Measurement Heretics Workshop: Being, Meaning, and Measuring Well

Day 1: 11 March,15:30 - 18:00, hybrid, Institute for Medical Humanities, Confluence Building, Durham University DH1 3LE.

Day 2: 12 March, 1`0:00 - 16:30, in-person, Mountjoy Centre Event Space, Upper Mountjoy, Durham University DH1 3LE.

Day 3: 13 March, 9:45 - 16:00, in-person, Mountjoy Centre Event Space, Upper Mountjoy, Durham University DH1 3LE.

Co-organised by the Measurement Lab and the Affective Experience Lab in the Discovery Research Platform for Medical Humanities, this workshop brings together international scholars with philosophical, historical, health research, and other perspectives invested in questioning traditional assumptions about successful measurement order to guide the future of ethical and meaningful health data. Presentations will address four core themes:

Nonstandard Stories: Historically, have we misunderstood scientific and medical advancements due to assumptions about the role and value of precision and standardisation in contributing to knowledge and patient safety? What other valuable measurement features have been overlooked in how we tell histories of measurement?

Against Measurement/Measuring Against Experience: What are the affective and real-world impacts of measuring and being measured on patients, persons, care-givers, and providers? When is it worse to measure at all, and when is it worth it to measure (even badly) to provide voice to marginalized actors within a system? What would it look like to gather evidence against measurement itself, as being an intervention?

Un/Common Metrics: Currently, what are the competing tensions which create both a demand for more standardisation of databases, measures, and constructs for measuring health and wellness, at the same time a demand for better relevance and correspondence with persons’ lived experience and values? Is there any “middle-way” between rigor and relevance, or is one always at the expense of the other?

Validation Revisited: Are the standards used for judging measures (as validated or unvalidated, valuable or too costly, adequately fit or unfit for purpose) due for decolonization and/or a fundamental reevaluation? How might new standards be established, and what could they look like?

Across presentation themes, creatively facilitated discussion sessions will enable fruitful cross-sector and interdisciplinary thinking about successful health measurement.

Please see the agenda below. We look forward to seeing you there—all heresies welcome!

Please note that Day 1 comprises of a hybrid keynote from 15:30 to 17:00, followed by an in-person drinks reception till 18:00.

This event is free to attend. The Zoom link for Day 1 will be circulated closer to the event. If you have any accessibility/dietary requirements, please get in touch with [email protected].

Info: Armel Cornu (History of Science and Ideas at Uppsala University, Sweden) and Sarah Hijmans (History and Philosophy of Science at Université Paris Cité, France)

Info: Maximilian Hepach (Geography, Durham University)

Info: Hannah Loret (Health Sciences, University of Dundee)

Info: Sophie Chung and Catherine Smith (Knowledge and Measurement at Wellcome Mental Health Team)

Info: Femke Truijens (Clinical Psychology, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Netherlands)

Info: Sebastian Rodriguez Duque (History and Philosophy of Science, Cambridge University)

Info: Michele Luchetti ( Philosophy at Bielefeld University, Germany)

Info: Riana Betzler (Philosophy at San José State University, USA)

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Upper Mountjoy Centre Event Space • Durham University, Stockton Road, Durham, United Kingdom

Concerts, fests, parties, meetups - all the happenings, one place.

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