Tineke Abma
is a Full Professor in ‘Participation & Diversity’ and Vice Chair of the Department of Medical Humanities, and research leader in the Amsterdam Public Health research institute at the Amsterdam UMC. In 2013 she received an aspasia laureate from the Netherlands Organisation of Scientific Research (NWO) for excellent female researchers. Her background is in the social sciences, and her work is located at the crossroads of the social sciences, humanities and medical sciences.
Peter Bray
PhD, is Senior Lecturer and Programme Leader for Counsellor Education at the University of Auckland. Peter has recently edited a number of other interdisciplinary collections and articles, which reflect his developing interest in counselling practice and spirituality, and heroic identity and the transformational aspects of grief, loss and trauma.
Verusca Calabria
is a Research Fellow and Lecturer in the Division of Social Work and Health, School of Social Sciences, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham (UK). Calabria is an interdisciplinary qualitative researcher working across the Social Sciences and Humanities, and an experienced oral history practitioner. Her research interests include the history of asylums and mental health policy in the UK, oral history theory and practice, participatory action research, feminist research methods.
Agnes Elling
PhD, is a Senior Researcher at the Mulier Institute, centre for research on sports in society. Her research interest and expertise include issues of social inequality, such as gender, sexuality, ethnicity, embodiment and belonging throughout elite sporting biographies.
Deborah Freedman
MEd, is a therapeutic storyteller and workshop leader in creating fairy tales. She has authored three books from ‘The Quiet Triumph of the Heart’ series: Moments from Portland, Maine; Names Project AIDS Memorial Quilt Stories from Maine, The Night Sky is Full of Stars. The Air is Full of Wishes (a fairy tale).
PhD, grew up on a self-sustaining family farm in western Canada, with no running water or indoor plumbing till she was ten. Its way of life shaped who she is and what is of import in her writing, teaching and psychotherapy practice.
Justyna Jajszczok
PhD, is Assistant Professor at the Institute of English, University of Silesia in Katowice, Poland. Her research interests include Victorian science and literature and the language of metaphors of science and medicine in cultural and literary discourse.
Naomi Krüger
PhD, is a Lecturer in Literature and Creative Writing at the University of Central Lancashire. Her research interests include representations of cognitive impairment in fiction and the interface between creative and critical writing. Naomi has recently published her first novel.
Pam Morrison
is an established journalist and writer, a counsellor and supervisor. Her research interests include metaphor, empathy and journaling in the context of illness. She has written for film, radio and magazines and has published academic papers and a book on the impacts of co-journaling following terminal diagnosis.
Miranda Quinney
is a Doctoral student at the University of South Wales and founder of Sharing Stories for Wellbeing. She calls herself a storymaker who works with others, particularly at end of life, to facilitate the sharing and saving of their life stories. Her research looks at how and why creative therapies have a positive effect on mental wellbeing.
Yomna Saber
PhD, is Associate Professor of English Literature at Qatar University. Her research interests include gender studies, ethnic studies and women’s literature. She has authored two books, Brave to Be Involved (2010), and Gendered Masks of Liminality and Race (2017), and published several articles on African American literature.
is a Doctoral candidate at the University of Exeter, UK. Funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (esrc), she is currently researching the emergence and disappearance of ‘transableism’ within an online community context. Her research focuses on disability, medical taxonomy and discourses of authenticity.
Victorria Simpson-Gervin
MA, is currently applying to become a Doctoral candidate. Her research interests include narratives of health, illness, and healing.
Hans T. Sternudd
PhD, is Associate Professor at the Department of Music and Art at Linnaeus University, Sweden. He is a member of the Linnaeus University Centre for Intermedial and Multimodal Studies. His research interests include questions about the articulation of gender, corporality and affect.
Mirjam Stuij
MSc, is a medical sociologist at the Department of Medical Humanities of the Amsterdam umc (University Medical Centres) and the Mulier Institute. Her research interests include meanings people give to sport, physical activity, health and illness, especially those related to discourses and social status positions.
Anja Tramper
has experiential knowledge about living with diabetes and diabetes health care. She was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes and accompanying this experience gained a lot of knowledge about living with diabetes through her engagement with Dutch patient associations.
Alison Ward
is a researcher at the University of Northampton. Her research includes dementia, and creativity and wellbeing. Alison is a Winston Churchill Fellow, currently undertaking a project in Denmark to use photography and storytelling with people with dementia.
Jane Youell
PhD, is a Chartered Psychologist, researcher and Churchill Fellow. Her research focus is that of sexuality, intimacy and dementia. Jane’s Fellowship work has researched inclusive aged care services for the lgbti community, particularly in Australia and the usa.