Call for papers – Psychiatry, Mental Health and the Arts, Past and Present

Call for Papers, deadline – 25 March 2024

The AHRC-funded network ‘Psychiatry and the Arts in Nineteenth-Century Britain’ aims to draw together scholars working on different aspects of the history of the intersection between the arts and psychiatry, chiefly in the context of nineteenth-century Britain and its interpretations. It also seeks to open conversations and identify synergies between scholars of history and practitioners in the creative arts, healthcare and heritage sectors.

Our conference will take place at The Open University’s Milton Keynes campus and online on 20-21 June 2024. Submissions are welcome from academics, practitioner-researchers, archivists, artists, musicians and other creative practitioners, heritage and medical professionals, patients and service-users. We invite proposals for papers and presentations of 20 minutes, creative sessions, demonstrations, workshops or performances of 20-45 minutes, or round tables/panels of 1-2 hours. If you would like to propose a contribution in a different format, please get in touch.

We particularly welcome presentations on the following:

• the relationship between psychiatry and the arts in nineteenth-century Britain, with particular regard to its historical, social and cultural contexts
• reflections and interpretations of the history of psychiatry and the arts in modern contexts, whether from a heritage, creative or medical perspective
• the uses and benefits of creative, archival and heritage engagement for mental health service users
• explorations of, or reflections on, the professional practice and/or lived experience of arts and mental health

Abstracts or proposals of up to 200 words should be emailed to PAN@open.ac.uk by 25 March. Please also include any technical or space requirements in your proposal. We are happy to accept proposals in alternative formats; please email to check acceptable formats.

The conference will be free to attend. A limited number of travel and/or accommodation bursaries will be available for those without access to institutional support. Please state your request in your email.

Further details: https://fass.open.ac.uk/research/projects/PAN