Creative Health Research Round-Up 2025: Online Event
Late last year, the call for submissions to the Creative Health Research Round-Up 2025 invited researchers, practitioners, and organisations to share creative health research published during 2025. Led by the National Centre for Creative Health (NCCH) in partnership with the Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH), the call welcomed peer-reviewed articles, reports, evaluations, and grey literature with a UK-based application. Submissions were required to be publicly accessible (or accompanied by accessible summaries) and to include a short lay summary explaining the relevance of the research for practice.
As we enter January 2026, we are pleased to invite you to the Creative Health Research Round-Up 2025, an online event taking place on Wednesday 28 January 2026, 12:00–2:00pm (GMT), marking the launch of the first annual Creative Health Research Round-Up. Register here to attend!
Alongside the live event, a published report will summarise all eligible submissions in clear, accessible language, supporting practitioners, policymakers, and commissioners to engage with and apply the latest evidence. On the day, we will also showcase exciting and impactful creative health research from 2025, with seven invited authors presenting their work following a strong national response to the call. The session will be held on Microsoft Teams (webinar mode), with access details shared upon registration.
The event offers a valuable opportunity to engage with researchers and community leaders at the forefront of creative health, and to explore the evidence, impact, and future directions of this rapidly evolving field.
Featured projects include:
Abundance Project: Discover how the Abundance Project is addressing persistent health inequalities among Black, minority ethnic, and refugee communities in Southwest London. This initiative mobilises local cultural and green assets to support mental health, using storytelling workshops and community-led walks to map assets and lived experiences. The project highlights the intersecting barriers these communities face and demonstrates the importance of holistic, community-driven approaches to improving access and wellbeing.
The Body Hotel: Explore the evaluation of The Body Hotel Self-Care Suite, a movement- and body-based programme designed for NHS staff in Wales, particularly those working in palliative care. This creative intervention uses dance and movement to enhance staff wellbeing, psychological safety, and team cohesion, demonstrating the value of body-based practices in supporting the mental health of healthcare professionals.
ReCITE: Learn how the ReCITE programme is driving community-led innovation to reduce health inequalities in the Liverpool City Region. Working with Community Innovation Teams across Liverpool, Knowsley, and Sefton, ReCITE supports hyper-local interventions addressing challenges such as immunisation, cancer screening, and mental wellbeing, and demonstrates the power of partnership and local insight in achieving measurable health equity outcomes.
Crafting Lyrics, Breaking Barriers: Hear about a qualitative study that delves into the role of rap music in facilitating mental health expression among Black men in the UK. Through interviews with rap artists, this research uncovers how rap provides a culturally relevant, safe space for articulating emotions, navigating stigma, and fostering connection, while also highlighting the need for more inclusive, community-informed mental health support.
SHAPER: Examine the clinical and implementation effectiveness of the SHAPER-PND Randomised Control Trial, which evaluated a community singing intervention for mothers experiencing postnatal depression in South London. The Melodies for Mums programme was found to be highly acceptable, appropriate, and cost-effective, with lasting improvements in maternal mental health and the mother-infant relationship, highlighting the transformative potential of arts-based interventions in perinatal care.
Details of speakers will be shared on this page in due course.
