Final post for Making Clinical Sense
05/03/26Maastricht-Thank you for visiting this website. We are very proud of everything that we have done as part of this project, and hope you enjoy perusing the logbook posts and our publications and events. For now we will no longer be posting on this site, though there is still one publication, a book project called Analogue Lessons, still to come, so stay tuned or check in on the MIT Press website for more information about that from autumn 2026 onwards.
If you would like to find out about related projects that have followed on from this one, you can visit one of the following sites:
The Upcycled Clinic: exploring creativity in hospitals (website live from April 2026)
Fringe Editions: bringing together the creative community in medical education
Making as Method in Teaching: Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Objects and Hands-on Learning with Materials
Harris, A., Bardelli, M., Brancaleone, G., Costa, N., Hruby, L., & Poeliejoe, R. (2025). Making as Method in Teaching: Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Objects and Hands-on Learning with Materials. Perspectives on Medical Education, 14(1), 309 – 318. https://pmejournal.org/articles/10.5334/pme.1575
For free download and to read the article, go to this link.
In medical education, technological innovation often focuses on the digital and virtual. In the analogue space, physical learning tools seem to come readymade – pre-programmed mannequins, printed textbooks or the ubiquitous articulated plastic skeletons. The market for mass-produced objects in medical education is vast, however we concern ourselves here with important but overlooked learning materials that fall outside this digital-industrial complex: handmade objects, crafted using (often) simple, low-cost, locally sourced materials, also known as DIY objects. Educational materials have long been hand-crafted, yet this topic receives little attention in the healthcare professions education literature. In this Eye Opener article, we aim to bring DIY objects out of the shadows and in doing so, introduce to the healthcare professions community some of the main theories, movements and approaches behind making as a teaching method. To further our understanding of the role of DIY objects in medical teaching we adopted an ethnographic method that involved making the objects ourselves. Our Eye Opener suggests a greater emphasis can be placed on making one’s own teaching materials and on making as a learning activity. We discuss how making facilitates active and multisensory modes of learning including enhancing spatial awareness, helps students to challenge the status quo in medicine and encourages environmental sustainability in the classroom. We propose some applications of making in the classroom, such as exploring more diverse representations of bodies and studying the environmental impact of medical education materials.
It was a pleasure having Jasmin join us in Maastricht as a visiting PhD student the year before. Congruatlations Jasmin!
Congratulations Samuel, we are all very proud of you and your accomplishments!
Nott J. Material history, historied materials and the question of epistemic freedom in Ghana’s medical schools. Social History of Medicine. 2024 Feb 1;37(1):116-140. Epub 2023 Sept 6. doi: 10.1093/shm/hkad039
Read the full article here, Open Access.
Summary: Medical schools rely on a wide range of tools, technologies and materials for their teaching, on books, and bodies, and on the buildings which house them. This article considers the histories of this material culture in the three oldest medical schools operating in Ghana today. Borrowing theoretical concepts from Science and Technology Studies, medical anthropology and postcolonial political economy, this article takes that the material culture of modern medical education often binds contemporary pedagogy to outdated ideas and faraway places. The agential, proselytising nature of these historied materials agitates against the localisation of biomedicine and contributes to a distracting scientific imaginary which remains centred around historical, often imperial centres of knowledge production in Europe and North America.
The usual classroom doesn’t really work for several reasons – first you spend all your time rearranging and returning desks to make collaborative workspaces, then where are the plugs when you need them? Luckily, our course started at the same time as The Plant – Playground and Laboratory for New Technologies was just opening up to courses and we sought permission to have some lessons there.
So we had a workshop where we attempted to recreate a 3D model of the human ear found on a popular online database. Prior to this activity, each member of the group was tasked with searching medical models online in order to find one to replicate during the workshop. The requirements for the object were: (1) it had visuals and text instructions, (2) it was a part from the human body, (3) it had to be possible to complete it in one day. After choosing the object, each member of the group worked on one part of the 3D ear and we collaboratively created the model.
The students then documented the process through time-lapse videos, photographs, field notes and drawings, and reflecting together and individually on the educational value of making the objects we created. You can see the wonderful video below. By participating in the making workshops we gained an insider view of how medical teaching objects are made and what materials are used and could be substituted locally.
Smell kits
For the new Faculty bachelor in Global Studies, we were asked to contribute something related to smell for their Sensing the World week. Drawing from our observations of how smell is used in clinical and educational contexts in hospitals and medical schools, we introduced the idea that smell could also be a portal into new research directions for the students in their own, non-medically related projects. Between the two classes we gave last week, the students were asked to make a smell kit which related to their projects, which we discussed in the second tutorial by walking in the Faculty garden, then back in the classroom. We had an observer in the class who noted that: “it was very interesting how smell also relates to the materiality of objects. The smell kit was such a fantastic tool to make students reflect about the material things that they challenges are made of and I think there is a lot of potential to further explore”.
The lesson plan has been prepared for sharing and will be uploaded onto another related project I am part of, the Sense Based Learning website soon. Look out for our Smell Kit PDF on the Fringe Editions page too.
Learning in Gardens
For the second time we are involved in the Honours program at our faculty with our project Learning in Gardens, which draws from the observation that doctors have long learned in gardens. In this 2022/2023 Honours project the students have been invited to revisit the garden as a space to learn in and with, in university settings. It will be a practically-orientated project that builds on previous work by last year’s Honours students, who conducted ethnographic research about the FASoS garden and have prepared policy recommendations for the Faculty. So far the students have great ideas, including a Garden (lecture) series. Stay tuned!
Making eyeballs (and other learning tools)
For the first time, we are also currently running a course called: DIY in Medicine: Digitally curating the creativity and crafts of medical educators. This MaRbLe project is a digital “archaeological” exercise in digging up crafted objects and their stories which have already been previous published, with the goal to collect and curate, and ultimately to facilitate better sharing in medical education around the world. So far we have been reading shared texts, the students have been writing responses, and last week, we headed into the ‘Seeing “Normal”‘ exhibition (see previous post), to engage in some making of eye examination training tools, led by our expert clinician and educator Marijke Kruithof.
Enjoy!
Visiting scholarship to Maastricht, the Netherlands 2023
For a social science/humanities PhD student based in Ghana, working on topics of health/medicine
For how long?
Maximum 2 months duration (less is possible if preferred)
When can the scholarship be taken?
March – April 2023 (preferred, though there is some flexibility)
Where will the scholarship be based?
Maastricht University, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Science and Technology Studies research group. This is an English speaking setting.
Who is this scholarship for?
PhD students working on topics related to health or medicine. The applicant must be based at a university in Ghana. The preferable people are those working on these themes in social science or humanities faculties so that they can benefit from their research visit at Maastricht University. The scholarship would be most suitable for candidates working on the following research areas or with the following interests:
- Bodies, senses, embodiment, bodily knowledge, practical knowledge
- Skilled migration, medical travel, globalization, transnationalism
- Medical humanities, environmental humanities, art + medicine, science/art
- Ethnographic methods, artistic methods, creative methods
- Medical education
- Digital health, online healthcare, AI and health
- Science communication, including opinion pieces, podcasts, exhibitions
What does the scholarship cover?
- Travel subsidies: (1) Economy class ticket (outbound & return), (2) Train ticket (Schiphol-Maastricht-Schiphol); and (3) Subsidy for trips within The Netherlands for short research visits to relevant institutions.
- Accommodation in Maastricht
- Visa costs
- Library access, a shared office space and use of a computer at the Faculty
- A food subsidy
Who will I meet?
- Host: The scholarship is funded by the European Research Council project Making Clinical Sense, led by Associate Professor Anna Harris. Anna will be your host, with the mentorship of one other Faculty member and assistance of a member of her team.
- Research groups:
- Graduate School: for PhDs at FASoS, doing social science/humanities research
- MUSTS: a science and technology studies research group, who you will meet through regular weekly seminars and a monthly colloquia series.
- Ethnography Group: a university-wide ethnography group which meets once a month online, which you can also join (also before/after the visit).
- See the Faculty website for other research groups which may be of interest.
What is required?
While in Maastricht, there are no specific requirements for work output, however regular physical presence would be required, including meetings with Anna and colleagues. The PhD candidate is free to make the most of the time for writing, reading, analysis and/or networking. If the candidate would like to share their ideas, work or projects with us (and this is encouraged), we would ensure and facilitate space and audience for this. The only two requirements are for after the visit, that 1) the candidate give a presentation and/or workshop in their own department within 6 months upon returning to Ghana, to share what they have learned during their time in Maastricht, and 2) to send to Anna Harris a one-page (max) description about this presentation, including reflections on the research stay.
Application process
Please send the following to secr.philotss@maastrichtuniversity.nl by 6th November 2022:
- A (max) 2 page letter of motivation including one paragraph each on the five following:
- Your PhD topic, including methods used and its relationship to health/medicine
- What you would get out of a two month visit, including your objectives and expected work to be achieved, and why this is a good time to do this within the scope of your PhD trajectory.
- Why it is relevant and interesting for your research to be in Maastricht and if applicable, the Netherlands.
- Finally, how you would feed the experience back to your own research environment.
- A (max) 2 page CV detailing in brief what you think to be the most relevant information for this application.
The successful applicant will be informed approximately mid-November, and will be whose research best matches expertise in Maastricht, and who has the strongest relevance of the trip for their own and department’s research activities. Upon acceptance the candidate will be asked also for a brief letter by their supervisor/graduate school/university confirming PhD status and support for the research visit, as well as details of Bachelor and Masters’ degrees. A passport valid for 6 months after the trip is required, as well as a tourist visa, both need to be self-arranged by the PhD though we will reimburse costs for the visa.
Questions?
You can reach Anna Harris at a.harris@maastrichtuniversity.nl