IAS workshops
The Institute of Advanced Studies (IAS) facilitates a range of researcher-led interdisciplinary workshops.
Centring the Human: Humanities in Mental Health and Mental Health Research
Thursday 10 September 2026
This workshop brings together leading Birmingham and UK researchers to advance the emerging field of Mental Health Humanities. Participants will explore the Humanities' role in promoting mental health and wellbeing, map current interdisciplinary research, develop ideas for future collaborations, and co-create a collective statement or manifesto on the Humanities' contribution to mental health research and understanding.
More information
Leads: Dr Christina Wilkins, Lecturer in Film and Creative Writing and Dr Rebecca Wynter sHonorary Research Fellow, Department of Applied Health Science.
To find out more about this workshop please email ias@contacts.bham.ac.uk
Rethinking the Politics of Urban Infrastructure
Wednesday 23 September 2026
As infrastructure investment accelerates across ecologically fragile urban margins, this workshop explores how these developments transform landscapes, livelihoods, and power relations. Through interdisciplinary dialogue and comparative perspectives from the Global South, participants will develop new frameworks for understanding infrastructure as both a material and ecological-political process. The workshop aims to establish a longer-term research network and agenda that centres marginalised urban regions in debates on infrastructure, sustainability, and climate justice.
More information
Lead: Dr Rakib Akhtar Lecturer in Urban Planning
To find out more about this workshop please email ias@contacts.bham.ac.uk