With an MA in English Literature (Edinb), a Fine Art Foundation Diploma (Chelsea College of Art and Design) a BA in Fine Art (Middlesex) and a PhD from the Slade School of Fine Art, where she also held an interdisciplinary post-doctoral fellowship and is currently Professor of Fine Art and Health, and with her role at City St Georges as Reader in Arts & Health Humanities, Deborah is well placed to bring arts and humanities into dialogue with science, medicine and healthcare. These dual roles alongside her leadership of the Open Spaces programme at City St George’s, provide opportunities for catalysing new thinking in both fields. She is passionate about the value of interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary collaboration early on in training, exemplified by the flag ship transdisciplinary module she leads within the Open Spaces Modular programme, her contributions to UG, PG and PhD training nationally and internationally, as supervisor and external examiner and input to Pain Medicine and GP training.

She is sought after as a keynote speaker at international conferences most recently (2026) in Melbourne, Australia, North Carolina US and Tokyo, Japan. She pioneered the use of co-created photographic images as an assessment and communication tool in NHS consultations and currently leads an interdisciplinary international team developing further projects and funding applications building on this work.

As a visual artist specialising in lens-based media and inter-disciplinary practice and research within Fine Art and Medicine, Deborah is a passionate believer in the value of dialogue between the Arts/Humanities and Medicine/Science/Healthcare.

Deborah collaborates extensively with clinicians and patients exploring the value of visual images and image-making processes to clinician-patient interactions and pain medicine. Working closely with her subjects, she has evolved a collaborative process of co-creation as part of her Fine Art practice, reliant on the input of her subjects as much as herself. In 2001 her collaboration with Dr Charles Pither at Input Pain Management Unit, St Thomas’ Hospital, led to an Arts Council funded touring exhibition, pilot study and book, Perceptions of Pain. Her recent collaboration with Professor Joanna Zakrzewska and facial pain clinicians and patients from University College London Hospitals, NHS Foundation Trust (UCLH) led to several exhibitions, films, symposia and an interdisciplinary research project based at the Slade School of Fine Art, UCL, Pain: speaking the threshold. This allowed her to bring together a distinguished multi-disciplinary team with whom she continues to publish with papers in medhum BMJ, the Lancet , Lancet Haematology , an NHS webinar and a unique volume, co-edited with Prof Joanna Zakrzewska, Encountering Pain: hearing, seeing, speaking for UCL Press, published in February 2021.You can download an electronic pdf of this unique collection of perspectives for free here.

She was awarded funding to further develop the work collaborating with partners in India on a knowledge exchange project co-creating images reflecting pain patients’ individual experience of pain with colleagues in the UK, Delhi and Mumbai and received funding to further develop collaborations with colleagues at Osaka University, Japan.

She co-organised the Encountering Pain Conference at University College London (UCL) in 2016, a ground breaking event which brought together leading academics, clinicians, patients and artists to share insights and stimulate discussion on an equal playing field (see 'Encountering Pain: hearing, seeing, speaking'), was convener of the Fevers, Frets and Futures: uncertainty & new ecologies for post-covid Healthcare Conference, a collaboration between the Association of Medical Humanities and the IAS, UCL in 2023 (see here for recorded keynotes) and co-chair of the network the spaces between: equity, voice, agency, and care practices involving the arts and arts therapies. For information on this international series of fourteen seminars between 2022 and 2023: Australia, Chile, Finland, Ghana, India, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, UAE, UK, USA, see website .

For 8 years she was a member and trustee for the Association of Medical Humanities, UK (AMH) and is currently on the International Editorial Board for the journal medhums BMJ and guest co-editor of its topic collection: Arts and Humanities as essential partners in medical and healthcare training. The call for papers is now open for submissions until 27th October 2026. The link for the Call for Papers can be found here.

In May 2026, with facial pain consultant, Prof Joanna Zakrzewska, she launched an opportunity for clinicians to pilot a free set of images or PAIN CARDS in exchange for completing a short survey. If you are interested in trying them, please sign up here.

Her latest paper in the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP)’s journal (June 2026) reviews her findings from two decades of collaboration with medicine and healthcare and is an example of work in the arts and humanities reaching medical and scientific audiences. The paper is available here.

She currently leads an international interdisciplinary research team developing funding applications to continue this work, believing passionately that it is only through intersectional working, involving the voices of all stakeholders, that many of today’s global health challenges can be addressed.

She is co-director of the newly formed Creative Health and Wellbeing Group (CHWG), an interdisciplinary research group jointly run by the School of Communication & Creativity and the School of Health and Medical Sciences.

Padfield, D and Zakrzewska,J M (2026) Encountering pain: images as a tool for collaborative approaches to pain medicine. PAIN April 13, 2026. DOI: 10.1097/j.pain.0000000000003973 (Print issue will be June 2026)

Okagbare F, Swartz A, Padfield D, et al (2025). Your pain and mine: the mismatch between pain expression and perception of patients with sickle cell disease in the UK. Medical Humanities Published Online First: 20 November 2025. doi: 10.1136/medhum-2025-013243

Padfield, D., & West, R. (2024). Visualising the Experience of Pain, Richard West talks to Deborah Padfield about her work in Source, Thinking Through Photography. Source Magazine, Thinking Through Photography.

Padfield, D., Ann, E., & Glenn, A. (2022). Face2face – visual journeys through Trigeminal Neuralgia. In J. Zakrzewska, & T. Nurmikko (Eds.), Trigeminal Neuralgia and other Cranial Neuralgias: A Practical Personalised Holistic Approach. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

Padfield, D., Zakrzewska, J. (Eds.), (2021). Encountering Pain: Hearing, seeing, speaking. London: UCL PRESS. (Currently 26,558 downloads in 138 countries).

Padfield, D. (2021). Chapter 8. The photograph as a mediating space in clinical and creative encounters. In Padfield, D., Zakrzewska, JM. (Eds.), Encountering Pain Hearing, seeing, speaking. UK: UCL Press

Padfield, D., Zakrzewska, JM. (2021). Introduction 1 encountering pain. In Padfield, D., Zakrzewska, JM.,(Eds.), Encountering Pain Hearing, seeing, speaking. UK:UCL Press.

Fitzgerald, M and Padfield D. (2021). Introduction II What is pain? A neurobiological perspective. In Padfield, D., Zakrzewska, J.M. (Eds.), Encountering Pain Hearing, seeing, speaking. UK: UCL Press.

Padfield, D., Wickenden, M. (2021). Being in Pain: using images and participatory methods to explore intercultural understanding of pain. In Welikala, T., Kumar, M. (Eds.), Teaching and Learning in Higher Education The context of Being, Interculturality and New Knowledge Systems. Bingley: Emerald Publishing Limited.

Padfield, D. (2021). Collaborative drawings: blue-prints of conversation dynamics’. In K. Galvin (Ed.), Routledge Handbook of Well-Being. Routledge. Retrieved from https://www.routledge.com/Routledge-Handbook-of-Well-Being/Galvin/p/book/9780367709648#

Padfield, D. (2020). Absence and presence: the potential for art to facilitate improved communication about pain. LANCET HAEMATOLOGY, 7 (2), E96-E97. doi:10.1016/S2352-3026(20)30005-3

Omand, H., & Padfield, D. G. (2019). New Contexts: what art psychotherapy theory can bring to an understanding of using images to communicate the experience of pain in medical pain consultations. ATOL: Art Therapy OnLine, 10(2). doi:10.25602/GOLD.atol.v10i2.1324

Zakrzewska, J., Padfield, D., & Ferguson, A. (2019). Visual Imagery: A Tool to Explore the Impact of Burning Mouth Syndrome. Journal of Oral & Facial Pain and Headache, 33(1), e8-e14. doi:10.11607/ofph.2095

Padfield, D. G. (2019). Mirrors and shadows: Photography as a way of sharing pain experience in medical pain consultations. In B. Jung, & S. Bruzzi (Eds.), Beyond the Rhetoric of Pain (1 ed.). Abingdon and New York: Routledge. Retrieved from https://www.routledge.com/Beyond-the-Rhetoric-of-Pain-1st-Edition/Jung-Bruzzi/p/book/9781138366541

Padfield, D., Omand, H., Semino, E., Williams, A. C. D. C., & Zakrzewska, J. M. (2018). Images as catalysts for meaning-making in medical pain encounters: a multidisciplinary analysis. Medical Humanities, 44(2), 74-81. doi:10.1136/medhum-2017-011415

Padfield, D. G., & Zakrzewska, J. M. (2018). Thresholds of pain: photography and pain communication. In Gonzalez-Polledo, E. J., & Tarr, J. (Eds.) (2018). Painscapes. Palgrave Macmillan UK. doi:10.1057/978-1-349-95272-4

Padfield, D. G., & Zakrzewska, J. M. (2017). Encountering pain: hearing, seeing, speaking - a conference with a difference.

BJP ASM Poster Abstracts 2017 (2017). In British Journal of Pain Vol. 11 (pp. 5-96).

Padfield, D., Chadwick, T., & Omand, H. (2017). The body as image: image as body. The Lancet, 389(10076), 1290-1291. doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(17)30828-0

Padfield, D., & Zakrzewska, J. M. (2017). Encountering pain. The Lancet, 389(10075), 1177-1178. doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(17)30756-0

Padfield, D. G. (2017). Deborah Padfield case study. In S. Read, & M. Simmons (Eds.), Photographers and research: The role of research in contemporary photographic practice (pp. 100-113). Focal Press, Routledge.

Ashton-James, C. E., Dekker, P. H., Addai-Davis, J., Chadwick, T., Zakrzewska, J. M., Padfield, D., & Williams, A. C. D. C. (2017). Can images of pain enhance patient–clinician rapport in pain consultations?. British Journal of Pain, 11(3), 144-152. doi:10.1177/2049463717717125

Padfield, D. (2016). Mirrors in the Darkness: Pain and Photography, natural partners. Qualia.

Padfield, D., Zakrzewska, J. M., & de C Williams, A. C. (2015). Do Photographic Images of Pain Improve Communication during Pain Consultations?. Pain Research and Management, 20(3), 123-128. doi:10.1155/2015/145964

Padfield, D. (2014). The Patient’s Journey Through Trigeminal Neuralgia. Pain: Clinical Updates, 22, 1-8. Retrieved from http://www.iasp-pain.org/

Padfield, D. (2013). Mask: Mirror: Membrane. The photograph as a mediating space in clinical and creative pain encounters. (PhD Thesis, UCL (University College London)).

Padfield, D. (2012). Mask:Mirror:Membrane. Pain News, 10, 104-109. Retrieved from https://www.britishpainsociety.org/static/uploads/resources/files/Pain_News_June2012.pdf

Padfield, D. (2011). ‘Representing’ the pain of others. Health: An Interdisciplinary Journal for the Social Study of Health, Illness and Medicine, 15(3), 241-257. doi:10.1177/1363459310397974

Padfield, D. (n.d.). An analysis of the effect of photographic intervention on medical dialogue within pain consultations: an exploration of photographic portraiture with patients and clinicians from oral and dental medicine. Springer Science and Business Media LLC. doi:10.1186/isrctn55278026

Padfield, D., Janmohamed, F., Zakrzewska, J. M., Pither, C., & Hurwitz, B. (2010). A slippery surface… can photographic images of pain improve communication in pain consultations?. International Journal of Surgery, 8(2), 144-150. doi:10.1016/j.ijsu.2009.11.014

Padfield, D. (2004). The Body in Conflict. Wellcome Trust Exhibition Catalogue to the Exhibition at the Science Museum, Pain, Passion, Compassion, Sensibility. Retrieved from https://wellcomecollection.org/works/bpbqxndr

Padfield D. (2003) Perceptions of Pain (Monograph). Manchester. Dewi Lewis publishing. ISBN 1-904587-02-X.

Padfield, D., & Hurwitz, B. (2003). as if … visualizing pain. International Journal of Epidemiology, 32(5), 704-707. doi:10.1093/ije/dyg283

Conference Convening

Padfield D.,with the AMHH Council and the IAS, UCL. Fevers, Frets & Futures: Uncertainty and new ecologies for a post-covid healthcare (2023). Conference convenor and chair for the Association for Medical and Healthcare Humanities (AMHH) Annual International Conference in association with the IAS, UCL, 4^th – 7^th July 2023.

Padfield, D., Jones, P., de-Graft Aikins, A., & Sajnani,, N. (2022/23). The Spaces Between: Equity, Voice, Agency, and Care Practices Involving the Arts and Arts Therapies.
An international series of seminars: Australia, Chile, Finland, Ghana, India, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, UAE, UK, USA hosted by UCL and NYU. In The Spaces Between: Equity, Voice, Agency, and Care Practices Involving the Arts and Arts Therapies. Online via Teams with contributions from: Australia, Chile, Finland, Ghana, India, Nigeria, Rwanda, Thailand, Uganda, South Africa, UAE, UK, USA.

Padfield D and Joanna M Zakrzewska., Encountering Pain – A Conference with a difference. UCL. 2016. Conference co-convener. See Conference page here.

Padfield, D. (2019, May 17). The Royal Society of Medicine: Explain pain through art, language and movement.. Royal Society of Medicine. Retrieved from https://www.rsm.ac.uk/events/pain-medicine/2018-19/pnm03/

Padfield, D. (n.d.). Expressions of Pain and Self-directed studies, International Symposium, Osaka University, Japan. Osaka University, Japan. Retrieved from https://www.h.kobe-u.ac.jp/ja/node/4873

Exhibitions

Padfield, D (2026) Anaesthesiology Museum, London, Between Feeling and Unfeeling: Art and Anaesthesia Selection of Photographs from Perceptions of Pain

Padfield, D. (2025, April 3). Inside the Metaphor Series (No. Of Pieces: 3) Barcelona Foto Biennale (8th Biennial of Fine Art & Documentary Photography). (Digital archival prints).

Padfield, D., & Omand, H. (2023, June 25). Pain under the microscope: film screening (No. Of Pieces: 1) (Film Screening at meeting). British Pain Society, Philosophy and Ethics Special Interest Group, Rydal Water.

Padfield, D., & Omand, H. (2021, October 7). Art, Access and Agency (No. Of Pieces: 1) [Film]. Gallery at the Javett, University of Pretoria. Retrieved from https://www.artandeducation.net/announcements/421662/conference-art-access-and-agency-art-sites-of-enabling

Padfield, D., & Omand, H. (2018, June 27). Shadows and Ashes, Sofia, Bulgaria (No. Of Pieces: 1) [Exhibition]. The Medical University of Sofia, Bulgaria (MUS).

Padfield, D., & Omand, H. (2016, July 1). Encountering Pain Conference, UCL, Film Screening, Pain under the microscope. University College London. Retrieved from https://www.ucl.ac.uk/encountering-pain/

Padfield, D. (2016, July 1). Wellcome Trust, In Pursuit of Pain, Exhibition, Images from Perceptions of Pain and Face2face within solo pop up exhibition for Friday Night Spectacular (No. Of Pieces: 20) [Exhibition]. Wellcome Trust. Retrieved from https://www.thisisliveart.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/uploads/documents/In_Pursuit_of_Pain_printed_programme_FINAL.pdf

Padfield, D., & Omand, H. (2016, August 28). 16th World Congress of Anaesthesiology, Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, Film Screening, Pain under the Microscope (No. Of Pieces: 1) [Exhibition]. Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. Retrieved from http://www.wca2016.com/

Padfield, D. (2016, July 6). TRANSLATIONS (BODY TALK: WHOSE LANGUAGE?). Heritage Gallery, Greenwich (No. Of Pieces: 7) [Exhibition]. Heritage Gallery, University of Greenwich, London. Retrieved from http://www.greenwichunigalleries.co.uk/translations-body-talk-whose-language/

Padfield, D. (2012, December 7). Photofusion SALON/12 - Photograph from Fragile Boundaries series (No. Of Pieces: 1) [Exhibition]. Photofusion Gallery. Retrieved from https://www.photofusion.org/exhibitions/photography-exhibition-members-show-2012/

Padfield, D. (2012, December 7). Pain and its Meanings, the Wellcome Trust, Film Screening, Duet for Pain. (No. Of Pieces: 1) [Exhibition]. Wellcome Trust. Retrieved from https://wellcome.org/press-release/%E2%80%98pain-and-its-meanings-two-days-cultural-exploration-and-discussion-wellcome

Padfield, D., & Omand, H. (2012, November 19). Pain Less Exhibition at the Science Museum, London, film screening of Fragmented Lines. Film co-created with adult participatory pain group (No. Of Pieces: 1) [Exhibition]. Science Museum, London. Retrieved from https://painlessexhibition.wordpress.com/

Padfield, D. (2011, July 26). Mask: Mirror: Membrane Exhibition at the UCLH Street Gallery (No. Of Pieces: 45) [Exhibition]. UCLH Street Gallery, London. Retrieved from https://www.britishpainsociety.org/static/uploads/resources/files/Pain_News_June2012.pdf

Padfield, D. (2011, July 6). Mask:Mirror:Membrane Exhibition at the Menier Gallery London (No. Of Pieces: 45) [Exhibition]. Menier Gallery London. Retrieved from https://www.artrabbit.com/events/maskmirrormembrane

Padfield, D. (2008, June 1). Perceptions of Pain Exhibition at Napp Headquarters, Cambridge Science Park (No. Of Pieces: 40) [Exhibition]. Napp Headquarters, Cambridge Science Park.

Padfield, D. (2004, February 12). Science Museum, London, Pain, Passion, Compassion, Sensibility , photograph from perceptions of pain (No. Of Pieces: 1) [Exhibition]. Science Museum, London, UK. Retrieved from https://wellcomecollection.org/works/bpbqxndr

Padfield, D. (2002, June 1). Perceptions of Pain at Guy’s Hospital, Atrium 1, London, UK (No. Of Pieces: 40) [Exhibition]. Atrium 1, Guy’s Hospital, London, UK. Retrieved from https://www.culture24.org.uk/places-to-go/london/art13107

Padfield, D. (2002, May 17). Perceptions of Pain at St Thomas’ Hospital, London, UK (No. Of Pieces: 40) [Exhibition]. Central Hall, St Thomas’ Hospital, London, UK. Retrieved from https://www.culture24.org.uk/places-to-go/london/art13107

Padfield, D. (2002). Believing is seeing. Clinical Medicine, 2(6), 571-573. doi:10.7861/clinmedicine.2-6-571

Padfield, D. (n.d.). Untold at the SW1 Gallery, London in association with Arts & Minds, Westminster, London, UK (No. Of Pieces: 18) [Exhibition]. SW1 Gallery, London, UK.

Padfield, D. (n.d.). Photographs from the series face2face and perceptions of Pain at London Pain Consortium’s, Insight, Wellcome Trust Anniversary Exhibition (No. Of Pieces: 5) [Exhibition]. Guy’s Hospital London. Retrieved from https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/23034/uk-researchers-tackle-chronic-pain/

Padfield, D. (n.d.). Photographs from the series Evolutions, shown at the Shrewsbury Museum and Art Gallery (No. Of Pieces: 3) [Exhibition]. Shrewsbury Museum and Art Gallery.

Padfield, D. (n.d.). Perceptions of Pain photographs within group exhibition for Trans-Art Laboratori, Vic, Barcelona, Catalyst, Reversible Actions Exhibition (No. Of Pieces: 24) [Exhibition]. Vic, Barcelona.

Padfield, D. (n.d.). Perceptions of Pain at the Thackray Medical Museum, Leeds, 2004 (No. Of Pieces: 40) [Exhibition]. Thackray Medical Museum, Leeds, UK.

Padfield, D. (n.d.). Perceptions of Pain at the Sheridan Russell Gallery, London, 2002 (No. Of Pieces: 40) [Exhibition]. The Sheridan Russell Gallery, London, UK. Retrieved from https://www.artshealthresources.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/2006-ACE-power-of-art-word-version-complete-document.pdf

Padfield, D. (n.d.). Perceptions of Pain at the Royal College of Physicians, London, UK, 2002 (No. Of Pieces: 40) [Exhibition]. The Royal College of Physicians.

Padfield, D. (n.d.). Perceptions of Pain at the Gallery, the Great Western Hospital Edinburgh, 2003 (No. Of Pieces: 40) [Exhibition]. The Gallery, the Great Western Hospital, Edinburgh, UK.

Padfield, D. (n.d.). Perceptions of Pain at the Gallery, Loughborough University, 2003 (No. Of Pieces: 40) [Exhibition]. The Gallery, the University of Loughboroguh.

Padfield, D. (n.d.). Perceptions of Pain at Novartis Headquarters, Basel, Switzerland (No. Of Pieces: 40) [Exhibition]. Novartis Headquarters.

Padfield, D. (n.d.). Houston Centre for Photography, USA, Group Exhibition - Inside the Metaphor series exhibited (No. Of Pieces: 1) [Exhibition]. Houston Centre for Photography, USA. Retrieved from https://deborahpadfield.com/Inside-the-Metaphor-1

Padfield, D. (n.d.). Duet for Pain screening at the National Portrait Gallery, London as part of Facial Likeness (No. Of Pieces: 1) [Exhibition]. National Portrait Gallery.

Padfield, D. (n.d.).A stitch in time, photographs at the Association of Photographers Gallery at their Annual Exhibition, London (No. Of Pieces: 1) [Exhibition]. Association of Photographers Gallery, London.

Films

Padfield D & Omand H (2016, revised 2018) Pain under the microscope: duration 35 mins.

Currently being screened at the Anaesthesiology Museum (Part of their Between Feeling and Unfeeling: Art and Anaesthesia exhibition running from April 28^th 2026 to April 2027)

Previous screenings include: Exhibition Centre, Hong Kong, 2016, Osaka University Japan, 2017, Encountering Pain Conference UCL, London and other public events and conferences in London in 2016 and 2017. Revised version screenings include: Birkbeck, Medical Humanities Reading Group, St George’s, University of London, UCL, the Association for Medical Humanities (AMH) conference, Sofia Bulgaria 2018, Royal Society of Medicine, London, 2019, University of Pretoria Gallery, 202, British Pain Society, 2023.

Padfield, D., & Omand, H. (2012, November 19). Pain Less Exhibition at the Science Museum, London, film screening of Fragmented Lines. Film co-created with adult participatory pain group (No. Of Pieces: 1) [Exhibition]. Science Museum, London.

Padfield D (2011) Duet for Pain: duration 12 mins

Screenings include: Menier Gallery (2011), UCLH Street Gallery (2011), National Portrait Gallery (2012) and the Wellcome Trust, London (2012). See: Pain and its Meanings, the Wellcome Trust, Film Screening, Duet for Pain. (No. Of Pieces: 1) [Exhibition]. Wellcome Trust.

My work has been funded and made possible by generous grants from the following:

Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), Arts Council England (ACE), Centre for Humanities Interdisciplinary Research Projects (CHIRP), UCL, Knowledge Exchange and Innovation, HEIF Award, UCL, UCL-Osaka Strategic Partner Funds, UCH Friends, UCL Public Engagement, UCL Culture, UCL Grand Challenges, Derek Hill Foundation Trust, UCLH Arts, Guy’s & St Thomas’ Charities and the Sciart Consortium, Wellcome Trust. 

 2021.              UCL-Osaka Strategic Partner Funds award.                         £10,000

2020.                Akademi seed commissions                                                  £500 

2019                Knowledge Exchange and Innovation, HEIF Award, UCL    £17,675

2017                Winner, Lancet, Highlights Photography Competition

2017                UCH Friends Small Grant towards publication                       £3,000

2015                UCL Beacon Bursary for public engagement                         £1,000            

2015                UCL Public Engagement, Train & Engage grant                   £750                           

2014                UCL Grand Challenges, small grant                                      £3,891

2014 & 2016   UCH Friends, small grant                                                       £7,308.40 (combined)

2013-2016       CHIRP Interdisciplinary Fellowship, UCL                              £150,000 (approx.)

2012/13           UCL Provosts Award for Public Engagement (Winner)         £1,000

2012                British Pain Society Artist of the Year                                     N/A                             

2008-12           AHRC Doctoral Award, Full PhD Studentship                       £65,000 (approx.)

2007 & 2008   Arts Council England, Grants for the Arts                              £37,465 (combined)

2008                Derek Hill Foundation Trust, small award                              £3,000                        

2008 &2010     UCLH Arts, small grant award, totalling                                  £9,975 (combined)     

2004    Winner, professional category, UCL Arts in Health Awards              £1,000

2004                Guy’s & St Thomas’ Charities                                                 £5,000                        

2003                Arts Council of England, Collaborative Arts Touring Grant   £27,000

2001                Sciart Research Award, Wellcome Trust                               £6,400

I am co-PI on a seed funded collaboration with Osaka University exploring ways in which the arts and humanities can contribute to Healthcare Education and facilitate improved intercultural understanding in Japan and the UK.

I am also PI on the Visualising pain: towards an international iconography of pain to improve the communication and management of pain in India and the UK collaborating with Dr Satendra Singh from the University College of Medical Sciences & GTB Hospital, Delhi, India and Dr Mary Wickenden from the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex. 

I continue to collaborate with the pain: speaking the threshold research team I brought together with Prof Joanna Zakrzewska in 2013.  We continue to co-author and present papers integrating interdisciplinary perspectives on the value of images and image-making processes to the assessment and management of chronic pain. 

In 2016 I co-organised the Encountering Pain Conference at University College London (UCL) in 2016, a ground breaking event which brought together leading academics, clinicians, patients and artists to share insights and stimulate discussion on an equal playing field. (See https://www.ucl.ac.uk/encountering-pain) . We continue to engage with and build this community and are launching an inovative edited volume published by UCL Press arising out of the conference in February 2021. You can download an electronic pdf of this unique collection of perspectives for free here. 

 At St George's I sit within the SIS team, Section for Interdisciplinary Studies.  I co-ordinate the Arts & Humanities Steering Group and am part of the newly formed Interculturality Network.  I work alongside staff delivering arts and humanities activities as part of my role within the SSC teaching team and am Director of the new Open Spaces extra-curricular programme, bringing science, medicine and healthcare into dialogue with the arts, humanities and enterprise.

For further collaborative projects such as perceptions of pain and face2face, please see the following pages on my website and research gate pages where projects and publications are listed.

https://deborahpadfield.com/face2face-1

https://deborahpadfield.com/Perceptions-of-Pain

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Deborah_Padfield

In her dual roles at both the Slade School of Fine Art and at City St George’s, Deborah teaches across Fine Art, Medicine and Medical Humanities.

As Director of the co-curricular programme Open Spaces, she devises and delivers an exciting series of workshops and interdisciplinary events for staff, students, alumni and the local community to attend and a series of modules for Fine Art, Healthcare, Medical, Humanities and Science students to attend together, where they learn alongside each other. This mixed cohort and transdisciplinary approach has been hailed as ‘flagship’ by the External Examiner. It provides opportunities for students to learn in mixed cohorts from across St George’s and Birkbeck (healthcare and humanities) initially, and subsequently the Slade School of Fine Art, UCL to meet students with different views and methodologies to their own, to experience real interdisciplinary within the teaching team as well as their peer group and develop key skills in critical analysis, essential to clinical practice and hard to acquire through biomedical science teaching alone. Students can take these modules from all across the University as extra curricular (gaining an additional academic transcript), as credit towards their enrolled programme or as an SSC on the MBBS.

The Open Spaces programme celebrates the value of creativity for science, medicine and healthcare. It offers a range of activities from arts workshops, writing and communication seminars, informal meetings between students and senior members of staff to share expertise, forums, invited lectures, community engagement projects. Its core purpose is to create open and creative spaces for meaningful inter-professional encounters and the exploring and sharing of ideas, identities and practice. The programme launched officially in November, 2020, with a fascinating conversation between Surgeon, Academic and Public Engagement Fellow, Professor Roger Kneebone and Magician Dr Will Huston, Understanding the path to mastery: medicine and magic (Watch the event here). The programme has been paused in 2025 – 2026 while Deborah is on sabbatical but will continue to evolve and develop in 2026/27 onwards.

Deborah was an independent examiner for ten years for the SSC in Medical Humanities at Imperial College London, is a visiting lecturer on many Fine Art, Photographic, Community and Socially Engaged Practice, Medical and Medical Humanities Courses across the UK and internationally, recently including Drew University, Nebraska University, Monash University and Osaka University, is a regular external examiner for written and practice-led interdisciplinary PhD’s and a council member for the newly formed Teach Med Ed Network.