Sam Holmans Thompson
About
Sam currently works as a Research Assistant at the University of Kent over three health humanities projects; PlaySpace, INTERACT and a 3i network collaboration that explores perspectives of arts and health with a focus on bibliotherapy and the power of narrative to transform health and wellbeing. She holds a Master’s Degree in Film from the University of Kent and came to academia after a couple of decades working across media and creative industries marketing, PR and events and film production.
Research interests
Sam’s dissertation sketched a framework for understanding viewer’s affective response to and relationship with film as an intersubjective interaction that produces a vicarious experience in the viewer. Working at the intersection of cognitive film theory and phenomenological philosophy, she explored the concept of viewership and affective response to film using relevant theoretical and empirical literature drawn from cognitive and phenomenological film theory, psychology and neuroscience to hypothesise a general theory of affective response to film that recognises film as intentional and embodied, capable of perception and expression, which defines the nature of our relationship to film as one of social interaction through the phenomenon of vicarious viewing.
Beyond developing the concept of vicarious viewing further, Sam is also interested in concepts of indexicality, ontology of the image, and film as cultural artefact, particularly in relation to jurisprudence and the narrative use of the moving image as evidence in the criminal justice system.
Projects
Sam’s current research interests are focused on the health humanities and the role of media, narrative, and creative practice in enhancing health and wellbeing:
PlaySpace
The PlaySpace project develops and evaluates workshops that combine imaginative play, performance and the manipulation of space to tackle unhealthy perfectionism through shared vulnerability.
INTERACT
One of ten projects supported by a £348,000 investment from UKRI Arts and Humanities Research Council to coincide with the 75th anniversary of the NHS, the INTERACT study is a research partnership between the University of Kent’s Centre for Health Services Studies, Centre for Health and Medical Humanities and the Kent and Medway Medical School that employs ethnographic methods to engage members of Kent communities around the future of mental healthcare and research. The study will help better understand the mental health needs of local, underserved communities.
Perspectives on Arts and Health
A collaboration between the 3i University Network, the Perspectives on Arts and Health event, held at Ghent’s renowned museum Dr. Guislain, welcomed academics, healthcare professionals, NGOs, art therapists and service users for a day full of discussions and roundtable talks to share new developments in the field of health humanities. The aim of the event was to create positive changes in the areas of heritage, culture, and wellbeing through open discussion that fostered opportunities for connection between the sciences and humanities through knowing, sharing, and relating to experiences of health and wellness.