Inter-Disciplinary Research
The IDR group brings a wide variety of research traditions and disciplinary approaches to the study of health and healthcare. The group is composed of clinicians, natural scientists and sociologists, all of whom share a common interest in medical education. Interdisciplinary research challenges assumptions about how certain subjects might best be studied and which combination of theories are most productively brought to bear on these subjects. For example, in-depth studies of clinical practice have drawn upon anthropological research methods and various - sometimes critical - bodies of social science literature, whereas, the development of new drugs to treat tropical diseases has required the integration of techniques from biology and chemistry. In all cases, the research is driven by a desire to provide research outcomes with clear clinical, practical and policy relevance.
The Group currently involves Prof Anne Garden whose research interests centre around Paediatric and Adolescent Gynaecology and also the quality assurance process in medical education.
Dr Karen Grant undertakes collaborative research in the field of rationale drug design, at the interface of biology and chemistry. Her research focuses on novel drug target identification, characterisation and validation; assay development for drug screening; design, discovery and optimisation of protein kinase inhibitors in collaboration with organic synthetic chemists and structural biologists.
Dr Dawn Goodwin is a sociologist. Her work has concentrated on ethnographic studies of clinical practice and draws on primarily on Science & Technology Studies, Ethnomethodology and Workplace Studies, and Medical Sociology. Research topics she is currently interested in include learning about bodies - the intersection of anatomical, technological and embodied knowledge; the role of the home environment in supporting people with dementia; and the construction of patient safety in general practice.
Dr Maggie Mort is also a sociologist. Her research interests lie in the field of Science & Technology Studies and include: technological change; telemedicine and telecare; innovation in health science and technology; health policy and politics, disaster and recovery studies. She works largely with ethnographic and participative methodologies.