The Mental Health Humanities Researcher Network (MHHRN) was officially born in 2023, when Drs Christina Wilkins and Rebecca Wynter were awarded funding by the British Academy Early Career Researcher Network. In 2025, they were joined by Dr Cheryl McGeachan. Two initial events in 2023 developed ideas about interdisciplinary new and precarious researchers in mental health and illness, and what would best serve such scholars and how a network might shape the future of mental health humanities. MHHRN is associated with the Mental Health Humanities initiative which began at the University of Birmingham during the covid-19 lockdown of early 2020. For our past events, take a look at the list here.
Aims of the Network
Our mission is to promote the humanities as integral to thinking about the past, navigating the present, and developing a humane future. We aim to provide a space for exploration, conversation and community building for those working within the humanities and using humanities methodologies to research mental health and its associated fields. We forefront the power of the humanities for generating new insights into issues of mental (ill-)health and distress, and welcome humanities-curious people interested in interdisciplinary connections.
We are mindful about issues of power and their implications for mental health research and in academia more broadly. We are passionate about platforming voices from the humanities and those within the humanities that are often marginalised in wider debates about mental health. We seek to use this platform to provide inclusive and caring spaces, where people across the humanities and interested in humanities methodologies can share their voices of expertise and experience.