Artist-in-residence in academic settings - what is it?

Medical humanities as a field poses questions that place medicine, illness, and health in historical, cultural, and social contexts, and it also has a long tradition of incorporating artistic perspectives into research and education. This forms part of the background to why the Centre for Medical Humanities hosted an artist-in-residence in 2023, and the interest and commitment to continue this type of initiative remains strong.

However, CMH also harbors an interest in artist-in-residence programs within academia as a subject of research. Researchers affiliated with CMH have now been granted seed funding from CIRCUS to develop a research program specifically focused on artist-in-residence in academia. The program will examine the phenomenon in terms of its claims, practices, and outcomes – both in research and in art. How do these programs influence research and the artistic process? And what ideas about the role of art in society are expressed through these initiatives?