CNWL Arts Psychotherapies has partnered with Brunel University London Arts and Health to provide the basis for further research in arts therapies and arts-based practices in health and the community.
This collaboration brings together 73 arts therapists in CNWL and other NHS staff, researchers and academics to drive innovation and improve patient and social care.
Brunel’s strategic hub, Brunel Partners Academic Centre for Health Sciences (BPACHS), was designed to facilitate partnerships and continues to be the academic umbrella for healthcare partnership and research development.
BPACHS was formed by three partners, Brunel University London (BUL), Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust (CNWL), and The Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (THH) in November 2018.
Brunel and CNWL Arts and Health Leadership opening of the MA Art Psychotherapy Programme
About the partnership
The vision is to deliver radically transformed physical and mental health and social care provision through training, education, and research.
This collaboration is set to achieve major advances in health and healthcare by aligning the research, education and clinical services. Under the guidance of Prof. Dominik Havsteen-Franklin, within Arts and Humanities, the Arts and Health Subject has become one of the main research growth areas within the partnership, having established a strong post-doctoral programme, integrating leading research paradigms into a new MA Art Psychotherapy Programme established in 2023, developing an arts, health and social change research group and a growing number of interdisciplinary research projects.
The Arts and Health subject area will build on existing collaborative projects between the partners, including developing ambitious projects with Brunel’s new Medical School; The P_art_icipate Project, Arts and Wellbeing in Education and the CaRE Project.
Within the NHS we are constantly looking to build bridges towards including voices in research through engagement with clinicians, LGBTQ+ community, feminist groups, BAME groups and marginalised voices.
Our theories of practice aim to be transversally focused across disciplines in health, arts and humanities.
Engage in research
If you would like to engage in research, we can support you with developing a project through one of three streams:
This is a four-year programme, self-funded and provides a taught component on research methods in health. You will be supervised by a team made up of an academic and an NHS clinical lead, and additional support as needed, including internationally leading Post Graduate Research bespoke training.
CNWL Arts Psychotherapies and Brunel Medical School Partnership Research Projects (Formerly known as the Horizons Project)
This route enables you to design a question and research outline and to have a team of 3-5 medical students to assist you from October – November on a specific project that is relevant to healthcare, professional or service development.
Become a clinical lead for a PhD student. If you have a long term vision and you need specialised research support from a PhD student, you can apply through the integrated PhD programme scheme. You will offer an ambitious long term project aim and you will be in a position to co-design a research area of investigation to be advertised for self-funded students.
We especially welcome topics on the themes of translating evidence and/ or inclusivity and working with people at the margins of society.
If any of the topics are of interest, please contact us below.
Arts in Medicine (AiM)
As part of our partnership with Brunel University London we have the opportunity to support medical students investigating new areas of inquiry that will advance the field of medical humanities. If you have a short term focused area of investigation or need comprehensive research involvement within a localised area of service evaluation, the AiM Projects may be able to help you.
For more information visit the AiM webpage, or contact dominik.havsteen-franklin@nhs.net
Our partnership projects
- The Fred Company: Researching VR for Workplace Wellbeing of NHS Staff
- ERA Arts Therapies Trial: The largest RCT investigating the effectiveness of arts therapies with heterogeneous groups in the community.
- Sound Wheel: Developing a music app for healing and wellbeing
- p ART icipate: an AHRC funded research project on the effect of participatory online art on our sense of social connectedness and wellbeing
- CaRE Project: Researching wellbeing for healthcare workers