Chair of the Arts & Health Special Interest Group is Dr Ranjita Dhital, who is a Lecturer in Interdisciplinary Health Studies in the Arts and Sciences Department at UCL, a pharmacist and a sculptor. She has practised as an addiction specialist pharmacist for the NHS, a community pharmacist and worked in public health. Her research involves designing and evaluating alcohol interventions to reduce harm in high- and low-income countries. Her research is applying participatory and arts-based methods to co-design community pharmacy spaces (PRUK Leverhulme Fellowship). She founded and Chairs the International Arts in Pharmacy SIG and Creative Nepal: Arts-Health Community, and co-leads the Neurodiversity In/& Creative Research Network. 

Twitter @RanjitaDhital 


Deputy Chair is Professor Susan Hogan, who is a Professor of Arts and Health at the University of Derby & Series Editor of Global Health Humanities, Intellect Publishing. She is engaged in interdisciplinary research around women’s issues and the arts in health (as qualified in arts administration, fine art, art therapy, cultural history, and visual sociology).

Her latest books are: Art Therapy Theories. A Critical Introduction (2016); Gender and Difference in the Arts Therapies – Inscribed on the Body (2019); Arts Therapies & Gender in International Arts Therapies Research (2020); The Maternal Tug: Ambivalence, Identity, and Agency (2020); Therapeutic Arts in Pregnancy, Birth and New Parenthood (2020) and Photography (2022).


RSPH is a national champion for the development of the field of arts and health in the UK. The RSPH Special Interest Group in Arts, Health and Wellbeing has the aim of supporting advances in high quality research that leads to innovative policy and practice.

Aims of the group

  • Vision: To guide the strategic development of research within the field of arts and health
    We publish strategic papers on the development of research in the field, guest-edit special issues of the journal Perspectives in Public Health, and run seminar series focused on the development of research in the field. 
  • Voice: To act as a voice for research and researchers nationally
    We work in partnership with the Culture, Health and Wellbeing Alliance (CHWA) and All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) as well as major funders and professional bodies. We consult on the development of new funding streams for research in the field, respond to calls for evidence from the government and NICE, and explore partnership opportunities with other major representative bodies within health and social care.
  • Practice: To act as a knowledge-broker between researchers and practitioners
    We run conferences and webinars, inform and initiate best practice through our national Health & Wellbeing Awards to ensure high-quality evidence-based practice in the field, and support training and continuing professional development in arts and health.

If you are already a member of this SIG you can access our resources here.

Join the group

All RSPH members with an interest in the contribution the creative arts can make to health and wellbeing are welcome to join.

Read our newsletter for the latest updates from the Arts and Health Special Interest Group.

If you have any questions, please email Meghan.

 

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