Oakhill Study Group
The Oakhill Study Group is for students on the intercalated BA Medical Humanities course, and meets every two weeks during term time.
The purpose of the group is to:
- support you in studying the main units;
- help forge links between the medical humanities and clinical medicine;
- provide a safe forum for your personal and artistic development.
The work of the group is informal and isn't formally assessed. You are encouraged to keep a portfolio of your work, and to keep a written record of your progress, helping you with self- and peer-assessment and feedback throughout the course.
Activities
Several 'showpiece' events have come out of the group’s activities.
In 2012 and 2013 we were involved with Arnos Vale Cemetary for the Wellcome Trust funded 'Matters of Life and Death'. One part of that involved an exhitibion of creative work chosen as the Bristol Evening Post's 'Pick of the Week': download When Science Meets Art press coverage (PDF, 964kB).
There were two subsequent annual exhibitions at Arnos Vale, and then exhibitions at The White Bear and, last year (2017), The Exhibition Space, Stokes Croft: download the Perspectives on the Human Condition flyer (PDF, 1,788kB)
In 2014 we worked with Wattle and Daub as part of their production of 'Performing the Freak'.
In 2017 we hosted a seminar with the Drive Project on the topic of 'Inspiring Stories: Recovery and Wellbeing through the Arts'.
The Oakhill Seminar also has many smaller one-off annual activities, such as visits to Medicine Unboxed, MusicSpace Bristol, and the Jenner Museum, Berkeley, a series of mini-debates (chaired by Professor Gareth Williams), the opportunity (2014—17) to study on a three-day History of Medicine course at Apothecaries Hall, London, and visits by guest speakers.
In 2019-20 a week-long series of medical humanities events was planned under the Medicine360 banner. When COVID-19 made this impractical the festival was moved online, and developed as a medical humanities resource, with the help of IBAMH students past and present. It now features podcasts, blogs, spoken poetry archives, student exhibitions, timelapsed public health campaigns, short essays and reviews. Alongside the website, a twitter account was started: @UoBrisIBAMH.
All of these serve the core function of the Oakhill Study Group, which is to support and develop your learning during this year within the longer context of your medical studies.