About

We are a team drawn from across professional services, academics, clinicians, students and alumni, as well as fields of enquiries such as medicine and politics, digital education, design-based approaches, co-creative approaches, widening participation, creative enquiry and human flourishing.

Meet the Team

  • Professor Louise Younie - Barts and the London

    FOUNDER, PRACTISING GP, EDUCATOR, CANCER PATIENT

    Co-lead RCGP Creative Health SIG, steering committee for Arts for Health SIG at the RSPH, academic GP

    Louise is the founder of the website and passionate about human flourishing, flourishing spaces in higher education and multi-voiced shared exploration into practice and lived experience through creative enquiry - for students, health care professionals, patients, all of us.

    Louise’s research in flourishing and practitioner development has significantly advanced our understanding and methodologies in these fields.

    @LouiseYounie

  • Dr Ana Cabral

    ACADEMIC PRACTISE AND STUDENT ENGAGEMENT MANAGER @ QUEEN MARY ACADEMY

    Ana's areas of work include student engagement, co-creation and recognition of students' contribution to the enhancement of teaching and learning through co-creation (SEED award - Student Enhanced Engagement and Development).

  • Professor Chie Adachi

    DEAN FOR DIGITAL EDUCATION @ QMUL

    Chie leads the new Digital Education Studio at QMUL, which consists of a multi-disciplinary team of academics and professionals to carry out both strategic and operational work of transforming digital education practices for the Faculty and beyond.

    Her research interests lie at the intersection of critical digital pedagogy, with a focus on humanising digital spaces, educational/medical technology and interculturalism in re-thinking how they might enhance teaching and learning practice within the higher education sector.

    @chieadachi

  • Mika Maharani Sudjarwo

    SOCIAL MEDIA DIRECTOR

    Creative Industries and Arts Organisation MA student at Queen Mary University of London

    Mika is interested in all forms of creative expression and in championing access to arts for all. She is currently studying about precarious labour in the performing arts industry.

  • Dr Rebecca Noelia Walker

    CREATIVE DIRECTOR

    Rebecca completed her medical degree in 2023 from Barts and the London. She worked on flourishing and creative enquiry projects during her elective and is published in the Journal of Holistic Healthcare.

    After completing her medical degree, Rebecca retrained as a software engineer.

  • Olumide Popoola

    EDUCATION AND RECOGNITION ADVISOR @ QUEEN MARY ACADEMY

    Olumide (Olu) Popoola is an education developer whose research and scholarship focus on academic ethics, social justice pedagogies and impact evaluation. An artist at heart, Olu is inspired by the creative and transformative potential of #flourishingspaces to re-imagine the academy as a place of integrity and self-actualisation.

  • Dr Maxwell Addo

    TEACHING RECOGNITION PROGRAMME MANAGER @ QUEEN MARY ACADEMY

    Max is responsible for Advance HE Teaching Recognition Programmes (TRP) at QMUL. He leads the development of the QMUL Higher Education Academy Fellowships Mentoring and Reviewer programmes and focuses on strategic continuing professional development. Max is passionate about flourishing and continuing professional development. His current research interests include reflective practice in dental education, curriculum development and co-creation.

  • Ivon Kandiah

    MEDICAL STUDENT

    Ivon is a medical student and inquisitive to explore creative enquiry. Inspired by co-facilitating workshops and his lived experiences, he is currently undertaking an iBSc research project on 'How does creative enquiry enable you to deal with uncertainty?' He hopes to help incorporate and bring mainstream recognition of creative enquiry into medical education.

  • Dr Harris Nageswaran

    DOCTOR

    Harris graduated with an MBBS from Barts and The London in 2023. He worked as a student representative for the establishment of the SEED Award at QMUL, and now is a honorary member. He has an interest in how students shape and define the learning experience for themselves and other students, as well as creative enquiry and the benefits it has for students and clinicians. In 2022, he created this toolkit on how to engage with creative enquiry. He also designed the Flourishing Spaces logo.

  • Will Watson

    RESEARCHER

    Will Watson is a PhD candidate at the School of History, Queen Mary University of London. His PhD, entitled 'Fear and Anger: The Civil Rights Movement in Northern Ireland, 1962-1972', explores the relationship between emotions and radical politics in the build up to The Troubles. Will has been studying emotions for several years and is particularly interested in how emotional frameworks are developed, how emotions shape identity, and the development of emotional practices within spaces.

  • Pedro Perez Rothstein

    TEACHING ASSOCIATE, THEATRE-MAKER, WRITER, DIRECTOR, RESEARCHER

    Pedro is a PhD Drama Candidate at Queen Mary University of London with the support of an International Fellowship from “la Caixa” Foundation. His doctoral thesis “Dramaturgies of Urban Mental Health'' focuses on the links between theatres, cities and mental health, within the broad spectrum of arts and health, by looking at case studies in London (Arcola Theatre), Barcelona (Teatre Lliure) and São Paulo (Teatro Oficina).

    Pedro holds a BA in Political Science and an MA in Cultural Management (both from the University of Barcelona) and an MA in Dramatic Writing (University of the Arts London).

  • Melissa Da Costa Charifo

    RESEARCHER

    Melissa is a current Commercial and Corporate Law student at QMUL.

    Due to previous work experiences as a Research Intern and Student Partnership Ambassador at the University of Westminster, Melissa has developed a strong interest in how students can flourish and shape their own learning experiences in higher education, as well as try to find solutions to enhance the relationships between staff, academics, and students.

  • Dr Liliana Risi

    DOCTOR

    Lili is a Humanist Chaplain based in two Acute East London NHS Hospital Trusts. She is Emeritus Provost of the RCGP North East London Faculty. For many years she has worked as a GP in Tower Hamlets and in NHS clinical leadership roles across London. Together with others she developed and published the Handy Approach to Care. She has an interest in trauma transformed healing care and creative climate health creation. She has co-facilitated the London Deep End Health Equity Leadership platform growing leaders for fairer systems and healthier places. She is committed to #healthierhealthcare which is about the delivery of proportionate, respectful, and equitable care.

  • Natasha Duggan

    COMMUNITY ARTIST, PATIENT VOICE

    “Creativity interweaves throughout my life and keeps me together! Since having an aortic dissection in 2007 I've had multiple surgeries to reconstruct & repair my aorta. I use art to slow down, to listen to my body, process medical experiences or as a way to extend beyond my physical boundaries.

    I love how making a space for expressing creativity can be transformative and healing for the individual and community.”

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  • Gavin Blench

    ARTIST, PATIENT VOICE

    “…Everyday is a struggle with the seductive voices in my head that whisper “oh what’s the point.” Through what I do with my activity in the world, I transform, what many people have referred to as a tragedy, into a wonderful opportunity to flourish. My practice allows me to dance with those partners of loss, pain and decline with more grace… “

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