The work of belonging: Power, inclusion and kindness in medicine and medical education.
Belonging in medicine and medical education is often treated as a personal feeling rather than a structural condition. Yet who feels at ease and who must continually justify themselves is shaped by power. Assumptions about competence, legitimacy, and ‘risk’ are not neutral, they are embedded in standards, policies, and evidence frameworks that can quietly reproduce exclusion.
Drawing on research spanning disability in medical training, LGBTQIA+ health inequalities, trans healthcare and curriculum reform, this lecture examines how institutions determine who is centred and who is scrutinised. Through personal narrative and applied research, it argues that belonging is not incidental, it is designed.
Questioning power should, therefore, not be seen as disruptive to or in medicine; it is a necessary part of the ethical practice of care. The lecture closes by inviting us to reconsider how we use authority in our teaching, research, and clinical practice, and how small, deliberate shifts can widen the circle of belonging for learners, colleagues, and patients alike.
This is a free event and all are welcome. A drinks reception will follow the lecture.
If you would like to attend, please no later than 48 hours prior to the event.