CU Punjab Organises Invited Lecture on Health Humanities by Prof. Paul Crawford

CU Punjab Organises Invited Lecture on Health Humanities by Prof. Paul Crawford

Bathinda 27 September ( PDL ) : The Department of English at Central University of Punjab, under the patronage of Vice-Chancellor Prof. Raghavendra P. Tiwari, successfully hosted an invited talk by Professor Paul Crawford, University of Nottingham, UK, on “Creative Health and Diverse Programmes Relevant to Health Humanities.” This marked the seventh lecture in the department’s series, Languages, Literature, Culture, and Theory. Prof. Crawford, an award-winning writer and a pioneer in Health Humanities, is recognised as the world’s first professor in the field and currently serves as Director of the Centre for Social Futures at the Institute of Mental Health, University of Nottingham. He is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and the Academy of Social Sciences. During his lecture, Prof. Crawford introduced Health Humanities as an interdisciplinary field that integrates arts, literature, and healthcare to enhance human well-being. He highlighted the role of storytelling, literature, and the arts in reducing mental health stigma, fostering resilience, and addressing crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Drawing on his works, including Humiliation: Mental Health and Public Shame, Cabin Fever: Surviving Lockdown in the Coronavirus Pandemic, and Florence Nightingale at Home (The People’s Book Prize, 2021), he demonstrated how the humanities can help reimagine the future of health. The concept note was presented by Dr. Rohit Yadav, Assistant Professor, Department of English. Faculty members, research scholars, and students attended the hybrid lecture and actively engaged in the discussion. The session concluded with a vote of thanks by Prof. Vipan Pal Singh, Head of the English Department, who expressed gratitude to Prof. Crawford and hoped the lecture would inspire further research at the intersection of literature, creativity, and healthcare.