Materialities of Care conference

On Wednesday September 16^th and Thursday September 17^th, we hosted the Materialities of Care conference, which focused on the role of everyday artefacts (such as objects, dress and furniture) and spaces in the delivery and experience of care. This was an interdisciplinary event, gathering researchers with backgrounds spanning, amongst others, Archaeology, Geography, History, Museum Studies and Sociology. 

The Waiting Room by Carol Von Canon©

Day One presented a series of research papers across these disciplines, as well as a poster exhibition representing the projects of early career and established researchers who are interested in the intersection of material culture and caring practices. Amy Hunter, from the University of Leeds, won a Jury Prize for her conference poster. Day Two took the form of a number of methodological workshops, alongside a wider discussion of plans for the development of a longer term research network arising from the event.

Made possible through the support of the Foundation for the Sociology of Health and Illness, and co-organised by sociologists at York and Leeds, the conference successfully brought perspectives from across the humanities and social sciences into dialogue with each other, and thus laid the ground for a number of research plans for the future. Should you wish to be informed about future events and meetings around this theme, please contactchristina.buse@york.ac.uk or daryl.martin@york.ac.uk, and we will keep you up to date.

Winner of Sociology of Health and Illness 'Mildred Blaxter New Writer Prize'

Many congratulations to Daryl Martin who has just won the journal Sociology of Health & Illness 'Mildred Blaxter New Writer Prize' for the article 'Architecture and health care: a place for sociology' published in the journal (co-authors  Sarah Nettleton, Christina Buse, Lindsay Prior and Julia Twigg).