life itself, breath is a common motif in artistic media. Drawing on Fahrenheit 451, Star … Read more…
Do you live with everyday breathlessness? Would you be willing to share your experiences? If you or someone you care for struggles to breath (for whatever reason), the Life of Breath project at Durham University would like to talk with you. We would … Read more…
Our PIs, Jane Macnaughton and Havi Carel have contributed a chapter on breathing and breathlessness to a new book, ‘The Edinburgh Companion to the Critical Medical Humanities’, in which expert contributors from around the world map out the field of the critical … Read more…