Research Centre for Arts and Wellbeing
The Research Centre for Arts and Wellbeing is a unique Centre with regional, national and international reputation due to its strong emphasis on high quality research with interdisciplinary character and impactful knowledge exchange activities. The Centre works closely with the WHO Arts and Health office, it has received external funding from bodies such as NIHR, AHRC, ESRC, Arts Council, the Wellcome Trust and the European Union, and explores the role of the arts to supporting the health and wellbeing of individuals across the life span and their communities.
The Centre celebrates the use of diverse research approaches from creative co-produced research to high profile outcome and implementation studies. The co-produced and applied character of the research findings generated from the Centre are disseminated through publications, events and masterclasses and benefit many people, their communities, statutory and non-statutory organisations and services, contributing towards improved practice with sustainable impact.
In addition to its strong portfolio of externally funded research, the Centre has an active approach to knowledge exchange, including the commercialisation of intellectual property created by members of the Centre.
In summary, the aim of the Centre, ‘to engage in purposeful interdisciplinary research with people across their life span in creative ways, that are participatory, ethical and of demonstrable value’.
The Centre’s mission is ‘to generate, process and actively disseminate research evidence’.
Three main strands of research covered by the Centre are as follows:
Our research
Events
Who we are
The Centre’s researchers come from different disciplines and specialties including arts and health researchers, computer and sports specialists, and engage with multi-layered, national and international partnerships including NHS Trusts, charities, schools, and cultural organisations contributing toward good practice in the arts to improve the lives of people, their communities and their wider environment. Our manifesto with relevant illustrated material can also be found here:
Our manifesto
Director- Professor Vicky Karkou
Vicky is the Director of the Research Centre for Arts and Wellbeing. She joined Edge Hill University in 2013 and currently holds a split post between the School of Applied Health and Social Care and the Department of Performing Arts, spending her time teaching and researching equally between these two subject areas.
After gaining her MEd and PhD, Karkou’s doctoral work was published in her first co-authored book Arts Therapies: A Research-Based Map of the Field. Her success in external funding allowed her to research topics relating to the use of the arts and arts therapies and to generate material for her second edited book Arts Therapies in Schools.
Vicky’s research work remains diverse ranging from artistic inquiry to systematic reviews and meta-analyses. For example, with a team of two colleague from Leeds University, she has completed two Cochrane Reviews on the effectiveness of Dance Movement Therapy for Depression and Dementia. Vicky was awarded the title of Honorary Doctor of Medicine from Riga Stradins University in Latvia for her services in supporting the development of arts psychotherapies in this country.
Read more about Vicky Karkou's work Prof Vicky Karkou's Talking Heads interview
Deputy Director- Dr Stergios Makris
Dr Stergios Makris is a Senior Lecturer in Psychology. He is a BPS chartered psychologist with particular research interests in biological psychology and neuroscience. As part of his research, Makris has worked with professional athletes to look at the brain mechanisms involved in human perception to investigate their superior perceptual and action skills. Makris is an expert at the use of non-invasive brain stimulation techniques, such as transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and direct current stimulation (tDCS).
Most of his work is now published in internationally recognised peer-reviewed scientific journals and he has presented in more than 30 national and international conferences.
Read more about Stergios Makris' work
Deputy Director- Dr Michael Richards
Dr Michael Richards is a Senior Lecturer in Applied Health and Social care. Richards is a community and chartered psychologist, with particular research interests in working collaboratively with marginalised groups using different methods, including art, poetry, film, photography, film, and drama.
His academic experiences are coupled with his extensive experiences of working in the community, and with professional organisations including social services, housing associations, youth projects, charities, schools, and colleges. He has worked with the most marginalised people in society, research that aided his PhD, one that aimed to provide a rich and contextual account from the perspective of men labelled with learning difficulties on their understanding of health promotion.
Read more about Michael Richards' work