Medep

09/03/2026

Take a look at our project and collaboration with Fragile Society showcased by Chanse - Collaboration of Humanities and Social Sciences in Europe here

19/02/2026

Our latest blog post centres the performance of ‘Philoctetes’ Journey. The Return’ directed by Justyna Wielgus, a collaboration between the Polish MEDEP team and Teatr 21 (Centre for Inclusive Art/Theatre 21), which mainly comprises actors with disabilities, and its significance for Chanse - Collaboration of Humanities and Social Sciences in Europe

“I have been alone and very wretched, without friend or comrade, suffering a great deal.” Philoctetes Photo by Adrian Lach What do Juan Mann, who offered free hugs to passers-by in Sydn…

08/01/2026

An exciting output announcement from the Chanse - Collaboration of Humanities and Social Sciences in Europe Media and Epidemics project. Melissa Dickson and Emily Vincent (the project’s UK team) are co-writing a book (provisionally entitled) ‘A British Literary Contagion: ‘Russian Flu’ and Popular Culture at the Fin de Siècle’ for the Manchester University Press Society for the Social History of Medicine series🦠

The book examines the cultural afterlives of the so-called “Russian Flu” of the 1890s across British and Anglo-Irish literature, popular media, and medical discourse 📚 📰 🩺

By situating literary texts alongside periodical culture, medical journalism, and spiritualist media, the book makes a substantial contribution to current work on media cultures and nineteenth-century medicine, while speaking directly to contemporary debates in the

12/12/2025

As the UK’s season intensifies, it is interesting to see it being personified as ‘unrelenting’, or ecologically as a ‘wave’. Our researchers examine how figurative language & texts have shaped media responses to the flu since the 19th century🤧 https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5yq9wr3pnro...

NHS England says it's facing a "worst-case scenario" after flu hospital cases jump 55% in a week.

02/12/2025

Join Amelia Bonea and Irina Nastasa-Matei online on Thursday 4th December (7pm-8pm CET) to discuss their Manchester University Press book Negotiating Invisibility: https://manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/events/book-presentation-negotiating-in-visibiity-women-science-engineering-and-medicine-in-the-twentieth-century/?fbclid=IwdGRleAObe9FleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZAo2NjI4NTY4Mzc5AAEeA4yj_p8RGPY5XgUyI1lJGTf1PQIitw4tkgqn2wSEvBSRw6UXRWG3hip3Egs_aem_64CPqwSWLNiL5V98XwC0vg

25/11/2025

With Wellcome Collection – We have just been recognised as one of the leaders among fans! 🎉

24/11/2025

Here it comes! The world premiere of 'Filokteja: The Return' will take place at Warsaw's TR theatre on 30 November at 19:00. Based on Sophocles' Philoctetes, this play encourages us to consider the contemporary issues of loneliness and alienation that can arise from illness and disability.
The play, directed by Justyna Wielgus and based on a screenplay by Justyna Lipko-Konieczna of the Polish MEDEP team, is the highlight of a three-year research project conducted within the Chanse - Collaboration of Humanities and Social Sciences in Europe programme and financed by the National Science Centre and the European Commission.

„Ludzie są wysokie, niskie, grube, chude, szybkie, wolne, stałe, skoncentrowane, rozproszone, stabilne i chwiejne… Mają różną liczbę chromosomów, reakcji i wspomnień. Mówią sobie »dzień dobry«, chociaż nie są w stanie nic zagwarantować”.
📜 fragment scenariusza „Filokteja. Powrót”

FILOKTEJA. POWRÓT reż. Justyna Wielgus / Justyna Lipko-Konieczna
Premiera: 30.11, godz. 19:00
2.12, 5.12, 6.12, godz. 19:00
bilety: https://bilety.trwarszawa.pl

🔹koncepcja: Justyna Lipko-Konieczna, Justyna Wielgus
🔹reżyseria i choreografia: Justyna Wielgus
🔹scenariusz* i dramaturgia: Justyna Lipko-Konieczna

* tekst powstał na podstawie improwizacji aktorskich oraz tekstu własnego.

🔹obsada:
Łukasz Gawroński, Maja Kowalczyk, Daniel Krajewski, Aleksander Orliński, Sebastian Pawlak, Agnieszka Podsiadlik, Aleksandra Skotarek, Kamil Studnicki, Justyna Wasilewska
🔹kostiumy i scenografia: Wisła Nicieja
🔹wideo: Wojciech Kaniewski
🔹muzyka: Zoi Michailova
🔹reżyseria światła: Sebastian Klim
🔹asystent reżyserki: Wojciech Sobolewski
🔹inspicjentka: Monika Tuniewicz
🔹kierowniczki produkcji: Aleksandra Szklarczyk (TR Warszawa), Paulina Uryszek (CSzW/Teatr21)

📷 Adrian Lach

Koproducenci: TR Warszawa oraz Centrum Sztuki Włączającej / Teatr 21
Projekt współfinansowany przez Miasto Stołeczne Warszawa.
Dofinansowano ze środków Ministerstwa Kultury i Dziedzictwa Ministerstwo Kultury i Dziedzictwa Narodowego.
Projekt współfinansowany przez Narodowe Centrum Nauki ze środków Unii Europejskiej w ramach programu CHANSE (projekt Media and Epidemocs) oraz przez Instytut Historii Nauki PAN.
Patronat medialny: e-teatr.pl, TVP Kultura, Didaskalia Gazeta Teatralna, Radio TOK FM

20/11/2025

As the UK documents are released, it highlights the themes of secrecy and exposure in the masses of correspondence, manuscripts, and media which underpin outbreaks. The Media and Epidemics project explores many of these themes from the 19th century to now 🦠

The Covid inquiry is set to publish its second set of findings looking in detail at the huge political decisions that had to be made in 2020.

12/11/2025

When the Chanse - Collaboration of Humanities and Social Sciences in Europe MEDEP UK and Polish team bumped into each other in the Wellcome Collection archives! Emily was reviewing the 1890s Medical Officers of Health records & adverts about the 1890s influenza and Zuza was researching deaf studies & zine culture 🦠 📖