Wellcome Trust gives boost to Leeds’ public engagement agenda
Delia Muir, a patient and public involvement officer at Leeds, has been awarded a two-year Public Engagement Fellowship by the Trust to take public engagement in new and exciting directions.
Wellcome Trust Public Engagement Fellows explore new ways of thinking about science and its wider cultural contexts, using poetry, visual art, performance, surgical simulation, citizen science and TV presenting.
Delia works with patients to help shape medical research, clinical trials and healthcare practice. Trained in acting, Delia is particularly interested in using theatre techniques in her work.
She says: “I am delighted that this Fellowship will allow me time to spend with practitioners working in verbatim theatre, social science and participatory research. I’ll be able to see how they deal with creative and ethical challenges, and examine the ethical implications of turning real patient data and testimony into performance.
“I am passionate about giving patients a voice in health research. I hope to develop tools and techniques which will help more people to be heard.”
Simon Chaplin, Director of Culture and Society at the Wellcome Trust, added: “The Wellcome Trust Engagement Fellowships demonstrate our commitment to developing leaders in the field of public engagement.
“I am particularly excited by the potential that our new Fellows have for widening access to engagement and, for the first time, informing and improving health.”
Posted in: University news